We made a RUNWAY in our BACKYARD! (mostly...this is how)
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 28. 08. 2024
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So for quite a while now, even before I quit flying for the airlines, Iâve wanted to live on runway. The ideal situation was to buy land and build a runway, but that was likely never going to happen due to cost and lack of land around.
Recently we had been thinking how cool it would be to create a Pilot Lodge, a sort of flight school with onsite housing for students, focusing not just on churning out new pilots, but teaching true flying skills, making students the safest and most competent pilots possible. Of course, thereâs no better place to do that than Alaska, and as luck would have it, we stumbled into our dream property. Over 100 Acres, with a home, hangar, and itâs own airstrip, just a 15 min flight from downtown Anchorage.
Now if it was just an amazing home with a great hangar, perfect runway, and with a few guest cabins on the property for students to stay in while flight training, that would have probably been out of our price range. Honestly, after looking for years, itâs also a bit non-existant.
So this is our new home. The runway is great for bush planes like a Super Cub, but could use some improvement for students flying 172s, the hangar could use a coat of paint or 10, weâve got some work to do building housing for students and CFIs, and thereâs plenty of house projects to go around.
So this is our story, or at least a new chapter in our story.
Building my dream of a hangar and home on a runway, on our runway and
building a Pilot Flight Training Lodge in Alaska.
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-Jon
I'm sure you have figured this out or someone has already said it. Airplanes are engineered for a reason. So are roads and the aggregates of which they are made. Top soil goes on top for a reason. Its high organic content makes it hold water, freeze and thaw (expand and contract) and become mud which squishes around. You don't build a house on swamp mud for that reason. You digg down and pour a solid footing. So too with a road or runway you want as solid a base as you can manage. Rock/clean gravel if possible. Then a "road base" which has smaller rock and some finer material but no "dirt/top soil." Just the stuff you would find a couple feet under a normal field. Once that is laid in and compacted you want a layer of organic soil, buy only enough to get your grass to grow. I applaud you for doing this yourself. You have made most every mistake DIY road and driveway builders who come to my gravel business typically make including overfilling their dump trailers. Most people don't realize a yard of gravel weighs 2700 lbs or more depending on its moisture etc. A trailer rated at lifting 1500 lbs will struggle dumping a half yard let alone 3 or 4. If you want to fix your loader brakes:often a single wheel is the offender. It starts a leak and the brakes won't hold pressure. They are a pain to rebuild if it's possible anymore on an older machine. So...you don't need 4 brakes but you need some. Take the hose off at the offending wheel, insert a roofing nail of the appropriate size, put the hose back on and tighten it up. Bleed the brakes and you should get better action from the pedal. Make sure you purchase a STC for that roofing nail from me. I run a gravel and dirt moving company and would be happy to offer any help I can. I hope your place fulfills all the dreams you have and enriches the lives of many pilots. Thanks for all the great videos.
You already know this is going to be every pilots dream
Living the dream. Suggest you hold off âfinalisingâ the ramp or runway until the soil-works have good time to settle. Vibrating roller would fast-track that but even still - nothing beats time. Drainage will also be important. Ensure you have good run off drop away from your core works. If not, go back and put in drains as water will eventually undermine you.
Watching the high speed of you jump in and out of the loader, with it losing pressure, then using that with trailers dump mechanism has made my day. I was dying lol. Thank you, most people just skip through this kind of discovery process.
I believe you boys are doing a great job, especially not being familiar with heavy equipment, You learn a great deal by doing and learning what works best.
It has certainly been LOTS of learning. Lol
Watched friends build a private strip. COMPACTION is essential. The more the better. Grass will grow over time and spread. Don't think you need to seed everywhere. If the compaction is well done, you can fly while the grass grows. Rock //> Gravel //> Well compacted dirt on top. Loose gravel will ding propellers.
Your best video ever. Good to see another side of aviation.
I've got a whole new appreciation for runways now...especially gravel and grass strips
Water is key for compaction. Keep it damp and just keep driving over it every 6 inches of fill, back and forth so there's tire marks on all of it, then fill the next 6" lift. No need for separate equipment. Also, grade the runway to drain to one side or the other so you don't end up with a muddy mess every time it rains. The ramp sounds a little steep. I would keep it under 5% grade, otherwise you'll have issues filling tanks to the top, and planes rolling away before tie-down. 8% is where you are at, and that will shut doors on you by gravity. That's the max slope of an ADA ramp for reference. Be aware that looking "level" is usually just planar and can slope significantly even if it looks level. To get a nice consistent grade, use the laser to set the top of wood stakes at the grade you want and grade right up (or down) to them. No guesswork. Maybe I'll get up there in the summer and get a tailwheel endorsement. I'll have to bring my survey gear when I do.
