“honey, Joe’s wife is sick, can you take care of control tower duty today?”
These little strips don’t use a tower. Pilots communicate with each other on unicom.
unicom
First thing I thought of reading on this tiny screen: 🦄
We need a community for keming.
No, you read it right, UNICOM
Or UNIversal COMmunications
Also known as CTAF, or
Common Traffic Advisory Frequency.
Basically the frequency you use when you’re in uncontrolled airspace.
They read it as unicor n hence the emoji.
A private (meaning, non-public) field like this one probably uses the multicom frequency, but yes. Self-announce on the CTAF. Irks me a bit there aren’t runway numbers.
Why do they need numbers? There’s only one runway.
Gives you a rough magnetic heading so you can line up easier and keep your pattern straight. Also to tell others which way you’re going to keep from crashing head-on (a north/south strip might be 36/18, for example, so ppl know which way you’re going).
A runway with two ends. And you’d probably be surprised how easy it is to choose one end when you mean another.
Also to identify it from the air as a runway. It’s paved and they painted a centerline; I would have also painted numbers and thresholds.
Tower duty? Where we are going, we don’t need towers.
Ofc it’s in the Midwest
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I guess it works as a pilot neighborhood but Rich people would never want to live in such an obvious place. Makes them too easy to eat.
Little known fact. Airplanes still use leaded fuel. I’ll bet that the blood levels for all of these families are elevated. Not a great place to raise a kid.
Disgusting.
Clarification: Only piston aircraft require leaded fuel. Which is unfortunately a pretty big part of the general aviation market, but similarly sized turboprops do also exist (though are more expensive) and it doesn’t apply to modern commercial aviation at all.
Further clarification: Only gasoline powered aircraft without the Auto Fuel STC require leaded fuel.
Although, there is an initiative underway to fully phase out leaded avgas. G100UL is the FAA approved formulation. Exciting time and long overdue.
No, G100UL is still going through the FAA approval process. But it’s been approved for many specific engines already, but the majority still aren’t allowed to use it. For a full FAA approval we could be waiting another 6-9 years.
The Next big problem is availability, which will only come with time. There are only a few airfields around that stock the fuel. (And from what I can tell… none that are here in Australia)
“FAA approved STCs for the use of G100UL in all general aviation piston airplanes in September 2022”
https://www.avweb.com/ownership/fuel-news/gami-begins-g100ul-stc-sales/
Interesting, now I guess we need general availability and maybe a ban on leaded fuels. Still gonna take some number of years before that happens, especially given the vast majority of oil companies don’t really care all that much.
Also now the FAA approved it, we just need every other agency in every other country to also approve it, should be a lot easier to do so now the FAA has and has the test data to offer.
There are also some plans in the works to fully end leaded avgas in the 2030s.
Except republicans are seriously trying to require that all airports that receive federal funding to still offer leaded gas. For reasons.
There is an increasing number of piston aircraft that have Diesel engines, and run on jet fuel.
Yep, and the FAA is taking it’s sweet time to approve a new unleaded fuel for general aviation that shows a lot of promise called G100UL. It’s estimated it could take another 6-9 years. Otherwise it’s currently only approved for specific planes and not available at most airports and aerodromes.
It’s approved as of last fall, but the FAA spent well over a decade stonewalling it with unnecessary bureaucracy.
Now we’re left with the chicken-and-egg problem of the market, where nobody will offer unleaded because it’s more expensive, but it’s expensive because it’s not widely used. The feds should subsidize it down to $4/gal for 5 years to get it off the ground.
The smell and noise would be unbearable.
It’s obviously for plane nerds that won’t mind.
Small airports like these really don’t smell like much. Sure: the fueling area, hangers, and maintenance shops have a smell, but it’s non existent as soon as you’re 50 feet away from them.
What is fucked up is how much leaded fuel gets dumped on the ground. Part of the pre-flight check for planes is taking a sample of gas from the lowest point in the tanks (the “sump”) to make sure there’s no water in it. It’s usually done with a tool like this one. A lot of pilots just toss the fuel sample on the ground rather than “dispose” of it properly.
