I'm sure most don't know Wilgrove Airpark, 8A6 in Charlotte. A 2,800 ft x 40 ft asphalt strip (well mostly, there is some grass growing up through the cracks), surrounded by trees. A good ole boys, mom and pops airport. It's where I learned to fly, did my first solo on runway 17, did my instrument training (flew out of there, but there are no approaches into Wilgrove), even did my commercial training. Really sad to see it go. To the best of my knowledge, it was built back in the 60's. A really cool little airport. The airport manager has been leasing it for years. Apparently the owners/investors/whoever decided to sell it, to build houses from what I understand. Just really hate to see it go. A mere 90 days from yesterday and the show is over.
I had written a post and gotten Wilgrove confused with Goose Creek (did some training at Goose Creek), so I deleted it. When I lived in Charlotte I visited the airport a couple of times but never flew out of there. I know one of the instructors there, Robert Reynolds. Did some flying with him in a 182 one time out of Monroe. You hate to see an airport like that close.
Sorry to read this. Happened to the airport I started at a while back. Closed in 2006. http://www.airfields-freeman.com/IL/Airfields_IL_Chicago_S.htm#howell2nd
Yep. Happened to the one I originally learned to fly at south of Atlanta. The Clayton County jail sits on the property now. http://www.airfields-freeman.com/GA/Airfields_GA_Atlanta.htm#southexpress
I flew over there for the first time back before the holidays. My first thought as I was climbing out looking at expensive developments surrounding it was “man this place isn’t going to last long”. Nowhere for all those airplanes to go either. There are several airports for sale around this area. Real estate prices have risen so much that there is no business case for buying them. The income is no where near enough to justify the price. The only way these will sell is if someone wealthy that flies buys it just for the fun of it, or a developer buys it and bulldozes it for houses.
Oh no! That airport played a major role in me becoming I'm a pilot...although I've never flown into or out of it. Back in the mid 90's after moving to Charlotte I was out on a drive one perfect, crisp fall morning. I was driving on Albemarle Rd and surprised by a small plane cross right in front of me a couple of hundred feet. I made the next available left turn the direction the airplane was headed and soon found Wilgrove. I pulled off the side of the road and watched this plane do 3-4 more laps around the pattern. I was hooked. I started my private early the next year. I drove by the airport a few months ago and sadly, It was in pretty rough shape. With growth around the area, I'm sad but not I'm not shocked by it's fate. I'm definitely going to have to make a point of landing there in the next couple of weeks before it is gone for good.
We lost our local grass strip to lack of funding and activity . It is a county owned and with only occasion traffic it was leased out as horse pasture to a former county commissioner. The last active user moved his hanger and 150 to his home place about 5 miles from town. I remember back in the 40's there was a tar paper shack and a fellow giving flying lessons. When the Refinery folded in the late 50's population of town halved. Most the flying Farmers have passed on. There was never fuel service there. Just a nice 2 runway grass strip out in the rural Montana country side. But Ross International is still open . It straddles the US Canada border. They really do not like local traffic. No tower , no services , advance notification needed if for customs or immigration either side.
I was considering trying to get a bunch of peeps to meet up there. Maybe fire up the grill one last time.
I heard they were asking over 1m for that place. As a property investment it may be worth that, as a business there is no way. Add to that the runway needs to be re-paved 800k, All the hangars are pretty rough 500k+, and the FBO is trashed 1M. I think there are around 30 hangars for rent at $200.00 a piece for a monthly income of 6k. No gas revenue and not worth the EPA hassle and investment to install. How can someone pay the loan and live off 6k in income not counting taxes, upkeep and repairs. It's sad but that's why most little airports go away and only tax payer owned ones or private strips remain.
lol if 1M was a drop in the bucket to have a cool place for my buddies to hang out I would be all in. N63 and 6A5 are for sale 8A7 comes and goes from the market. ZEF is one of those that sold to a wealthy person who did it just for the sake of aviation even though he looses money every year.
I would think that if $1M was frivolous money, "having fun" money, then it would be fun to buy an airport like that and run it just to be involved in aviation. Let's just say I have a long way to go before I reach that status!
I peruse the airport listings from time to time dreaming about buying one. Don't have that kind of change though. 3A4 is in a spot I could commute to one of my company's offices. Ain't going to happen though.
Am sad as well. Got ticket there in 1989 with CFI Hank Dutch (rest in peace) sir. So much pressure with people wanting to live here the dirt has become too valuable for General Aviation. Many great memories
Oh man! I learned to fly and ultimately became an instructor at Goose Creek airport (28A) just a few miles southeast of here. I took my students weekly to practice at wilgrove! Sad to hear this news. I'd love to take the comanche back over there for old time sake before its too late.
Tangentially on-topic... If you are using Garmin Pilot (on Android at least, no idea about iOS) and have airports marked as "Favorite", make sure you remove the "Favoite" designation from any airport that gets shut down. Otherwise during the next database update an error will be injected into your GP installation and it will crash any time you try to do a search for an airport. The only way to fix it is to get Garmin involved to clear data on their end (actually very easy and responsive) and do a "Clear Data" on the device. This will, of course, remove all of your downloaded data and customized settings. Fortunately, most of the data you create (Pilot, Aircraft, Waypoint, Logbook, etc) is backed up in the 'Cloud' so that is not affected...
don't think I've ever added an airport as a favorite in GP. how do you do it but more importantly why do u do it?
With the Airport Info page open, hit the star. As to "Why?" Why does anyone have a favorite anything? That or so it will be with easy "reach" (a couple taps vs typing in an identifier) at all times. GP holds all your favorites on a separate tab. Just another way to categorize your choices.