Also, you don't compact soil with a steam roller. Those are for smoothing out paving and aggregate base, not compaction. A Sheepsfoot compacts soil, or like I mentioned, any heavy tractor will compact easily to 80-90% compaction.
Thanks for the advice! Deff bring your gear up here...lol We'll be working on runway #2 and #3 next summer
If he already put everything down as one big thick layer should he pull it off and go back in as 6-inch layers? Is that the best for compaction?
@@chrisruf7590 Seeing as he's not building a structure on it, it's probably fine. They kept rolling over pretty much every inch with both machines, so it's nothing to worry about. If some spot started to sink, they could mitigate that spot when it happens. If a structure went down on the fill, they should go down to native and fill it in lifts just like that. I've had projects go down 30 feet into bad fill dirt and do exactly that.
Fuel for the aircraft. SOLAR for the house and hangar !!
Awesome! When I get ready to make my own runway I can get back and watch these videos again! Gonna be a while, but, it's all ground work before the big adventure! đđ
please post as many of these as possible! i loved every second
Jon, thank you soo much for bringing me along. I get to see the man that's living my dream!!!! I super enjoyed your video and can't wait to see the follow up!!!!
Hang in there, you're doing great!
Thank you!
Hey Jon, I'm the Buckeye who met you at Wasilla Airshow! This is looking great, and I hope to see it one day! Go Bucks!
Congratulations, what a fun project and plan.
Wow - what a project - and so much learning... admiring your DIY approach - you guys make a good team - can't wait to come and say hi on the ranch
Looking forward to it! Hope you make it up here soon!
Dirt work takes years to learn, props to u for just hopping in
Looks like yâall are getting it figure it out best way to learn is to just start doing it. I laughed when you said the grader didnât have breaks lol none of them do that what the blade is for keep it close to the ground when your in tight area and the machine at full throttle so you can throw it down real fast. After I buy a new piece of equipment I always try to change all the fluids/filters might not be a bad idea for yâall check all the screens and magnets for Metal if you catch something early might save you a lot of time down the road, equipment breaks itâs almost guaranteed make sure you put whatever fluid it calls for to go back in it. Hope this helps
Worst enemy of a gravel road/runway is water. You have the perfect tool (grader) to keep all your roadways crowned to keep all the water running off the road into the ditches
Your "trencher attachment" for the dozer had me falling out of my seat laughing! Some good ol back country "innovation" there!
Oh yes.. runway house is the dream
My wife laughed at me when I told her my dream is to own a property with a runway. I am not a pilot yet, but I have 10 hours in my logbook as a student pilot. If I can't afford to own one in the US, I will try it in Burundi. You're living other people's dream, stay Blessed everyone.
Haha, I support you in that dream! You've got this!
Excellent video. I admire and respect your boldness to execute your vision. You have a great plan. Hang in there. Working on something similar in NC.
Thanks for the note! Hope your project in NC goes well! It's been a steep learning curve here, but a lot of fun along the way too!
Where in NC?
I wouldnât mind go up there and training with you guys.
Please keep us posted
Come on up!
If you still need to move a lot of dirt next year, hire a wheeled motor scraper and someone who is really good at running it. The scraper will move more dirt in a day than you will with the dozer and loader in a week.
Iâm certainly looking forward to the end result.
That machinery work looks fun, but anyone that has run a machine for 16-20 hours a day knows - ITâs EXHAUSTING :-)
Great place you got there, congrats. Awesome to see you going for doing the work yourself, I thought it was just me doing that.đ
You need to remember that soil do not compact without water, you would like it damp at all times and roughly you will have a third of what thickness you started with after compaction when done properly. You also do not want the area to be compacted to be let say more than n foot deep at a time, otherwise you will have the top compacted nicely and over time it will go down and you will have an very uneven area with high and low points. Using G5 material for the bottom and going on to smoother materials as you are aware of is of great importance.
I constructed a bush strip on a hilltop 1900 ft X 50 ft, its a lot of work and it takes a lot of effort as you know by now. It was a great learning experience for me. It was always a dream of mine to fly in Alaska, In hopefully the last stretch of my four place Bearhawk 260 hp build, I can get to the dream to fly it to Europe, Ireland, Island, Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. In the meantime we build and dream on. Thanks for sharing your dream with us, its always motivating to see someones dream being realised after so many years. Have fun living your dream!
