S39Pilot wrote:When the Port of Washougal took over the Washougal airport, the powers that were did the same thing.

Basically, it opened up lots of hangars for people who actually fly airplanes, and don't just sit on chairs in the open hangar door. The management made everyone produce proof of insurance and up-to-date medicals. This is a good thing.

I applaud your assistant manager for bringing order to your airport.,

Well, but that just goes so far. Beyond that point, it's all just managerial control freak crap.

So, you're saying we all should have a medical to rent a hangar? I would respectfully point out to you that a lot of us fly airplanes LEGALLY without a medical....the FAA doesn't have a problem with that, why should you or an over zealous airport manager?

I shouldn't have a refrigerator or an old beat up couch in my hangar? Really? Why not? I know some pilots who fly a LOT who have a pretty well equipped hangar, and, yes, when they're done flying for the day, they sometimes sit and visit a bit, sometimes with a cold beverage.

The typical rules at airports aren't aimed at eliminating these sorts of things.....they are aimed at getting the guys who don't own a functional airplane, but are using the cheap rent of a hangar as a mini-storage unit, or a workshop/auto park. Nobody wants those folks occupying space at an airport.

But, any rational airport manager should encourage pilots to USE their airport, and to spend time there. The more people use an airport, the more likely that it will continue to be an airport into the future.

Choke off every activity except getting in your plane, takeoff, then park it and leave the airport ASAP, and airport utilization will drop off, and when people don't feel welcome somewhere, soon, they'll be looking for somewhere else to spend their time and money.

MTV

MTV nailed it, in my opinion.

Buuuut you always have to take personalities into account. Could be that new assistant just added -istant to his real title.

It's already been said but I'd talk to the airport manager and see what guidance his assistant's working under. The assistant may have mis-interpreted, or there may be reasons the assistant hasn't divulged that are driving the draconian actions that could help explain their need.

Good luck!

S39Pilot wrote:
I applaud your assistant manager for bringing order to your airport.,

No frig, no couch, no BBQ, no fun. Give me a break. You should be able to keep a bass boat under the wing of your airplane. Is that not the whole reason to fly high wing aircraft in the first place.

Now the hangar with a motor home and a bunch of junk is a different story.

Lesser bureaucrats are usually the greater problem.

Tim

I'd say as long as you have a functional airplane, a project or a restoration that you are making progress on it doesn't matter what else you have in there.

Like has been said if all you have is a boat or cars or junk in storage with no aircraft you need to go.

If only common sense was actually common we wouldn't have problems like this

My hangar is my office, shop, workout room, and happy place. The day the fun haters come to clean house, I move. I bought a lot adjoining the airport and negotiated a through the fence agreement just for that reason. They can kiss my rosy red one. Where did all the new enforcers come from all of the sudden anyway. They're everywhere.; dot setups, boat inspections, ag inspectors, dui checkpoints.....Is this where all the stimulus money went?

Well... I own my hanger and it came with a 99 year ground lease... If they opt not to renew it, I could care less. I'll be long dead by then.

Piss on them...

talked to my hangar mgr today... two more were cited for having cars parked in hangars along with airplanes... the worst case yesterday was a longtime renter who actually rents the end space of a hangar row and has two restored chris craft boats in there... now his space is 10 feet wide by 24 feet deep... no aircraft can be stored there other than possibley a glider with folded wings.... read the lease agreement and it says no stored furniture or vehicles of any nature .....the airport is , understandably up in arms over this and word has spread like wildfire... I fully expect it will be topic of conversation at the next Gillespie Pilots meeting...as of now everyone is keeping hangar doors closed since the assistant airport mgrs letter to the hangar MGr included pictures of the stored boats... in addition our private security guards who patrol the airport have been seen looking into open hangars and slowing as they pass...the boat owner was given till 24 june to get the boats out...now vehicles of any nature , i assume would include golf carts which are used extensively as airport ground transportation... If sticking to the strict letter of the aggreement, furniture would include sofas or any chair table or desk...I can't immagine it will come to that but who knows... I for one won't move anything out of my hangar... .I pay $400 a month for the damn thing .. you'd think I could have a sofa to sit on at least....

Related story from late last year in HNL…….These poor folks were charged with "crimes"…..
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2013/November/21/hawaii-hangar-charges.aspx?tid=fvo6ulYdyEKmafeFAEhazA

geez is there ever going to be an end to the bullshit the government heaps on us...

dav3469 wrote:Related story from late last year in HNL…….These poor folks were charged with "crimes"…..
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2013/November/21/hawaii-hangar-charges.aspx?tid=fvo6ulYdyEKmafeFAEhazA

I just found that article again, too - here is a follow-up from AOPA:

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All- ... ation.aspx

This is the reason advocacy groups like AOPA, RAF, IAA (Idaho Aviation Association), etc. are so important - and why they get dues money and donations from me every year!

so lets see....last month we had 4 law enforcement guys,two border patrol in uniform, and two guys in plain clothes, snooping around our hangars asking all kinds of questions about what is in hangars.... and "have you seen anything of a suspicious nature, or are there any new people in the hangars....now we have this shit with the assistant mgr... after reading the hawaii story I'm wondering what's going on .....