Depends, looks like small planes, and even if 10 come and go everyday you would quickly stop hearing them at all (the brain is very good at ignoring useless stimuli)
That’s where you’re wrong, kiddo.
Source: I live in an apartment.
Eh, if you’re living in a air park like that one, chances are you’re a planespotter or an aircraft owner/pilot yourself, I’ll wager the sound is music to those guys ears. I certainly doubt anyone will complane, I mean they should know exactly what they signed up for.
I’ve got you bud.
Get some good speakers. Install an ad blocker (for now) and play “Air conditioner sound, 10 hours” on YouTube. It won’t annoy your neighbors, you can just say, “it’s muh humidifier” if anyone asks, but they probably won’t. Barking dog? Not in your bedroom. Vacuum cleaner? Nope, won’t hear it.
And you’ll get to where you can’t sleep without it.
I should download that video.
There are also open source white noise generators that have no ads to begin with, don’t need internet, and are more energy efficient due to not having to process a video stream. They also let you customize the frequencies in the noise!
Thank you for that. I’ll look into it.
I have a fan going, but many things are simply too loud.
I swear society has been getting louder over the years
Have you seen the unbelievably entitled, self-centered assholes who play music on trails because they’re too cool for headphones and fuck what anyone else wants?
Omg that triggers me
Works for my manager too
Studies to highway and airport neighbourhoods say otherwise.
As someone who lives near a highway I disagree. Fucking muscle cars and jake brakes.
I work at an airport. Cessnas and other small prop planes are perfectly fine and I think they are quieter than a harley for example. I bet those planes are the vast majority of planes flown in that pic of the neighborhood.
Once you put jets on things it can get annoying. Even small business jets are pretty loud for their size, not to mention commercial airliners coming and going.
At the end of my in laws small 8mx8m garden is a freight train line, and honestly, you just don’t hear it anymore once you’re used to it.
Oh your brain processes those sounds for sure, but it mostly filters them out so, unless there is an unexpected sound, you don’t pay attention to them
No, exactly this was disproven again and again the last few years. The unconscious sounds add to the stress level too, makes you sleep worse, etc.
Ok, may be different with only every hour or so. The studies are usually with constant traffic noise (like neighbourhood to airports, main roads).
Not sure if there is a misunderstanding but I’m agreeing with you
When I say the brain processes it, it means it does take some work and energy, although it might not bring it up to your conscious perception for you to react
See, there are some weird types like me who actually like the smell of 100LL, and don’t mind plane noise. I’d live there. But yeah, it’s definitely not for everyone.
You might mind the health effects of breathing so much of it in on a regular basis
We will eat them first.
Not really the same “rich” that need to be eaten…
Oh, my bad. Nevermind ♡
These people are rich, but they’re not the wealthy. These are your doctor types, not your billionaires. Doctors are paid well for sure, but they should be paid well.
A lot of people hear or read “plane” and assume like a million dollars. You can quite literally buy a single prop piston engine small plane for less than $100k USD. Yearly cost to maintain can be as little as a few thousand if flights hours are low.
You can get a Cessna 172 or even some nice Mooneys for around $50k. Unlike cars, even really old ones are kept in good running order because parts time out and have to be regularly maintained. Even if you want to buy a newer plane, a lot of people in GA use fractional ownership. That $200k newish Cirrus SR22 is fairly likely owned by 4 people splitting the bill. GA isn’t cheap by any measure, but it also isn’t exclusively for the wealthy. Upper middle class can get into it without too much issue. The people we should be raising everyone to, not tearing down.
We should not be encouraging anyone to fly private though. Getting a plane off the ground has a large impact on the environment.
My 1961 plane burns 25mpg, carries 4 people, and goes 160mph. I own a car that gets worse fuel economy.
A Rutan Long EZ running autogas has a better environmental footprint than a Prius and is more than twice as fast
Source for that claim please?
GA is not just private jets.
But, that’s $100k for a hobby.
Like, you’re almost certainly not using that plane to commute. You may use it instead of buying a commercial plane ticket when you go on vacation somewhere, but that’s not saving you any money, it’s likely costing you significantly more in storage fees, etc.
