Nailing a Perfect Landing Into a New Airfield Community

At this point, many would contend there are no further concerns. But with all the technical and financial concerns out of the way, the new owner must once again navigate some murky and unfamiliar waters for the first time—local airfield culture. Among the pitfalls involving rumors, reputations, gossip, and grudges, it’s wise to make a good impression and avoid stepping on toes.

Here are five key tips to ensure your assimilation into your new microsociety of hangar tenants goes as smoothly as possible.

While this tip applies to any ramp or parking area, it’s especially important to ensure your prop wash doesn’t create chaos behind you when you’re taxiing next to occupied hangars.

Airplanes parked in hangars are rarely tied down, so in addition to potentially damaging control surfaces, a sudden, abrupt gust of wind blowing through an open (or partially open) hangar door can actually shift the airplane out of position. Some hangar doors roll on overhead tracks and can derail if blown too strongly from the front or back while open. 

Additionally, hangars often serve as workshops, with projects involving paint, fabric, or any number of easily damaged materials taking place inside. Filling a neighbor’s workspace and covering their freshly painted project with a swirling cloud of grass and dust is a surefire way to ruin their day. In such cases, simply keep your tail pointed down the hangar row and only turn your plane toward or away from a hangar with a tug or towbar. 

Foreign object debris (FOD) is everyone’s business, and if everyone makes a small effort to clean up any errant litter or debris, it’s easily managed.

The best example of this is at Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Despite nearly 700,000 people attending the event and going through a similarly high number of cups, straws, plates, napkins, and the like, litter is simply nonexistent because everyone pitches in. I’d wager that no other event of this size—in the U.S., anyway—can say the same.

The efforts one makes—or neglects—as a hangar tenant have an outsized effect on others around them. Flick a cigarette butt on the ground, or toss a wrapper into the grass, and you’ll quickly earn a poor reputation. Conversely, put some effort into really improving common areas, and perhaps others will become inspired to follow suit.

Whenever I spot a new hangar tenant, I immediately do three things. I welcome them to the airport, introduce myself, and provide my contact information.

Aside from making new friends and getting to know local aviation people, this helps build a strong support network among your local flying community. Think of it as a “neighborhood watch” of your local airfield, where vital information and friendly help are just a call or a text away.

Earlier, my friend and hangar mate, Dan, informed me of possible trouble with my airplane. Spotting an orange light illuminated in my cowl intake, he suspected my engine heater was on and asked whether I intended to leave it on through multiple upcoming days of unflyable weather.

As it turned out, the light was only the extension cord itself, and the heater was, in fact, not plugged in at all. However, I sure appreciate his thoughtfulness and vigilance.

Similarly, when I met a Cessna 170 owner on the other side of my airfield and learned he would be spending the upcoming winter in Antarctica, of all places, I insisted upon swapping contact info. This way, if I should ever spot any trouble with his hangar or plane, I could alert him immediately and provide help as needed.

Whether the concern is related to the condition of the airfield, an issue with a hangar, an act of vandalism or theft, or simply a reminder about an upcoming social event, it’s important to keep in touch with fellow tenants.

Personally, I rather enjoy being something of a recluse when I’m away from the airport. The general public doesn’t impress me much, and while I remain friendly and cordial to strangers, I’d just rather leave everyone alone and enjoy my own solitude whenever I can.

But things are different at the airport.

Just as it’s important to share information, it’s also important to help each other out. Nobody enjoys pushing their planes into or out of a hangar all alone on a slick, snowy surface. And just about everyone appreciates some assistance with spotting wingtip clearances when taxiing between obstacles. 

One tenant at my airfield is helping out by contributing his professional IT knowledge to set up a Wi-Fi network that can be shared among all the hangars. It’s not that we all want to stream movies or work from the airport—it’s more a matter of being able to check email and turn our engine heaters on and off remotely.

With any luck, we’ll each be able to enjoy Wi-Fi at our hangar for a few bucks per month, and Mister IT Guy will undoubtedly be welcome to any cold drinks available in our hangar indefinitely.

An airport with a community that helps each other out in ways like this is a tight-knit one indeed. It stands out starkly from the alternative—a cold, anonymous place where it’s every pilot for themselves.

Look for opportunities to be there for each other. Your time at the airport will become immensely more enjoyable whether you’re the giver or the recipient of such help.

In addition to the friendly culture and the cold, anonymous culture, there’s a third type of airport tenant culture—one that drains our energy and makes us want to head home a bit early. That would be the unfriendly environment that revolves around complaining and negativity.

I once experienced this microculture firsthand when I worked at a small FBO. Every weekend, a group of airplane owners would convene to eat donuts, drink coffee, and whine about nearly every aspect of their lives. Spouses, schedules, management, prices, and especially politics—nothing was off the table.

Never mind that most of them made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by flying two or three trips per month for major airlines and cargo operators. And never mind that they each owned at least one immaculate airplane and had massive amounts of free time to enjoy it. It was exhausting to spend time in a room perpetually flooded with their constant negativity, and inevitably, everyone seemed to leave with more dismal moods than they had when they arrived. 

Negativity is contagious, but so is positivity. Planting a comment into a conversation about how cool a particular airplane type is or how hilarious another tenant can be goes a long way, particularly when multiple people are doing it. Compliment people behind their backs. Ask them for advice about flying or ownership.

By preventing the daily vibe from devolving into the whining and negativity that defines so many other aspects of life, you’ll ensure your new airport serves as a welcome escape from the nonaviation world.