6/10/2023 0 Comments Airplane hangarHowever, Steve found that he was fielding requests for aircraft hangar homes - something different than the residential airpark. Of the 140 home sites, 100 have access to the airport via taxiways, as well as their own personal hangars. Like most airparks, it’s located on 180 acres adjacent to the runway. Poplar Grove already has its own residential, fly-in community called Bel Air Estates. Aircraft Hangar Construction and Design: Offering a Different Approach Living with Your Plane even publishes a unique checklist to help pilots classify the type of airpark that fits them best.Īlso check out this listing of residential airparks courtesy of. In this audio interview with Ben, he explains the appeal of airparks, as well as some of the many variations on the market. Airpark living is also ready-made with like-minded airplane people.” “Whether you are into cars, boats, computers or planes, as a hobbyist you’ll do what you can to make enjoying your hobby as easy as can. Whitfield describes residential airpark living: “When it comes to the benefits that fly-in communities afford, the upsides are plentiful, ranging from everything to more time spent in the air to a strong sense of neighborhood camaraderie among like-minded aviators.”Īccording to Ben Sclair, Publisher of General Aviation News and Living with Your Plane, it’s all about the lifestyle. It’s a smart move for Poplar Grove, where approximately 20,000 pilots live within an 80-mile radius (thanks in part to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.) Thus, the Civil Aeronautics Administration proposed the construction of airport communities throughout the country to support the pilot lifestyle. As Bethany Whitfield notes in Flying Magazine, the pilot population had ballooned “from fewer than 34,000 pilots in 1939 to more than 400,000 by 1946.” Airpark Living: Home on the Hangarįlying is integral part of a pilot’s life, which is why airpark communities began to dot the landscape shortly after World War II. As Construction Magazine Network notes, “In 1998, 45 planes were housed at Poplar Grove.” Today, the number is over 400 planes – which makes it one of the largest airports in the state of Illinois in terms of based-aircrafts. It featured a residential airpark with homes a flight school an aviation museum and unique “Aviator’s Cabins.” Privately-owned and open to the public, Poplar Grove became a friendly, fun “lifestyle” airport, home to airplanes and the people who love them. They decided to pursue an alternate route. He converted the farm field into runways, and converted the cattle sheds into the airport’s first hangars.Īfter his father passed away in 1994, Steve and Tina decided they didn’t want the airport to struggle like other smaller, general aviation airports. ĭick Thomas realized that Boone County, Illinois, did not have an airport. The Thomas family had built the airport back in 1972 – where it originally started as the family farm, as detailed in this article by General Aviation News. Poplar Grove Airport has been owned by Steve Thomas and his wife Tina since 1994, when they purchased it from Steve’s father, Dick. The Thomas Family: Steve, Tina and Charlie 77
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