We live in an airpark, where most of the residents have a small plane (or two) and their own hangar. I love the sound of small planes taking off. For some reason, it reminds of the best parts of my childhood.
Neither my husband or I know how to fly a plane, nor can we afford one, but when we found this place, he loved it because it had “dirt.” Eight acres of dirt and cactus. So much cactus that if I ever see another one as long as I live, it just might be too soon. But you know what they say, “bloom where you are planted.” So we have. We have come to love living in the airpark and hearing the stories from our neighbors of their adventures with their planes. One of them even commutes from here to southern CA every day and another to Phoenix.
And then there’s Burt, who has his own helicopter which is really noisy. And someone here has an ultra-light. I can always tell when that one is around. It’s even more noisy than Burt.
Living in an airpark has its challenges with technology. We can’t have cable T.V. It has to be a satellite dish. Cell phone reception is fragmented. And there is no piped in gas. Everyone has a propane tank, but most of the homes are all electric. Hardly anyone has a garbage disposal because we’re all on septic systems.
But with the exception of the planes taking off, it’s quiet enough around here to actually hear birds singing, coyotes howling, and Harris hawks calling to their mates. Then at night, if they’re around, we can hear the owls of all varieties hooting like they own the place. I love all of the sounds here. And I also love listening to the quiet, especially right before the sun does down.
We stopped by the airpark office today and saw this plane. I don’t know what kind it is, but it sure looked interesting. The propeller is in the rear and it looks like it might be missing the nose gear. Huh?
And then we noticed the new sign. When I first saw it, I thought it was a railroad crossing sign. What????? The streets in the airpark are also taxi-ways. Like how could you miss giving the right of way to an airplane? Look both ways!!!
As always, click images to make them larger.
Namaste.
Eyes to See 
Thanks for sharing. A lot happening there.
Kenneth
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Reblogged this on Calgary Recreational and Ultralight Flying Club (CRUFC).
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I saw this airpark concept on TV some time ago, and thought it was amazing. I must say, I thought ALL residents would be aviators. Maybe you will one day? It has been very fascinating to read about this again from someone who lives in such a place. I live next to an air base which is also my workplace!
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Thanks for your comment and liking my post, Kenny. It is very interesting living here and maybe in my next life I’ll be an aviator 🙂 But for now, I’ll share in the stories that my neighbors tell about their adventures. When I watch the planes take off I always wonder where they’re going. Living (and working there) next to an airbase must be interesting as well. I imagine you see a lot of jets on a daily basis. One of these days I’m going to head down to Davis Monthan AFB and shoot pictures of the aviation storage yards. A lot of planes are kept here in storage because of the low humidity, limiting the rust factor. Up, up and away!
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I’ve seen pictures of a vast dessert area filled with planes, maybe this is where you’re heading? It’s beyond me to climb in to a jet here, but if my neighbours each owned a plane and kept it by their home – more, if my street was a taxyway – it would surely become infectious. I guess too, it can be enough just to admire those magnificent folks in their flying machines.
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[Edit] ‘desert’ not ‘dessert’ 🙂
I think I may be referring to the Mojave desert???
Do they store planes there?
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Not sure about the Mojave desert. My husband’s father was a Top Gun Navy test pilot out in the Mojave back in the 50’s. If you want to see aerial pics of our local plane repository, do an image search for Davis Monthan boneyard on Google. Some pretty good ones there.
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