Thanks for the note and the tips! Certainly learning a lot about the types of material we have on the property and how to move them around, and then finally compact!
Student pilot here who just worked with bush pilots for about 6 months in Alaska. Currently flying out of North Carolina but not the same experience, please keep us posted as to how taking classes with you guys would work! Thanks.
Great video of how not to operate heavy equipment. Good luck and hopefully you won't kill yourself before you finish the project.
Good luck though and love your channel!
I live in Anchorage, might have a couple of us willing to come up and help with some of the projects. My buddy is a former Army Engineer and can drive anything up to a D-8 but refuses to drive a grader (lol) -- don't be afraid to give a shout out. Big Lake is not that far away.
Its true. I am the buddy, and been a fan for a while. Give a yell if you want any help. Iâm retired and can come up pretty much any time to help out
Give us a call sometime! 234-738-2582
Looks like fun. The State of Alaska probably has an aviation dept. Under their DOT. They should have info on runway construction and it's probably free. Good luck.
11:25 loving the ingenuity đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
I have a grass strip in Wasilla. Red Rye is the variety of turf to plant. Hardy and doesn't grow too tall if you don't have time to mow it often.
Any difference between that and the "red fescue" folks talk about?
I don't know about red fescue. I had a fescue lawn in California and the blades were coerce and wide. Red rye is fine and almost cylindrical. If you get to Wasilla you can check it out. East end of Upper Wasilla Lake it runs south from the shoreline 1000'
I helped a buddy build a runway on his property this year, it was a dry summer here in the pnw and it was a dirty, dusty but a heck of a lot of fun endevour. At first it was just going to be turf, then someone offered us 550 tones of free gravel fill and we decided to upgrade and made a nice raised grade 900' strip. It was even more fun landing it for the very first time, well it was damned right exciting actually. Your in the best part of your life when you get to jump on machines and build an airstrip.
Your pedal in your dozer is for mainly slowing down so you can adjust your pedal to make grade. I'm sure you thought of this, but if you didn't please make sure you have water flow off the run way and ramp. Love these videos btw
Wow! This is exciting! I hope to come up sometime. I went through the runway building process myself. Just finished last year. Nothing like landing in your own back yard and taxiing right up to the house!
It's still exciting everytime!
How is that done ? Every state I own land in says it's impossible to legally land in your own land/Off Grid Ranch. California and Alaska said "NO"
Hi from the uk. One thing been done over here before, get a load of road plannings (old tarmac from roads) spread it around, throw some red diesel over it, light it and Boom youve got your own tarmac đ€Łor you could just get some plannings and compact it with a roller đ€·ââïžđ€·ââïžđ€Łđ€Ł
So excited for this series!
your living my dream!! Keep the details coming
What an amazing idea John! I wish you all of success and look forward to many amazing flight training videos!
I sure would love to move to Allaska
Visited few years ago , wish I could have stayed
Good on you. Happy Flying
So awesome Jon. you are really living the dream. i bet you dont miss that airline life one bit do you.
What a great adventure. Living on the runway was my dream for a long time but figured out I donât really like to mow or spend time maintaining a runway! Will definitely be following your progress and would love to visit for some back country flying!!
It certainly is a ton of work...but so far it's still lot's of fun...having the right equipment makes it a lot easier
I had no idea you were in Alaska! Howdy, neighbor lol. I'll have to fly down sometime when your runway is finished.
Looking forward to checking out the airport plates
Offset your grader tires and use it to help compact your dirt. Or a loaded tandem axle dump truck. Still not as good as a compactor roller.
Wish I could come trade skills. Having my own grader and other dirt equipment as well as electrical and mechanical skills. Love your plans for a bush school in Alaska.
Great job man⊠all the best. Small advice, get Remote Radios so you both can coordinate and donât have to jump out so many times if you donât have them already. This is very inspiring.
Thanks for the tip!
Hi Jon. I love watching your videos. They're entertaining and informative. I am a licensed electrician and live in Kenai. If you need a hand with anything please let me know, I would love to help you out with anything you need. Thanks John
The fishing, Salmon, đ«¶đŸ digging this.
Training up there with you and my husband would be a dream come true!
