Possibly moving to Charlotte North Carolina- advice on GA

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Larry Korona

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Larry
Maybe moving from Tulsa Oklahoma to Charlotte, looking for advice, opinions and experience from fellow local pilots. Owner of a C172, currently hangared at a nice towered field with plenty of services. Looking for advice one what similar options are available in the Charlotte area.
 
no hangars anywhere. pretty easy flying in the area with boring flat land east of charlotte and some nice mountains to the west and great controllers all over. lot of rental options but you own. people are scrambling looking for hangars and have been on waiting lists for a long time.
 
eman1200 said:
no hangars anywhere. pretty easy flying in the area with boring flat land east of charlotte and some nice mountains to the west and great controllers all over. lot of rental options but you own. people are scrambling looking for hangars and have been on waiting lists for a long time.
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Thanks for the reply, yup my fears of slim pickings for hangars have been verified. Been living high on the hog in Tulsa, great airport, and hangar. You have never seen "boring flat land" until you've been to Kansas!
 
If living on the west side of town is ok there is room in the community hangar at Cleveland county airport in Shelby. (KEHO) At least there was last time I checked a month ago. No tower but there is a good mechanic on the field.

I moved here from Ulysses, Kansas. I know of this flat land you mentioned.
 
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but with he shortage of hangar space across the country, why isn’t there more new hangar construction? It seems like a straightforward situation where the supply would eventually start to respond to the demand.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
If living on the west side of town is ok there is room in the community hangar at Cleveland county airport in Shelby. (KEHO) At least there was last time I checked a month ago. No tower but there is a good mechanic on the field.
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I'm most likely going to be located about 10 miles south to southeast of downtown. Unfortunately KEHO is a bit too far away for me. Over the years I've been lucky to have been located within a short drive to my airport base. By short I mean a 10 or 15 minute drive. Ideally would like to keep it that way if at all possible.
 
Cervieres said:
why isn’t there more new hangar construction?
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On the public side no or limited general funding. Plus private GA has been on the decline overall so the powers to be apply those limited funds to either keep the airport running, or luring Corporate/Airlines to the ramp. While it seems like a money maker the figures I've seen show different.
 
Larry Korona said:
I'm most likely going to be located about 10 miles south to southeast of downtown. Unfortunately KEHO is a bit too far away for me. Over the years I've been lucky to have been located within a short drive to my airport base. By short I mean a 10 or 15 minute drive. Ideally would like to keep it that way if at all possible.
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I am not familiar with anything on that side of town other than a few liquor stores. Good luck!
 
Sounds like EQY might be the closest, no idea what the hangar situation is like there but I doubt it’s very good.
 
WannFly said:
clearly you guys havent come to eastern ND
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I would cast my vote for Nebraska and Iowa.... Fly for hours and hours and all you can see is corn.. corn, corn and more corn... It will suck the soul out of ya' !
 
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AlphaMike said:
I would cast my vote for Nebraska and Iowa.... Fly for hours and hours and all you can see is corn.. corn, corn and more corn... It will suck the sole out of ya' !
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well, we do have some variety here... among all the corn fields there are soybeans and sun flower fields. lots of choices for forced landing based on your love for corn, vs others lol
 
WannFly said:
well, we do have some variety here... among all the corn fields there are soybeans and sun flower fields. lots of choices for forced landing based on your love for corn, vs others lol
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I can't say I've ever flown in ND but it is on my list! I would love to fly in and do some bird hunting! I did a hunting trip their about 15 years ago and it was some of the best bird hunting I've ever had.. one day, I'll be back.
 
AlphaMike said:
I can't say I've ever flown in ND but it is on my list! I would love to fly in and do some bird hunting! I did a hunting trip their about 15 years ago and it was some of the best bird hunting I've ever had.. one day, I'll be back.
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if you do, let me know. stop by KFAR or let me know where you are going. may be i will stop by to say hi. i have no interest in hunting, but i love birds (when they are not in my flight path), they are so tasty :p
 
Cervieres said:
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but with he shortage of hangar space across the country, why isn’t there more new hangar construction? It seems like a straightforward situation where the supply would eventually start to respond to the demand.
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The main problem is that it is nearly impossible to capitalize hangar construction and get it to pay back within the lifetime of a typical loan or bond. And tee hangars are not usually the highest priority for municipal bonds for publicly held airports. AIP grants from the FAA do not allow for funding of revenue generating facilities like hangars or fuel farms. We built three sets of tee hangars using opportune state transportation grants that do not have the AIP limitations, totaling something like 30 units over the last 20 years. These grants are very hard to get. Building tee hangars has been a godsend for financial stability of the airport. At this point, we are near the maximum capacity we can keep filled. I managed to scarf one of the first metal hangars in 1989. Before that I was in a wooden hangar which was more like a carport than a hangar. I usually had to shovel snow that had blown under the 6" gap in the hangar doors to get my plane out in winter.
 
Cervieres said:
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but with he shortage of hangar space across the country, why isn’t there more new hangar construction? It seems like a straightforward situation where the supply would eventually start to respond to the demand.
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I've wondered eh same thing
I asked the airport manager at KSGJ maybe a year ago. I was researching options dreaming of buying some sort of plane. they didn't even have available tie down space that wasn't cornered by the FBO. The only option was their high dollar transient hanger. I asked the manager why they don't just build more.... she said she wished that she could but there was no room.
I get that it's politically regulated, but no room?!? they have acres and acres of grass! they've got a huge commercial ramp area that's not used, they've got two cross runways one of which is not used....but no room for hangars and a waiting list of many years to pay big bucks for a hangar! If someone smart got involved they could bring in a lot more money and still charge more reasonable rental rates!
 
7_Zero_Whiskey said:
Sounds like EQY might be the closest, no idea what the hangar situation is like there but I doubt it’s very good.
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Monroe (EQY) would be the most convienient, but the last time i checked (November) there weren't any hangar's and not even a tiedown spot available. I was in the Charlotte area 25 years working at KCLT, intending to move back soon, aviation live's in NC, dead in WV
 
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