Where do East Coast pilots hang out?

Tantalum said:
I find the smallish airports have a better community..

Sometimes you just have to walk around. I met a number of neat folks at Montauk, Block Island, Northampton, even Lebanon (NH). But as noted above hangars seem to be where the fun is it. There's a great guy at MYF who opens his hangar every Sunday afternoon/evening and people hang out, talk flying, grab some food. It's fun

I left FB 3 years ago and haven't looked back
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Need to organize a fly-in to East Hampton Airport before they close it to Hoi Polloi like us :)
 
Pugs said:

I'm not a facebooker so missing that venue myself. I do try and make the first Sat of the month breakfast fly-in at Nifflin Co PA and as many of the lunch fly-ins at Sunberry PA as I can, both easy flights for you. Join the EAA, lots of get togethers even for us certified flyers.

Propose something here. I've met up for PoA events at Cambridge MD and Williamsburg VA. Also a Piper lunch at Lancaster PA.
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Pugs we need to do that one together when you are up for it
 
I joined the local EAA chapter for the reason time meet other pilots. Our chapter does monthly fly-outs and other events. I’m even thinking of joining more than one chapter just to expand my network.
Anyone want to stop by KHGR, happy to introduce you to some other likeminded folks.

Anyone want to bring their wife? Happy to have my wife take them to the mall
 
Mahneuvers said:
The OP posted on this thread initially. Either she deleted and started a new thread or the admins helped her.
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Thanks, makes sense. I was wondering as I had not seen her post on this thread but saw her history on original 2018 thread and subsequent recent thread.
 
Dave Anderson said:
I joined the local EAA chapter for the reason time meet other pilots. Our chapter does monthly fly-outs and other events. I’m even thinking of joining more than one chapter just to expand my network.
Anyone want to stop by KHGR, happy to introduce you to some other likeminded folks.

Anyone want to bring their wife? Happy to have my wife take them to the mall
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I love the restaurant and fbo there.
 
Mahneuvers said:
I see breakfasts start ~9am. How long do they typically last? 10:30am is about as early as I could arrive.
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It's a laid back crowd. If you get there around 10:30 there will a few folks hanging around and eating. Depending on the size of the crowd and location, it will last from an hour up to two hours. Folks take the time after the meal to look at the planes and visit. You will have fun.
 
Possum said:
It's a laid back crowd. If you get there around 10:30 there will a few folks hanging around and eating. Depending on the size of the crowd and location, it will last from an hour up to two hours. Folks take the time after the meal to look at the planes and visit. You will have fun.
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It’s a BREAKFAST club! Show up for breakfast, because that’s what people do. 10:30 is chancing it, I’m sure a few people will still be around but in my experience people don’t stick around too long.
 
RussR said:
I do understand the reluctance to use Facebook, I do. It's a mess. But, anymore, asking something like "where can I meet other pilots and learn about fly-ins and other events", the easy answer truly is Facebook for most cases. Yes there are other websites in certain areas and maybe more will be started, but FB really is the 800-pound gorilla here. Saying "I want to keep informed of aviation social events, but I don't do FB", is kind of like saying "I want to meet other pilots, but I don't like hanging out in FBOs or hangars." A little exaggerated, of course, but the same idea.

If I "had to" reluctantly create a FB account, I'd just create it with minimal information, all privacy settings at max, and only use it to join and check aviation groups. I think you'd avoid most of the mess that is FB that way.
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I belong to a couple of west coast Facebook pilot groups, and they're great. Facebook's user interface is clunky and there are a lot of ads, but as far as other users are concerned, it is relatively easy to control whom we interact with.
 
I have nothing current to add to this question, but an observation from a while ago that I'd imagine is still true today. My experience is much like Trogdor's.

Some airports have an active airport bum community but most don't. Back when I was most active, I flew out of a little small privately owned airport that was very active at the time. JGG
A fairly active little school and maintenance operation ... and There's a little restaurant and great little patio very close to the runway and a great place to sit and watch takeoffs and landings and meet other pilots. I was lucky to have lived very close and was single in a new town where I didn't know anyone so was at a stage of life with lots of time on my hands. The airport was a great place to swing by on any random evening or weekend to judge landings and chat. Almost always someone there.

I moved a handful of times after that and never again lived near an airport that compared. Some had very active schools, and I suspect that some had small hangar friend groups that kept to themselves, but none had any sort of place for a pilot to just be an airport bum. FBO lobbies that were only business and no place to watch the runway, etc....

Now I live somewhat near an airport (SGJ) with an active airport pilot's association with two monthly meetings...an evening social and a saturday morning get together with either presentations or organized discussion topics. I joined for a few years as a rusty non-flying pilot just hoping to get back into it all, but it I live far enough away that it's not just a quick pop-over...and it seems that every time there was a meeting I had some life conflict.... and their club house is not at all situated to just watch airplanes so there's little reason for anyone to just hang out so there never seemed to be anyone around when I would swing by....so the only connection I ever really had was being on the email list.

I think my experience would have been a little bit different had I owned a plane and got a hangar when I moved around, but my guess is that that's usually a lot like most neighborhoods where you might have a couple neighbors that you talk with a bit, but most you either never see or only see long enough to say hi....unless your neighbor happens to be eman who bribes with free beer ;) my kinda guy!
 
Dave Anderson said:
Pugs we need to do that one together when you are up for it
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It's time we all meet up again for lunch. Had fun the last time at JGG, and I just caught up with friends/pilot at KESN - Easton Maryland airport. I had a rental car held and then we
drove to St. Michaels. Good eats and a good time.

POA at JGG

St Michaels
 
Not sure if mentioned. But on Fb there is a group “east coast private pilots”. They are quite active. Bit more northeast. Have meet ups just about weekly.
 
