CAA: GA News, "Private airstrips, new development attracting pilots to fly-in communities"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, August 10, 2003 

Private airstrips, new development attracting pilots to fly-in communities
By Sam Tranum
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel 


Wellington . On days when 51-year-old Bob DeLoach feels like visiting his
parents in Atlanta, he just strolls out to his garage, hops in his four-seat
1966 Piper Twin Comanche airplane, taxis down to the grass airstrip next to
his house and takes off.

It's one of the perks of living in Wellington's Aero Club, one of more than
400 fly-in communities in the country, where homes are built around private
airstrips and houses have hangars.

The Aero Club was laid out in the late 1970s with 255 lots, said property
owners' association president Robert Morris. But it's only recently that it
has taken off, he said.

While the lots all were bought long ago, many sat vacant for decades. But in
recent years many property owners have built houses.

About 125 houses went up in the Aero Club's first two decades or so, and
about 75 more have been built in the past four years. Many homeowners don't
keep planes on their lots, which are each about one acre, but most are
"pilots or lovers of the aviation industry," Morris said.

Morris attributed the Aero Club's recent growth largely to the Mall at
Wellington Green. The 1.3 million-square foot, $150 million mall opened in
October 2001, but as long ago as 1997 it was clear it was on the way.

"It's a very hot area because of the location, the shopping," Morris said.

Dave Sclair, president of the Living With Your Own Plane Association, says
interest in fly-in communities is up all over the country.

"I get an inquiry about a new residential air park about once a month," he
said.

Renting space at an airport to keep a private plane can cost $100 to $1,000
a month, Sclair said. Many small plane owners find they'd rather buy a house
at a fly-in community and apply that money to their mortgage payments, he
said.

Also, since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many plane owners like
to keep more careful track of their machines, Sclair said.

"Since 9-11 people want to know who's near their airplane, what's happening
to it, who's on the airport," he said.

David Ventura, 58, has owned a lot at the Aero Club since 1997. He left it
vacant for years. But with retirement and the freedom to move to Florida, he
completed his house this year.

In his 1,800-square-foot hangar, he keeps a two-seat 1946 Aeronca Champ. He
just likes to go up to cruise the clouds once in a while.

The Aero Club "has just blossomed within the last few years," Ventura said.

Palm Beach County has several other fly-in communities, according to the
Florida Department of Transportation's Aviation Office.

They include Willis Gliderport west of Boynton Beach, Antiquers Aerodrome
west of Delray Beach and Tailwinds Airpark near Jupiter.

Florida's a hot spot for such aviation-centered communities, said Ron
Boydston, a marketing manager for Southern Aviator magazine.

It has good flying weather most of the year and plenty of flat land for
airstrips, he said.


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