A buyer’s market for airparks
To prepare for the forums I’m presenting at this year’s AOPA Aviation Summit in Tampa, Florida, (Nov. 5-7), I’ve done a lot of talking with people about the status of residential airparks.
It probably isn’t much of a surprise to anyone that the sale of lots and homes on residential airparks, regardless of their size, location and the number or quality of amenities, has slowed down, just like the rest of the economy.
Although I haven’t done a recent survey, the people with whom I have been in contact seem to feel there are a lot of people in the aviation world who are among the 90% of the employed, rather than the 10% of the unemployed. Additionally, many interested in living with their airplanes are retired — and have been for a few years — and, fortunately, are finding that their finances aren’t completely in the tank.
The net result seems to be that there’s a significant segment of people involved in the general aviation world who are finding themselves in the enviable positions of being able to take advantage of the plight of those who may not have fared as well during the current recessionary period.
Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: Buyers aren’t lined up at the end of the taxiway competing for lots or homes on residential airparks, but neither are they in a holding pattern that has no end.
What his graduation doesn’t mean, however, is that he can stop studying and learning. We always have told both our son and daughter that graduation from college doesn’t mean a hall pass to closing your mind to continuous learning. Our mantra to them was: If you are to be a wise and productive citizen, you will have a quest to keep learning and exploring until the day you die.
Pilots honor the high-timers who seem to “fly casual.” Thousands of hours in the logbook conjure images of a pilot for whom flying comes naturally — it seems that smoothness, precision and calm in the direst of situations is something these pilots are born with.