Thanks for helping me become a pilot. Proud of your work. What an incredible venture. Would love to come and study with you
Thanks for the note!
Very interesting stuff. I donât know anything about that type of stuff, but Iâm all about figuring it out as I go. I have a buddy who used to survey airports and land for future airports whoâs brain I could pick for you. Iâm just right down the road from you if you ever need a hand.
The loader bucket and the grader blade are your brakes drop them and you will stop all good
I've been using that technique...but it seems to be adding a lot of speed bumps to the runway
He knows what we want đam coming please finish it asapppppp
Pilot when an airplane has a lightbulb out: âcanât fly that is too unsafeâ
Pilot when a 20ton loader has no brakes, and leaks hydraulic fluid: âit still moves under itâs own power so weâre gonna run it!â
yeah... cause it's slow.
one of them you can just stop and fix when it breaks down. not really an option for the other
@@evankirkpatrick8741 key word there being âstopâ lol
@@DustyLambert just drop the bucket, or blade on the grader, and it'll stop.
Amazing!!! Good luck with your spectacular project and dream, Jon đđđđ
Thanks so much! It's awesome making it come true!
I just mowed the native grass that was on my property already, done. Frequent use gets the voles to move elsewhere. Since I installed a pop up sprinkler system, I never see any dust on takeoff. I drag a landscape rake on it every spring, then fertilize it, that's it. 35 years, two different runways handled like that. You mean to tell me all pilots don't have their own home runway??!
Awesome!
What I have found out over the years... most heavy equipment brakes are sketchy and don't work well even on new stuff. Find a roller to compact that. ? do you have year round fuel delivery? you might add jet A and diesel also to your fuel farm Looks great!
Thanks! Headed to the next auction to find a roller!
Matt from Diesel Creek is an equipment operator/CZcamsr who shared grading his lot and building a road to it.
Any updates on the project? I'm looking forward to seeing the next part as this idea is awesome! I wish I could move to Alaska :)
Waiting on ep. 2
This was great to see up close what's involved in building a new runway. The location looks beautiful! I can't wait to see how this develops!
Thanks Adam! It's certainly an amazing place!
Youâre living the dream! I just bought my own property with a 2200â grass strip already on it. Now that Iâve seen the work that goes into it I appreciate it that much more. Iâll be following along and would love to come visit one day. If you and Steph ever back in Kentucky shoot me a message and stop in.
Will do! Congrats on the strip! You're lucky it was already there!!! lol
That looks awesome!! I live in the mid-west and built a runway in a hayfield with a harley rake on my skidsteer for my C182. Wish I would have rented a road grader like you to smooth out the bumps and humps! Looking forward to seeing you summer of 2022!
What is your airport identifier?
Come on up and visit! We'll have an identifier soon, not on the chart yet. It's about 3nm north of the Big Lake strip
My friend Chris Curtis owns a maintenance shop called Summit Aviation in the Wasilla area. Look him up if you need any maintenance or especially engine work done.
EXTREMELY INTERESTING!!! More please!!
Youâre doing a great job.!đđŒ. Endeavor to persevere.!đđŒ. Canât wait to fly out of there someday doing some training with you and your team.
Great work to accomplish a dream goal.
I am Super Excited, I'm in a 141 flight school right now and most the students answer when asked what they want to do in aviation that they want to be a commercial pilot Me on the other Hand my dream is to own a small airport and fix up GA aircraft and sell them and live the small aviation life. I've been searching for CZcams videos about small airport owners and the ins and outs of running an maintaining a small airport and even building one and here you are finally the answer to my craving
Glad to hear it! Its been a fun adventure learning the process, certainly a steep learning curve. Stay tuned for all the updates!
That looks like so much fun. Hope i can stop by when i come thru. Maybe finish up my commercial
Hope to come visit summer 2022! Let me know how to make it happen, be happy to support the dream
We'll get some more details up on the website here soon! Would love to have you!
Man, I'm on JBER and looking to eventually finish my PPL. I would love to see this place as my dream is to live up here and have my own runway access. This would be pretty cool to see in person!
Check with a civil engineer first**** However one sure way to have a runway from my experience of building roads. Dozer it down to clean gravel, sheep foot the crap out of it for multiple days. Then smooth drum and water for another 3 days. Next add 8 inches of washed sand, then smooth drum and water that for 3 days, next add 6 to 8 inches of either class 5 or 6 gravel, and again smooth drum and water for 3 days. Cut your road to have run off and you are done. No dust. If you want grass, I'm not entirely sure what to do, but I'd just add grass seed. Or hydro mulch, however that stuff is spendy.