GMascelli said:
It's time we all meet up again for lunch. Had fun the last time at JGG, and I just caught up with friends/pilot at KESN - Easton Maryland airport. I had a rental car held and then we
drove to St. Michaels. Good eats and a good time.

POA at JGG

St Michaels
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Happy to do it but much prefer the restaurant at Cambridge.
 
Going to try and hit Cambridge for breakfast tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Week one of jury duty has fried my brain and need to clear the cobwebs
 
Would love to join you one day. My parents loved that area. They kept a sailboat in Cambridge for years. I did IM MD 70.3 in 2019 which brought back a lot of memories. I'll be in the area in a little under one month to disperse their ashes at Thomas Point...a testament to their affinity for the area. I have a vivid memory of watching the moon landing in the St. Michael's marina.
 
Pugs said:
Going to try and hit Cambridge for breakfast tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Week one of jury duty has fried my brain and need to clear the cobwebs
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I’d stop in but the timing is off. Hopefully next time
 
Today and every 3rd Saturday there is an EAA meeting at 11AM at KGVE in Gordonsville VA. It is a small group and they are friendly. Runway construction is supposed to start next month for 3 months and if it turns out as planned it will be a much nicer place to takeoff and land.
 
300° at 20 - 27 kts @ FDK - right now, I'm pushing to tomorrow to see if it's better -
 
Pugs said:
300° at 20 - 27 kts @ FDK - right now, I'm pushing to tomorrow to see if it's better -
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yup....just saw that and thought I need to keep the rest of my teeth. A small group was going to Grimes in PA.
 
16 G23 about 20 off the runway at FIT. Lol, just another flight on this windy spring. A little sportier at my destination, but nbd.
 
Not sure I can make tomorrows meet up. What was the location, just in case?

We sure had a crazy weather day here in Ocean City. Mary and I flew to a wedding in Millville NJ yesterday and came home to Ocean City with a visual approach. By the time we left the airport the rain started along with a wx warning for 80mph winds. We got hit with hail and one hangar at OXB lost its roof.
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I had a hard enough time just swapping the cover on my plane today... might fly Monday.
 
My wife is out of town visiting her brother, so it was stay home in CT and go flying or drive to the cabin in NY and go hiking. The wind may have kept me from flying, but it also kept the bugs off, it was a real nice hike.
 
Nice flight and meeting up with Gary and his wife but north of BWI going back into Frederick the wind and turbulence off the Catoctin Mtns sucked.

Kay's really is best airport breakfast I've had.
 
Trogdor said:
I have been flying around for a while and rarely see folks outside of students/CFIs. In fact, I only meet a new pilot in my area when I’m refueling. That’s about it.

Typically, the FBO is empty or there just isn’t a lot of activity there. Now, granted, I fly a lot during the week instead of the weekend so I realize that maybe partially it. Then there was this thing called COVID-19 (ever hear of it?), that was a bummer.

But anyway, where are some popular East Coast hang out spots outside of big events like Sun’n’Fun? Or is GA really a lonewolf operation? :)

Btw, I asked this exact question on Reddit in /flying too. Got a couple of responses and have been organizing a community around this concept of East Coast pilots since I can’t find anything out there. If folks are interested in please just privately message me.
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Man, do I totally get this! I'm tied up on the ramp a long ways away from GA hangars. They drive in their own entrance, I park at FBO. I never see if anyone is even there so tough to pester at an open hangar. I worked a bit with one person that claimed to be a pilot, we've never flown together (I've given up trying to connect). The only folks that seem to engage with me locally are the ones I am actively writing checks towards. 250+ hours into my flying I've only flown with one other pilot.

I considered building an RV, went to a few EAA meetings. My reviews of them were mixed.

I'm now working with the "lots of lone wolves" in aviation paradigm
 
What a sad bunch.....All y'all will get on here and chat but won't go to FB and see where the meet ups and happenings are? You're missing out... lol :D


btw....HGR just had a big pancake breakfast yesterday. I didn't go....just thought you'd want to know that. ;)
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
What a sad bunch.....All y'all will get on here and chat but won't go to FB and see where the meet ups and happenings are? You're missing out... lol :D
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I never see YOUR hangar open or I'd drop in. I'll even bring beer from our hangar. :D

Maybe I'll join the book of faces some day. :eek:
 

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We’ve grown now to about ~40 pilots. If people are still interested in hanging out online, I’ll send a link to the Discord channel.l if you PM me.
 
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William Pete Hodges said:
Today and every 3rd Saturday there is an EAA meeting at 11AM at KGVE in Gordonsville VA. It is a small group and they are friendly. Runway construction is supposed to start next month for 3 months and if it turns out as planned it will be a much nicer place to takeoff and land.
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Just letting you know Gordonsville KGVE is again open with a new airstrip. It is still 2300 feet long, now 50 feet wide, flat and smooth. The final survey is not yet complete so the facilities directory is not yet updated. The shoulders next to the pavement have not been filled yet so if you fly there be sure to keep all wheels on the pavement as there is right much drop off in most places. I can tell you it is flat as a pancake and smooth as glass!
 
William Pete Hodges said:
Just letting you know Gordonsville KGVE is again open with a new airstrip. It is still 2300 feet long, now 50 feet wide, flat and smooth. The final survey is not yet complete so the facilities directory is not yet updated. The shoulders next to the pavement have not been filled yet so if you fly there be sure to keep all wheels on the pavement as there is right much drop off in most places. I can tell you it is flat as a pancake and smooth as glass!
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Great news. I've always liked Gordonsville. Now if they could build footpath along the tracks to make it easy to walk into town.
 
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