Someone told me to go to your local airport and talk to people?

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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This is what I found on a bright and sunny day today!


Now in other more populated airports around my location, (Saint Pete FL, Sarasota FL...etc) there is more activity but not at my home airport! Also for the record I have been here quite a few times and it's still the same thing...ghost town. I'm going to try during the week.

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FloridaPilot said:
This is what I found on a bright and sunny day today!


Now in other more populated airports around my location, (Saint Pete FL, Sarasota FL...etc) there is more activity but not at my home airport! Also for the record I have been here quite a few times and it's still the same thing...ghost town. I'm going to try during the week.
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That's my kind of airport, but it can be difficult to connect with local pilots. Do they have any kind of meetings? Any connections you have there?
 
I had to check to see if the Payphone works....and it does :lol:
 
F01LA said:
That's my kind of airport, but it can be difficult to connect with local pilots. Do they have any kind of meetings? Any connections you have there?
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Not to my knowledge and if they do they don't advertise at all because I pass by the airport all the time.
 
Looks like its time for you to liven the plane up a bit! Get some young blood in there.
 
Used to keep plane nearby at wimauma. Was very reasonable. Was thinking about moving back. Like grass fields. Bad thing though is length. Would like to have 4000 ft. Was heavy today and little warm. Used most of 4000 ft on pavement. Wasn't pushing though.
 
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FloridaPilot said:
What do you have in mind?
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My line of thinking was more along Jeff's http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73474

But depending on the local talent, Henning's has some appeal as well. :wink2:

I'm 40 nauticals away from a little airport that sits next to a nice lake 5 miles outside of a small town in rural south central Ohio. The pilot community and a mechanic who devotes a lot of his spare time to the airport and its pilots' airplanes make it a far more attractive place than lots of other little airports where there is no one.

An after-hours potty, decent fuel cost, and a courtesy car go a long way. So many FBO's need sprucing up, and it can be relatively cheap with some donated labor.

That little chair and coin-operated telephone is a clean little setup, so someone there cares and might like some help.
 
iflyvfr said:
An after-hours potty, decent fuel cost, and a courtesy car go a long way. So many FBO's need sprucing up, and it can be relatively cheap with some donated labor.

That little chair and coin-operated telephone is a clean little setup, so someone there cares and might like some help.
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Yes, we agree.
 
Are there real hangars there, or just the car-port thingys? Without real hangars, there's no place to put a fridge, thus no beer, thus no pilots just hanging out.
 
iflyvfr said:
My line of thinking was more along Jeff's http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73474

But depending on the local talent, Henning's has some appeal as well. :wink2:

I'm 40 nauticals away from a little airport that sits next to a nice lake 5 miles outside of a small town in rural south central Ohio. The pilot community and a mechanic who devotes a lot of his spare time to the airport and its pilots' airplanes make it a far more attractive place than lots of other little airports where there is no one.

An after-hours potty, decent fuel cost, and a courtesy car go a long way. So many FBO's need sprucing up, and it can be relatively cheap with some donated labor.

That little chair and coin-operated telephone is a clean little setup, so someone there cares and might like some help.
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I would love to take this place over, (Airport Manatee) Pave the runway, put lights and a landing system build some better hangars. Make it a REAL airport for GA. What would make an airport more attractive to pilots especially GA?
 
Pave the runway? What is wrong with grass
 
I'm at KSPG and if 99% of my flights were not to the north I would seriously consider a hangar there. It's a 7 minute flight from me and when I need a grass strip fix it is where I go. My favorite part about the airport is in the description---"RY 07 AND 25 THLDS MARKED BY THREE GREEN LGTS AND ONE BUCKET ON EACH SIDE OF RY."

Privately owned so anything is possible. Give the guy a call. Hangars are over $500/mo 7 minutes away so build it they will come.
 
tlrussell said:
I'm at KSPG and if 99% of my flights were not to the north I would seriously consider a hangar there. It's a 7 minute flight from me and when I need a grass strip fix it is where I go. My favorite part about the airport is in the description---"RY 07 AND 25 THLDS MARKED BY THREE GREEN LGTS AND ONE BUCKET ON EACH SIDE OF RY."

Privately owned so anything is possible. Give the guy a call. Hangars are over $500/mo 7 minutes away so build it they will come.
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Is it $500/mo at KSPG?

That is way too much, what size?
 
FloridaPilot said:
Is it $500/mo at KSPG?

That is way too much, what size?
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559+tax for a t hangar...I got the last one available.



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Strange. Around here (Arkansas) there seems to be an RV builder/pilot "tweaking" the airframe/engine almost any day ant most of the airports I know about. I try to meet some of these guys - some of them are retired, but all of them look like they are having fun :)

The rest of us are weekenders. Just gotta earn a few bills during the week to pay for the toys ...
 
BG305 said:
I wish they where that cheap down in South Florida. If you can find one they cheapest it will be is $900/mo
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:eek::eek::eek::eek:

That is totally crazy!


So if people are paying that amount can we say the GA is not doing as bad as we thought?

Thinking about making an airplane storage place :yesnod:
 
I think I can relate to OP's problem. Getting to know anyone locally was excuriating, and I even joined EAA and an ultralight association. It's not like anyone is secretive, far from it, but it just falls down that way. There's no public-facing communication whatsoever. One airport (out of 5) has a board in the lounge like the one pictured. It has a local map with military operations areas and general practice areas (very useful), and couple of stale sale ads of overpriced Mooneys and Bonanzas, and a few business cards pinned.

The monthly EAA meetings provide a bit of a window into who's who, but one needs to come to them relentlessly and tug on people for info. It helps if you have something specific, like "I need a mechanic who can weld".

