Why I Love Small Airports...

vontresc

vontresc

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I love the little airport in Hartford, WI (KHXF) where we have our glider club. It is the kind of place you can hang out all day, and have a good time even if you are not flying anything. The folks are wonderful, there are a ton of neat planes, and best of all there's ALWAYS someone out there willing to help you out.

This weekend during our Young Eagles day, the valve stem in the tail wheel got sheard off. We were about half way through giving rides, and we thought we'd be down for the day since we didn't know if we had a spare tube and tire handy. So we decided to ask some of the locals, and Romy (who probably has one of the most pristine PA-12s in existence) scrounged up 2 full spare piper tailwheels, and a jack. withing 30 minutes we were back in business.

Later that day as I was putting new tires on my glider trailer. I discovered that I apparently have old chrysler hubs on the axle. Some "genius" at chrysler apparently decided it would be fun to put left hand threads on the left hubs. As it turns out when you stand on a breaker bar, and bounce on it, it is pretty easy to shear off a 1/2" wheel stud :-(. As I am fighting to press out the old stud, Romy again stops by the hangar to visit, and says to me "Hey I got a 30 ton arbor press at home, and I can get that out for 'ya". thanks to him I should be fully roadworthy this afternoon.

Man I love hanging out at Hartford...
 
Life is good at the little airport.. !
 
vontresc said:
Later that day as I was putting new tires on my glider trailer. I discovered that I apparently have old chrysler hubs on the axle. Some "genius" at chrysler apparently decided it would be fun to put left hand threads on the left hubs. As it turns out when you stand on a breaker bar, and bounce on it, it is pretty easy to shear off a 1/2" wheel stud :-(.
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LOL. Really.

You aren't the first person to do that. Won't be the last.

It wasn't just Chrysler, but Chrysler seemed to hang in there the longest with those. Dunno if they still do that.
 
One of my favorite lil airports is in Thomaston Georgia. They have a back porch on the FBO that looks out over the flight line. The porch has several rocking chairs and it's just perfect! I wish I lived closer and I'd hang out on theback porch and drink country sweet tea! I'm homesick!

I hope this turns out to be a great thread with lots of suggested destinations (lil airports) to go and visit. :)
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
LOL. Really.

You aren't the first person to do that. Won't be the last.

It wasn't just Chrysler, but Chrysler seemed to hang in there the longest with those. Dunno if they still do that.
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Funny thing is, that I've told this story to a few people, and most of them had the same thing happen to them at some point. One friend of mine here at work told me a story how a buddy of his didn't figure out the left hand threads until he sheared off three of the five studs :yikes::D
 
What defines "small"? I've found that everyone has different definitions of small. I suppose for me that means an uncontrolled field with usually not a ton going on, and one paved runway.

I liked Cushing Municipal airport that I visited over Gaston's weekend in Cushing, OK. People were very friendly, airport itself was well-maintained, and it's got a decent-sized runway. I made some friends while hanging around there waiting out a thunderstorm. Even an NDB approach, which I was hoping I might have the opportunity to shoot for real, but it ended up being VFR conditions the whole time. I'd really like to shoot an NDB approach for real one of these days...
 
KBED isn't a small airport, but the aeroclub there can have a small airport feel
since there is often someone working in the hangar. And since the hangar is USAF
property, TSA and ma$$port haven't screwed it up yet.
 
Being worthless I mean workless has allowed me to spend tons of time at our airport, I think people are starting to confuse me with the really rich guys that are screwing around there everyday but in fact I am just a glider hobo waiting to take someone up in the Blanik.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
What defines "small"? I've found that everyone has different definitions of small. I suppose for me that means an uncontrolled field with usually not a ton going on, and one paved runway.
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When I did doctor outreach I would sometimes sit at an airport all day and rarely see another airplane take off or land. I wondered how some of those airports survived. :confused:
 
Everskyward said:
When I did doctor outreach I would sometimes sit at an airport all day and rarely see another airplane take off or land. I wondered how some of those airports survived. :confused:
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I wonder the same thing sometimes, but I'm glad those airports are there.
 
OtisAir said:
One of my favorite lil airports is in Thomaston Georgia. They have a back porch on the FBO that looks out over the flight line. The porch has several rocking chairs and it's just perfect! I wish I lived closer and I'd hang out on theback porch and drink country sweet tea! I'm homesick!
Click to expand...

I'll second that! I built the O'Reilly Auto Parts in Thomaston and had a hangar there for three months. I don't recall the name of the guy who ran the FBO but "southern hospitality" was an understatement when referring to him.

Hazlehurst, Georgia has a cool little airport also. But Moontown, AL and Shade Tree, MS are my two favorites in the south. Of course, they're both grass. Danny and Janet Miller own Shade Tree (MS82) and have a cookout every wednesday night under a big ring of live oaks. I'm sure you could simply show up with a sidedish and join the party. These two are another fine example of southern hospitality.
 
OtisAir said:
One of my favorite lil airports is in Thomaston Georgia. They have a back porch on the FBO that looks out over the flight line. The porch has several rocking chairs and it's just perfect! I wish I lived closer and I'd hang out on theback porch and drink country sweet tea! I'm homesick!
Click to expand...
Lantana near West Palm Beach also has a nice porch facing the flight line for sitting and watching. Plus the airport is pretty busy.
 
Romy and 3 other pilots from Hartford came up to 6Y9 two weekends ago, SUPER Guys.
They said they may be back for the Fly-in, I sure hope they do.
Wow! That is one NICE Cub that Romy has.( also nice Champ,Zodiac,Cherokee)
Hartford must be a nice place,active ,as the satellite shows they have about 50 hangers there.
Why do I like small airports?--the people!
 
el con said:
Romy and 3 other pilots from Hartford came up to 6Y9 two weekends ago, SUPER Guys.
They said they may be back for the Fly-in, I sure hope they do.
Wow! That is one NICE Cub that Romy has.( also nice Champ,Zodiac,Cherokee)
Hartford must be a nice place,active ,as the satellite shows they have about 50 hangers there.
Why do I like small airports?--the people!
Click to expand...

Yeah Romy's PA-12 (Super Cruiser) is about the nicest example of that plane you'll find. On a weekend day you'll see more tail draggers than trikes as well :-)
 
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