Great run down of past few months of your project, congratulations!
Thank you!
What a fun and cool project... In the capital state of G. aviation.. Happy for you
super project, will visit you some day
How blessed you and your family are!!!!!..... New subscriber too...
finishing my 12 in Soldotna ill definitely be coming up for some training
This is way cool ..what a dream come true .I wish I had u as a teacher...I would love to come check it out one day .I'm doing your ground school right now .u are good at this .keep it up .
Best of wishes with your ground school and we hope you come visit!
I just moved to Alaska and am building a lodge in Seward. If you ever pass through our doors are always open. Also looking to get my pilots license eager to see what comes of your project when its up and running. Trade lessons for construction services? Have some equipment, crane, excavator, trailers.
That's tons of work. A really great effort. I suspect you will be redoing some of that after your first full season due to decomposing organic matter. All vegetation, organic soil should be removed first, then back filled with hard mineral rich hard soil/sand & gravel. Need to consider elevation, grade & drainage for those wet months to avoid erosion & washouts. The petro storage should have heavy gravel/rock foundation and built up above grade. - It's not like you really had enough time though. Maybe we can trade endorsements for build work- LOL
My dream is also to live next to a runway, with my own plane! So awesome
The Alaska extension service came up with a grass mixture for Alaska runways, check it out
Canât wait for part 2, awesome project!
wow very cool! put some breaks on that mombo...you could do some kind of barrels half filled, if you drilled a center hole and pulled a 2".pipe through it that would work...someone on CZcams did that, I'll look around it's out there.. also huge air compressor, I just picked up a 30 gallon 6hp....one inch drop for 3 feet when you're doin a sidewalk...buy an old b class fuel truck...then.you can pick up fuel at the refinery. much better price, and the truck will have a meter with ticket punch....then people will have a receipt when they fuel up.... you already bought the tanks but thats ok the truck.will pump in or out...an average b class will haul 4000 gallons...road base is pretty good for just a basic road and its cheap..
If you ever need to stop quickly in the loader just drop the bucket. it'll dig into the ground and kill your momentum real fast
Looks like a great spot. I have property over on Flat Lake and I live in Palmer. I just came across you because I have been checking out Bearhawk videos lately. Iâll be working on my PPL before too long. Iâm excited to find your website and that you are nearby.
Don't hesitate to reach out if there is any way we can help with your future flight training needs!
All the best what a place big plans ahead cheers
People criticized you for leaving the airlines but this is way better
Lol....I certainly am happy with my decision, don't know if it could have worked out any better!
Sooo sweet man! You should hire me, I could help make all this possible, 19 years as a diesel mechanic, some experience operating equipment, and I should have my CFI wrapped up by the end of this year, and CFII by spring next year. I could help keep everything running, & instruct as well. I was in AK for 2 weeks in September, stayed at a B-n-B about 1/2 way between Wasilla & Knik. I wish I would have known about this, I would have came & helped after finishing up my commercial ASES in Talkeetna.
Come on up and instruct for us! Shoot us your resume via email...cfi@fly8ma.com
You need Soil tech thatâs what the military uses to build runways in the desert and we use it to build BMX tracks it will turn dirt into concrete
Welcome to Alaska brother!!!
very interesting, good luck building all the stuff Dave Canada
Youâre living my dream. Enjoy it all.
good luck and have fun. we have had our farm since 1836 (well actually since 1824) but the airplane part started on it in 1939. part of it is having fun...and I have no idea how it works in Alaska but here in Texas
1. drainage is everything. even on a 2500 foot grass strip with a "crushed concrete" parallel you need drainage. we go so far here to dig drainage ponds where we shape the drainage to. its not only drainage but slope of drainage...we aim for quite a bit less slope then I think I heard you say. (sorry up all night flying in the P8) ...
