Sport Pilot Talk

I guess I put the cart before the horse. I went off and completed my flight review driving 100 miles each way to fly with the intent of a check-out and then buy an LSA. If you want a hanger in Colorado anywhere on the front range you will either need to pay a bribe, build your own airport, or sign up when you're 20 years old and maybe by retirement someone will hook you up. I thought the wait would be reasonable, boy was I wrong. Lots of cronyism and I don't think the local hanger wait lists are actually real. Hanger space is a significant barrier to ownership here unfortunately. You could inherit a Bonanza and it would do you no good without a place to put it.

Oh well, it was fun but the driving is eventually going to get old. Just too few LSAs to rent and too far away, and they are being sold. Just not enough LSAs around. Was fun while it lasted. I guess it might be time to explore getting the medical after all and just taking the chance. At least that way I can rent a C172 10 mins from my house and fly it until I'm blue in the face. If it flies, floats or fornicates it's cheaper to rent I suppose anyway. I can invest the $100K+ in airplane cash I had set aside in something else. Bummer.

Any private airparks close to you? You can always talk with the board or airport manager and see if someone may have space in their personal hangar at their home. Not all owners are pilots and some may not fly anymore. I looked into doing this here in the greater Tampa and actually found space for a pretty good rate at a private airpark north of me. Problem with this one particular hangar was the older gentleman owned two other aircraft and also had cars in the hangar and could be moving my plane around a bit more than I was comfortable with. I wasn't thrilled about finding "hangar rash" on my plane one day. It isn't a permanent solution but there may be space at one of these airparks. Just a thought........

It's pretty much the same in any urban area. If you're north of Denver, try Erie; I was on the wait list for about 3 months before being offered covered hangar space 9 months ago, although I no longer needed it by that point.

Get a metal LSA and tie it down outside.

Well I'm not giving up yet. I may buy the plane (CRUZ) and lease it back to the school until I can get a hanger closer to home. Not ideal but they don't put much time on it, maybe 12-14 hrs per month. Yes I'm aware leasebacks are usually bad in 99% of all cases. But it's a way to mitigate my situation and the terms would allow me to pull it back with a 30 day notice. Unfortunately no bank on earth will finance a leaseback even with a 50% down payment.

Tying it down is not an option here. We get monster hail several times throughout the summer extremely high winds weekly, heavy snow etc. The flying club I'm in left their RANS S-19 sit out of the hanger one night in the 10 years they've owned it. You guessed it...hail...and it sustained damage. The only planes I've seen tied down long term on the front range are basically abandoned, flat tires, faded, rusted. Not sure why the owners are paying tie down fees. One guy told me that the owner of an old Comanche sinking into the gravel (tied down since 2008) "lost his medical" and the owner is so distraught he won't let the plane to go. Tied to it emotionally no pun intended.

TimTaylor wrote:Get a metal LSA and tie it down outside.

Very bad advice.

The Dallas area is no picnic for hangar space, either. Getting a hangar to yourself involves being on a waiting list for years. My suggestion is to network through your local EAA, airport facebook page, etc. and find someone who is renting space in their hangar. Been successful for me several times through the years. Much cheaper and more likely to find space (at least in Dallas).

dstclair wrote:My suggestion is to network through your local EAA, airport facebook page, etc. and find someone who is renting space in their hangar. Been successful for me several times through the years. Much cheaper and more likely to find space (at least in Dallas).

Best advice yet.
Thank you.

I'm 66 now and time to think about retiring and leaving California so I can retire and live indoors.

#1 first consideration when picking a new place to live is the nearby airport(s) and hangar space.

CharlieTango wrote:I'm 66 now and time to think about retiring and leaving California so I can retire and live indoors.

#1 first consideration when picking a new place to live is the nearby airport(s) and hangar space.

How about joining me in TN? Lots still for sale at 80TN.

Plus we have mountains. Well, sort of!

I don’t know if this is a potential option for you?

Some LSAs have foldable or removable wings which facilitates either utilizing a shared hanger or towing the plane to an off airport storage place, even your own home.
My RV-12 has removable wings such that two folks can remove the wings and loaded onto a trailer with fuselage. I think there are a couple of companies that sell such trailers, some open, some closed. I’ve never removed my wings being blessed with a hangar.
Of course you would need a partner to assist and a truck to tow the trailer. I recently read of a couple who tour the USA in an RV and they tow a KitFox in an enclosed trailer which he’s rigged like a portable” hangar”.
I think the Aerotek website has models available as tailwheel or tricycle and I believe the website had photos of a compatible trailer for their models.
The trailers aren’t cheap, nor is adding a truck to pull it, but weighed against the wait time and hangar rental it might be an option.
A local airport might rent you a tie down allowing you gate access and would likely agree to you parking your trailer on the tie-down whilst you fly.

I like Nomore767’s idea. The RV12 has foldable wings, as does a Remos.

I haven’t been to Colorado, but it sounds about on-par with a lot of other areas where hangar space is at a premium. I pay a King’s ransom to keep my airplane in a hangar with a leaky roof. And I consider myself lucky to even have that.

Maybe check around and see if there’s anyone with a hangar that is interested in a partnership on the airplane and is willing to hangar it. It would be better than flight school use IMO.

FastEddieB wrote: How about joining me in TN? Lots still for sale at 80TN.

Plus we have mountains. Well, sort of!

I'll tuck that thought away just in case. I believe I have been 'westernized' and can't go back to eastern ways, terrain and weather.

There’s a specially built trailer/mobile hangar
(Made for an RV-12) for sale on Barnstormers for $4000.

https://www.barnstormers.com/classified ... anger.html

Just for clarification, the RV-12 has REMOVABLE wings, not foldable wings. The Remos has foldable wings.