Benefits of Choosing a Fly-In Community

 

Pilots don’t leave their love of flying at the airport. Instead, they choose to take advantage of these 3 benefits of choosing a fly-in community.

 Imagine parking your plane in a hangar attached to your garage. The next day, instead of hopping into a car to get to work, you step into your aircraft, and fly there. Fly-in communities, sometimes called airparks or aviation communities, give pilots their dream lifestyle. Learn three benefits of choosing a fly-in community.

What’s an Airpark?

Airparks, fly-in communities, or aviation communities are developments that were either planned to accommodate private pilots or grew around airstrips and just turned out that way. Although no one can really pinpoint the first airpark, it’s generally accepted that the concept began after WWII, when the U.S. suddenly had an overabundance of airstrips around the country and a population of aviators that had ballooned from just over 30,000 to more than 400,000 after the war.

Someone came up with the brilliant idea to build housing along the airstrip that would accommodate pilots and their personal aircraft. The airpark was born, and the benefits of living in a fly-in community soon became apparent.

Social Benefits

When you love an activity, you also love to talk about it and exchange stories with others who enjoy the same pursuits. In a fly-in community, all your neighbors are pilots and their families. No one thinks it’s odd that you pull out of your driveway in an airplane instead of a car, or that the streets are wide enough to accommodate a taxiing aircraft. Your neighbors will be happy to chat for hours about the best flight bag or when it’s time to replace your aviation headset with an upgraded model.

Amenities

Homes with attached hangars aren’t inexpensive, and buyers often expect additional amenities to go with the ease of flying in and out. These might include exclusive golf courses, clubhouses, medical services that make house calls, and even restaurants or shopping dedicated to serving that aviation community.

Other airparks have tried to be more attractive and affordable for families while offering the benefits of choosing a fly-in community.

Ease of Flying Access to Remote Areas

Airparks give pilots access to remote areas of natural beauty that can be reached safely by plane and a place to fly home to when the visit is done.

Of course, the primary benefit of living in an aviation community is the ease of getting into the air. Follow all required pre-flight procedures, and off you go on a schedule of your own choosing.

There are over 600 airparks in the U.S., including Stellar City Airpark in Chandler, Arizona. If you can’t find a home available at Stellar City, explore homes for sale in or near Chandler, where you can rent a hangar or tie-down. (Currently, there is a waiting list.) The area is serviced by the Chandler municipal airport (CHD), only 18 miles southeast of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. As a general aviation airport, CHD offers FBO and other aviation services.

If you’re considering buying a home in an air park community, be sure to check out the layout, whether there are separate roads for cars, and whether the community is connected to nearby city utilities like water and sewer service. Check for adequate cellphone signals and how you’d access internet service, the size of the home hangars, and the proximity of aviation services.