So, I have a lot that is zoned agricultural in Virginia. We are going to be building on it and my hope is that I will be able to fly from it. I just want to be able to takeoff and land on my property. Some have said no problem if you aren't flying over other homes, some have said to make friends with the neighbors (we are), some have said that I need to get it an "official private strip" while others said just start flying it.

I would be very interested in hearing other peoples experiences in this process and of course any advice.

Thanks!

Matt

We had no problem and no governmental intervention on our ranch in the Ozarks in the last half of the 20th century.. Ingress was over the ranch or up river and egress was down river with some neighbors.

You're only going to get quality advice from someone living in Virginia, and maybe only in your county or township.

Private airstrip regulation tends to differ from city to city, county to county, and state to state. In general, zoning of the property influences the county. What I learned in Oregon is that if your property is zone agricultural, it's not an issue and the county will approve it. The state aeronautics department must do their evaluation and give their blessing on the specifics of the property, orientation, clearances, etc.

Some counties have a documented approval procedure that involves a comment period from neighbors, so buttering them up is probably a good idea.

It's time to play lawyer and start searching for all the aeronautics land usage regulation you can find in your state at every level. If you care about doing due diligence, that is. The option is to just start flying in there and see what happens.

FAA airport designation is helpful, but it's not some magic bullet to defeat the locals if there's opposition.

I am curious about this too. As someone in the commercial real estate business, it starts with local zoning (either county or city) and reviewing the table of permitted uses. If an "airport" is listed but not permitted within your zoning district, I presume you will eventually run into trouble depending on how many neighbors you have, how close they are, who sees you come and go, etc. In most cases though, the more sophisticated the municipality/county, the harder it will be to establish a FAA identified field. If the municipality requires any type of special approval or special use permit, you are guaranteed at least one zoning commission meeting and probably a city council or county commissioners meeting where you have to go present your request. The sometimes required public input sessions are always a hoot. I've never been to one for an airport, but I can only imagine the would-be complaints people would have.

On the flip side, in many rural places, they don't even have airports listed as a permitted use. From there I would check to see if they are excluded or prohibited. If they aren't prohibited or excluded from use, then I would let her rip and go through formal FAA approvals after you know its going to be worth the additional work. The counter argument to flagging it as an identified strip is to keep all the looky-lous away. From an insurance perspective, I don't think it matters, but YMMV.

There's a guy who built a real nice grass strip locally. Graded and ditched, perfect little ridge to keep it dry. I can't imagine what he spent. He lived 30 minutes outside town but definitely had neighbors surrounding his 30-acres. By the time people figured out what was going on, there wasn't anything they could do, not that they had any legal right anyway. Some folks are always going to complain.

You all make me happy that I don't live near people, although my community is very pro-aviation, anyway.

Nushi wrote:I am curious about this too. As someone in the commercial real estate business, it starts with local zoning (either county or city) and reviewing the table of permitted uses. If an "airport" is listed but not permitted within your zoning district, I presume you will eventually run into trouble depending on how many neighbors you have, how close they are, who sees you come and go, etc. In most cases though, the more sophisticated the municipality/county, the harder it will be to establish a FAA identified field. If the municipality requires any type of special approval or special use permit, you are guaranteed at least one zoning commission meeting and probably a city council or county commissioners meeting where you have to go present your request. The sometimes required public input sessions are always a hoot. I've never been to one for an airport, but I can only imagine the would-be complaints people would have.

On the flip side, in many rural places, they don't even have airports listed as a permitted use. From there I would check to see if they are excluded or prohibited. If they aren't prohibited or excluded from use, then I would let her rip and go through formal FAA approvals after you know its going to be worth the additional work. The counter argument to flagging it as an identified strip is to keep all the looky-lous away. From an insurance perspective, I don't think it matters, but YMMV.

There's a guy who built a real nice grass strip locally. Graded and ditched, perfect little ridge to keep it dry. I can't imagine what he spent. He lived 30 minutes outside town but definitely had neighbors surrounding his 30-acres. By the time people figured out what was going on, there wasn't anything they could do, not that they had any legal right anyway. Some folks are always going to complain.

Good thoughts.

I know some states who are a little more sophisticated in their regs have actually put some reasonable thought into it. Minnesota for example distinguishes between public use, private use, and personal use. The latter is for the home resident only, and requires no approvals, at least from the state.

Others, like Vermont, seem to have their regs setup to pretty much deny everything.

Research and due diligence. There is no magic bullet.

When we built my runway, I dove into the FAR's. There IS an FAR that states anywhere you use for landing more than a certain amount of times (I can't remember the exact number, but 4 sticks in my mind) they consider an airport, and you are supposed to have it registered with the FAA.
I was also advised to get an "avigation easement" by my (very aviation savvy and very pro-aviation lawyer). This was for Montana, but the FAR stuff isn't state specific. I also contacted the State Aeronautics Administration and they were pretty much clueless, but knew more by the time they left.
Just my two cents worth, and worth what you paid for it. Your mileage may vary.
John

Thanks for all the feedback here. While I still hope to fly off my property, my attention was diverted, when I started working on a deal to buy a private airport 15 minutes from my property. I was fortunate enough to be able to close that deal last Wednesday and will be circling back to working on flying at my property soon. Thanks for all the feedback!