Savoring Your Airfield's Parade of Eccentricity

Pilot finds his airport strikes a perfect balance of enough activity to be interesting but small enough to foster a community environment.

Jason McDowell

Wednesday, January 01, 2025 at 11:30 AM ET

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Edited By:

Kimberly Johnson

With hangar space for 34 airplanes, a 3,100-foot grass runway, and a vibrant and active group of hangar tenants, Brooklyn Airport (7WI5) in south-central Wisconsin strikes an ideal balance of peacefulness and activity. [Courtesy: Jason McDowell]

Key Takeaways:

Small airports often host vibrant communities of unique and eccentric personalities, from regular "airport bums" to peculiar former tenants.
The author recounts amusing anecdotes, including discovering the reason an airport beacon consistently failed (revelers riding it) and finding abandoned "alien research vehicles" from a former UFO-hunting hangar owner.
The article celebrates the rich variety of characters at airfields, highlighting a current private strip that fosters a balanced and engaging community without dangerous antics.

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Some people keep their airplanes at big airports, surrounded by airliners and corporate jets, where the hangar tenants rarely interact. Others are based at tiny fields with only a few other hangars and little flying or social activity.

But if you’re like me, fortune has smiled upon you, and you’ve found yourself at airports with active communities of personalities that are unique enough to make any reality show producer salivate.