One day, EAA newsletter mentioned that we have a "Pilots Lunch" going on. Took me 2 years to find that information.

I remember how one day I went out to a satellite airport for practice, back when I was a solo student. The Approach controller said: "look out, they have a pancake breakfast there". Indeed, the pattern was full of airplanes. It was a great mystery to me why he knew about it, and I did not.

BTW, we have a Quiet Birdmen chapter. They only admit people with 500 hours of PIC.
 
zaitcev said:
I think I can relate to OP's problem. Getting to know anyone locally was excuriating, and I even joined EAA and an ultralight association. It's not like anyone is secretive, far from it, but it just falls down that way. There's no public-facing communication whatsoever. One airport (out of 5) has a board in the lounge like the one pictured. It has a local map with military operations areas and general practice areas (very useful), and couple of stale sale ads of overpriced Mooneys and Bonanzas, and a few business cards pinned.

The monthly EAA meetings provide a bit of a window into who's who, but one needs to come to them relentlessly and tug on people for info. It helps if you have something specific, like "I need a mechanic who can weld".

One day, EAA newsletter mentioned that we have a "Pilots Lunch" going on. Took me 2 years to find that information.

I remember how one day I went out to a satellite airport for practice, back when I was a solo student. The Approach controller said: "look out, they have a pancake breakfast there". Indeed, the pattern was full of airplanes. It was a great mystery to me why he knew about it, and I did not.

BTW, we have a Quiet Birdmen chapter. They only admit people with 500 hours of PIC.
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I totally understand, I'm a classic Introvert too. I approach people but with extreme caution. Some people, (In my mind) deep down would like to keep GA private. The exclusivity of it keeps some people attracted to it but GA wont thrive that way.
 
$175 in S. OH. Just think how many could be out flying on that $200-700 extra leftover for 100LL. Sad.

Yes, most of the gentlemen at my airport are just as friendly. :nonod:
 
zaitcev said:
I think I can relate to OP's problem. Getting to know anyone locally was excuriating, and I even joined EAA and an ultralight association. It's not like anyone is secretive, far from it, but it just falls down that way. There's no public-facing communication whatsoever. One airport (out of 5) has a board in the lounge like the one pictured. It has a local map with military operations areas and general practice areas (very useful), and couple of stale sale ads of overpriced Mooneys and Bonanzas, and a few business cards pinned.

The monthly EAA meetings provide a bit of a window into who's who, but one needs to come to them relentlessly and tug on people for info. It helps if you have something specific, like "I need a mechanic who can weld".

One day, EAA newsletter mentioned that we have a "Pilots Lunch" going on. Took me 2 years to find that information.

I remember how one day I went out to a satellite airport for practice, back when I was a solo student. The Approach controller said: "look out, they have a pancake breakfast there". Indeed, the pattern was full of airplanes. It was a great mystery to me why he knew about it, and I did not.

BTW, we have a Quiet Birdmen chapter. They only admit people with 500 hours of PIC.
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Agree. I have met some pilots but mostly through schools, meaning mostly instructors. But as far as meeting other owners or regular Joe pilots, not very many at all. I know a handful of pilots face-to-face.

I think SocialFlight is onto something, although I haven't heard if it has been successful at getting pilots out. I have heard about more fly-ins from them in the past several months than I ever heard of in the years prior.

But I'm less interested in flying someplace to eat pancakes in a hangar than I am in meeting my fellow owners based at my field. It's just that meeting them at the airport depends on random chance. We're actually at the field so seldom that it's just unlikely to see many folks. And when I do.. we are getting ready to fly and don't really have time to chat.

SocialFlight is great in its way, but I still see a need for local pilot forums and organizations - online like this one at the least. I'd love to be able discuss common concerns and ideas with people who are based at my airport.

Heck, maybe PofA could branch off a string of local airport subforums. I'd be grateful.
 
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This is typical of most small airports of this nature. There is activity there but it's kind of like watching a tree grow. I started out working as a Mechanic's helper at a small airport in the 70's and as such I spent an inordinate amount of time at the airport and it was the same back then. Some days you'd be lucky to see anyone but eventually, over a period of spending all day, every day out there for a year or so I got to meet and know just about everyone.

When you do see someone it's often like coming across a person out in the middle of the desert and you inevitably strike up a lengthy conversation because who knows when the next time you'll see another human being might be :dunno:
 
petrolero said:
Agree. I have met some pilots but mostly through schools, meaning mostly instructors. But as far as meeting other owners or regular Joe pilots, not very many at all. I know a handful of pilots face-to-face.

I think SocialFlight is onto something, although I haven't heard if it has been successful at getting pilots out. I have heard about more fly-ins from them in the past several months than I ever heard of in the years prior.

But I'm less interested in flying someplace to eat pancakes in a hangar than I am in meeting my fellow owners based at my field. It's just that meeting them at the airport depends on random chance. We're actually at the field so seldom that it's just unlikely to see many folks. And when I do.. we are getting ready to fly and don't really have time to chat.

SocialFlight is great in its way, but I still see a need for local pilot forums and organizations - online like this one at the least. I'd love to be able discuss common concerns and ideas with people who are based at my airport.

Heck, maybe PofA could branch off a string of local airport subforums. I'd be grateful.
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That is a GREAT idea! but I'd bet not many people log on from my home airfield I might need to find another place further away with more activity.
 
FloridaPilot said:
That is a GREAT idea! but I'd bet not many people log on from my home airfield I might need to find another place further away with more activity.
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Post a paperlink on the bulletin board at the airport! :lol:
 
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