People who own planes aren’t billionaire-rich necessarily, but they’re still people who can afford hobbies that cost $100k.
They are multimillionaires but not the private jet money wealthy types.
The aircraft hold their value, and actually appreciate. The actual cost is about $10k a year. Lots of people spend far more than that on other hobbies.
Over half of all pilots in the US (200k) hold a commercial pilot certificate and use flying as their sole source of income or as a way to supplement their income. Commercial pilots makes $50k a year until they can become airline pilots which have salaries starting at $100k.
Of course they’re not using it to commute daily. You even pointed out in your first sentence: It’s a hobby.
Someone else in this thread also mentions that many small aircraft have multiple “owners” who share it. Just like timeshare vacation property. Everyone who is part in it, shares the cost of maintenance. This makes it even cheaper. This counters your statement of:
that’s not saving you any money, it’s likely costing you significantly more in storage fees, etc.
It can in fact be cheaper going this route.
People who live in a community where you can store your airplane in a garage and then commute from your garage to the runway aren’t going to partially own a plane. What would be the point in having that kind of a property but not being able to use it because you only got to see your plane one week per month?
Not every private pilot has a $100k hobby, but anybody who buys a house with a taxiway going up to it almost certainly owns their own plane, and their hobby is not cheap.
People who live in a community where you can store your airplane in a garage and then commute from your garage to the runway aren’t going to partially own a plane.
That’s where you’d be wrong. Many are shared. Just because one of the owners lives beside the runway doesn’t mean it’s solely theirs. I’m not the only one to say this. https://lemmy.world/comment/3346098
What would be the point in having that kind of a property but not being able to use it because you only got to see your plane one week per month?
Save money first and foremost. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved. And one week per month is a lot of time. You don’t know what the arrangement is for those involved. The time share could be wildly different depending on each pilots desires.
Also, many of those planes are timeshared. Most of the people I know in those places share a plane with several other people or have small kit planes they built.
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How dare you pay people who spent years at university and save people’s lives daily well
Yeah, exactly. Fight the good fight, but know your enemy. Your enemy is not your doctor.
when was the last time you’ve actually spoken to a human being in person not counting your family?
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Idk, I would not go with “I am a doctor so I deserve money with which I can live a live that seems so unhinged to the median income earner that I not only can allow to have a big car with which probably only one human at a time is driving, no, I also have a plane whith which probably only me is flaying at once and I have access to my own airfield”. They would still be on my menu right after the billionaires
That depends on the doctor. Not all are paid the same. Plastic surgeons get paid huge dollars for a lot of frivolous work. I’m with you there. But a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon… They deserve the big bucks. I don’t care at all that they can afford a German car and a small general aviation plane. I care more about the working class not being able to afford a decent new car and the billionaire that has to decide which super car to drive that day.
My wife’s grandparents used to live in a sky park like that. Right before the birth of my second child I was laid off and my wife was doing her student teaching. Suddenly in a rough situation with no income. Her grandparents came to visit for Christmas and their way of commiserating with us was to say, “I know how it is; we just had to sell our second airplane…” No irony, not joking. They honestly felt that losing one of their airplanes was equitable to losing a job with 2 babies in the house. It’s ok though, I came out on top. I have a job now and they’re both dead.
Ya but how many airplanes do you have?
I have a model of an F-14 I made as a kid, Microsoft flight sim and a 15 year old flight stick. Does that count? Full disclosure, the F-14 is missing a vertical stabilizer now.
I have a friend who lives in one of these neighborhoods but right in the middle of a city. Blows my mind that it was there the whole time and I just never noticed until I went to his house.
What do they do as a job?
And they can’t even afford an HOA to water the grass by the runway.
It grows on kerosene.
It has what plants need
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This exists?! Oh my That’s not just mildly, it’s really interesting!
Yup, John Travolta had and maybe still has a house like this to park his Boeing 707.
They are somewhat common-ish if you know where to look. I fly by one a lot!
But I don’t see any planes or hangars there or in OPs image?