2. foundation is everything. we constantly buy road crushed asphalt/concrete gravel whatever when they tear up roads to resurface here, stockpile it and then as necessary spread it. we get crushed asphalt for about 400 dollars for 2 tons and its well worth the money. crushed concrete is about the same. the dirt strip has been here since 48 (the paved one was a WW2 build by the US military). over time as we have added to the foundation etc...its probably about 18 inches deep (things settle here) but we keep it crowned however its always about 3-4 inches above the sloping terrain.
we use buffalo grass. I have no idea what works up there
3. bulldozing is an art...you need an artist. my wife (the former Airbus Captain who took early retirement) is pretty good at it...but when it comes time to do the runway. we usually go find "Shorty" from one of the road gangs here. he can do most of this by eye...and quickly. it takes him about 3 days and about 500 a day to do the runway but its perfect...
anyway congratulations on the new project both of you have and good luck
life is a bunch of changes. my "real job" (other then an 9000 head cattle farm) is B777 Captain TRI/TRE DPE for Turkish airlines...until this month when I took early retirement and start on the 5th as a Test Pilot manager for a major airplane manufacture in seattle. so we are looking for our second (although smaller farm) there.
maybe get up to see you all some time. fly safe
What this guy said! You may want to find a local civil engineer and/or local equipment operators to help guide your decisions and planning. I was cringing as you were mixing up your topsoil with manure to make your runway. Drainage is very important for these big surfaces! Proper compaction and the correct materials are also very important if you want your airfield to be usable throughout the year. Your project looks like a ton of fun!
@@gcstumbthe big deal is drainage. our runway is in south texas and you have to deal with rains or hurricanes...and well its a big deal. as you know drainage is three things. first the kind of ground you have, second the slope and three where you put the water because where you put the water determines how deep the ground gets wet...
our crushed concrete over asphalt was put in a long time ago by the US Navy for light trainer planes (think J-3's Stearmans and Bamboo bombers or in this case AT9's) and thats been pretty stable. but they graded the land fairly heavily and made large drainage ponds that are in existance today
the "grass strip" came latter and what my grandparents did was follow the contours of the other runway being careful to deal with the space between them
we dont put any manure on the grass strip (and we have lots of it (8000 head of cows and about 200 horses) ...manure is good if you want to break up clay...but we dont want that to happen with the foundation of the grass strip.l...which is Texas clay with about 3 inches of gravel and then about five inches of clay and a light mix of crushed asphalt. on that we spread buffalo grass and keep it mowed. the romans would drain about 1 inch per thousand feet...and we are not that good but its close. and slpes from the middle to both ends...with ponds at both ends (well close anyway) and the runway crowned about an inch
this is not for the unskilled in terms of bulldozing. but our Dozer guy shorty can do it...he is able to sense the grade and can make pretty short work of t he redo whenever we have to do it...usually because of the clay sinking...and thats about every 10 years
Hurricane Nichols came through here...and the grass strip was dry enough for T50 Cessna twin engine...operation that afternoon after it left.
they have a hugh project here...loads of fun fly safe
Thank you!!! I appreciate the advice more than you know! It's good to get the feedback/guidance on a project like this. Hope to see you up here one day!
Thank you so much for this video bro. I'm planning the same thing. Just awesomeđ€đ....
More cabins By summer of 2020? How old is this video
We have two on the property now, we'll have more by Summer 2021!
But it's October 2021.....
A small amount of manure might be a good idea for prepping for growing grass but is a very bad idea if you are going to keep it dirt or go with gravel as it is not considered compactible. Also manure is not appropriate for adding moisture as it will dry out just like the dirt. A water truck is what you use for making dirt moist. Good luck!
Gotcha! Thanks for the feedback!
Dude! I was always gonna build my own runway too. But I had settled for now (figuring it it was a way to get out of Miami and I would get my own airstrip on my own later) back in 2005 I instead bought a house next to a county runway 3J6 and got access to the paved runway in the very south east corner of Georgia and built a 5000 square-foot hangar myself in the back yard, single-handed and continue to work at the airlines and later bought the house next-door as well and another lot to build another hangar next to that. I never wouldâve wanted to build a place in Alaska because I canât stand the cold, but that is adventurous. But why did you quit the airlines? Iâve been at the biggest of the 3 main airlines in the US since 2008 now, and I uhhh, yeah, I hope youâre making a whole bunch of money at your company. Your place sounds like a great place to visit, but I would do that in my Baron. Even then the gas prices just to fly that far. Wow. At 57 I still need to finish rebuilding two each T-6, and a few other airplanes, with a flying Cub, Navion, 140, Skybolt etc.
Come on up and visit us at 57AK! A whole lot different up here than Georgia!
Great freaking video man!! I really want to get this done!!!!
That is one heck of a project. I'm not a road expert but I agree that your next buy should be a compacter. Advice sure can help, but you learn best by doing. That's looks pretty awesome. Way to go, guys.
haha...ya, I'm checking FB and craigslist every day!