Look for shed like things that connect to taxiways. They aren’t huge and don’t need to be if the aircraft is smol.
Residential hangers just look like big garages.
Bottom right of ops image (I also see one other plane a few drives up)
Indeed, one of our regional airports has housing with taxi ways to the runway as well. Instead of garages for cars they have hangers for the planes and cars.
I see!
These exist all across the country! Here’s a fun fact, the street signs are all 2 feet tall in these neighborhoods so that even low-wing airplanes can make turns around corners that have signs without risk of completely destroying their plane.
Oooh, cool!
There are thousands of them.
This is an exclusive neighborhood where only environmentalist TikTok influencers live /s
Lol
Where the hell am I supposed to put my boat?
At your summer house
Or better still, skip the airpark and get a lake front property with a seaplane and a boat.
http://www.casadeaero.net/text/about.php
Many pilots do this as a means of reducing the costs associated with operating out of areas with high hangar and service costs. This is Northwest of Chicago near Rockford. The about page explains a lot of the obvious questions.
lmao wow, how fascinating. when you think you saw it all…
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Must be lovely to hear your neighbor fire up their Cessna at 7 in the morning for their morning commute.
I’ve lived under a flight path, ~9km/6miles from the airport - while I understand the difference between a 787 and a Cessna 172, I’ve got no earthly idea why anyone would choose to have a runway in their front yard.
Because us plane people have a crippling addiction…
Haha - like most addictions, this feels a lot like self-harm.
You won’t commute like this lol
For the people living there I am sure that’s a feature, not a bug.
I live basically across the street from an Air Force base so I get turboprops over the house at 1,000 feet starting at about 7:00 5-6 days a week. Doesn’t bother me or my wife, we just like planes.
I love planes, but I wouldn’t want to live next to a fighter base. Cargo planes are super cool though
It’s a training base so we’ve got both here. I’m just on the prop side. Cargo planes are super fun too, used to fly C-17s over my old house all the time before we moved here.
I imagine the people living there probably don’t need to commute at all anymore, or if they do, it’s definitely not at 7 in the morning.
Enjoy being stuck behind the asshole in a C130 with trucknutz.
Would be super impressed if a C130 didn’t end up in the cornfield on t/o
C130s were designed to operate from relatively short unimproved runways. If the place has enough runway to operate corporate jets, it should have enough for a C130.
EDIT: This place only has enough runway (2998 x 50 ft ) for small Cessna size aircraft, so no jets or C130s.
I reckon a C130 could use it actually. The US Navy landed one on a carrier, which is probably shorter then this runway.
Edit: yes, USS Nimitz is 1/3 the length of this runway. C130 could land and take-off there with no issues.
God that is so fucking glorious
Those are booster jet engines?
Jet Assisted Takeoff - The gif is Fat Albert which is part of the Blue Angels. There was a plan to use jet-assisted landing and takeoff to rescue hostages in Iran but it wasn’t used after a failed test of the landing jets.
Yep, “Fat Albert” JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) C130.
Solid rocket boosters, but they’re called “jet assisted take-off” for some reason.
God Bless America.
American problems (too short of a runway for your jumbo jet) require American solutions (rocket boosted Yeehaw 🤠)
Muddin’ on the weekends!
Thank you, this gave me a good chuckle.
Hoskins Field in Washington is like this, but more trees and turf.
Here’s a nice big one just south of Daytona Beach
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.0625058,-81.0461691,1579a,35y,359.1h,44.09t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
Here’s one I was thinking of near Ocala, FL, I believe John Travolta has/had a place there:
29.2747779, -82.1204260
And another one in Yucca Valley, CA:
34.1289163, -116.4077455
Whoa. That area has things that look like roads, but are extended taxiways from the homes to the runway. For the early-alphabet taxiways there’s a clear distinction between the public roads and the taxiways. The roads end in dead-ends before the runways, and the taxiways end in dead-ends before the roads.
But, when you get to taxiway echo, it actually crosses Spruce Creek Blvd. So, you could be slowing down to a stop sign, only to see a plane taxi across the road in front of you. I wonder how often cars end up on that taxiway by accident.