Yet another reason I want to buy a home with enough property for my own runway. I got pretty frustrated last year when I was trying to find a hangar to rent at my local airport and couldn't find one. Local airport management says that as long as there is an airplane in the hangar then they don't care what else you put in there but in reality they don't enforce anything. One guy has three hangars he rents from the city; one for an airplane and two for a wood shop. Another guy has three hangars with a plane in two of them and a bunch of crap in the other. Yet another guy has an empty hangar because he keeps his plane in a privately owned heated hangar. He signed his lease with the city when the rent was cheap, less that $100 I'm told, so he is hanging on to the hangar in case he ever needs it. I don't like being a tattle-tale but I wanted a hangar so I talked to management and was pretty much told they didn't care as long as the rent was paid. Some managers go too far with the rules and some let too many things slide. Obviously in your situation iceman they are going way too far.

The governing body is the Gillespie Field Development Council, part of the County of San Diego. I didn't read through all of the meeting minutes, but they are available on the website. The one set of minutes I looked at make me think that the problem isn't your new guy. They meet every month (2nd or 3rd Tuesday?) and you have the right to present your case to them. (copy and paste is such a mysterious PITA with this I-Pad rig, or I would have copied it over to the post) Find a good tenant spokesperson (AOPA ASN person?) to make a 1-2 minute presentation during public comments and ask to be put on the agenda for a future meeting. Get as many people to go to the meeting as you can, including tenants from other county airports. At the end of their meeting they will have "future agenda items" or something like that; be prepared to make another comment then, restating why you want to be on the agenda.

It would have been better if tenants went to the meeting before they had approved rental agreements, but it is very common for the public uproar to happen after the fact. Make contact with the Secretary and tell him/her you want to be on the list of people who receive a copy of the agenda before every meeting. PM me if you want to talk on the phone and get really bored with this stuff...

whee wrote:Yet another reason I want to buy a home with enough property for my own runway.

We bought this 120 acres in 1982. At that time I had no intentions of getting a ppl. We flood irrigate "checks" that are between borders that are 44 feet apart. After I bought my second plane I built an agriculture storage building and is what is refereed to in my neighborhood as the Hobby Shop. I keep a plane, boat and other misc stuff. My wife is the airport manager and we get along fine.

I take off and land in one of the "checks" that is part of our grass fields that is cut for hay. We just keep that check short. The checks are north south and so are the winds. I lucked out there.

Can you spot my strip?



Tim

thanks , i think all that is going to be done by Gillespie field Pilots assoc. along with a bunch of property mgrs...last time we had a problem with a bunch of disgruntled home owners wanting to close the airport because aircraft were "dumping excess fuel over houses and schools"...and "flying too low".....Gillespie Pilots Assoc stormed a county supervisors meeting and got on the agenda with speakers and got the whole thing squashed.....Yeah I said,"dumping excess fuel".... that's how idiotic these numbskuls were....

qmdv wrote:

whee wrote:Yet another reason I want to buy a home with enough property for my own runway.

We bought this 120 acres in 1982. At that time I had no intentions of getting a ppl. We flood irrigate "checks" that are between borders that are 44 feet apart. After I bought my second plane I built an agriculture storage building and is what is refereed to in my neighborhood as the Hobby Shop. I keep a plane, boat and other misc stuff. My wife is the airport manager and we get along fine.

I take off and land in one of the "checks" that is part of our grass fields that is cut for hay. We just keep that check short. The checks are north south and so are the winds. I lucked out there.

Can you spot my strip?



Tim

and your airport Mgr is probably a lot better looking than mine Tim..... I know you told my yesterday on the phone when you are headed for Johnson Creek but I forgot... Looks nice and peaceful there this morning....

qmdv wrote:

whee wrote:Yet another reason I want to buy a home with enough property for my own runway.

We bought this 120 acres in 1982. At that time I had no intentions of getting a ppl. We flood irrigate "checks" that are between borders that are 44 feet apart. After I bought my second plane I built an agriculture storage building and is what is refereed to in my neighborhood as the Hobby Shop. I keep a plane, boat and other misc stuff. My wife is the airport manager and we get along fine.

I take off and land in one of the "checks" that is part of our grass fields that is cut for hay. We just keep that check short. The checks are north south and so are the winds. I lucked out there.

Can you spot my strip?



Tim

Man, you have an awesome spread! Nice!

Airport tenants actually have a lot of power. At my airport we formed an organization. We went to airport board meetings. We contacted the politicians who hired the airport manager and expressed our concerns. They decided that about 50 well-off-enough-to -own-an-airplane-voters were the wrong people to piss off. The airport "director" as he liked to be called decided to get employment elsewhere.

Knowledge is important in these situations and emotion won't carry the day. Best know why the airport manager is suddenly enforcing the rules. These guys usually don't do a lot until they need to react to some higher authority that has put the screws to them. Look up the airport grant assurances, talk to the airport manager, talk to the fire marshal, talk to the FAA ADO or FSDO, read your lease. Know fully why this is happening and then figure out where there's some give and take so you can do something about it.

By reading this thread it sounds like the airport suddenly woke up to enforcing a laundry list of the basics they let slip over the years, and yes they probably overstepped in the reasonableness department.

Good luck.

well I found out that this isn't just a local thing... the FAA and homeland security seem to be behind all of this,.... so expect similar stuff to go on at other airports... won't go into how I know this but the information I got is good... reading the lease rules and regs I find vehicles and any non aviation materials are not permitted to be stored at hangars... as to weather this includes a sofa and chair to sit on is unclear... it also states in the regs that the "Airport director" has the authority to enter and inspect any hangar to assure hangars are being ...used for avisation purposes only.... incidentally it also states the aircraft hangared must be airworthy and not a project for more than 60 days...so merely putting a couple wings or a fuselage in with 4 cars is not permitted....and to be clear i myself agree with this portion of the regs.... I personally know of hangars where there is a fuselage in the rafters and 5 cars in the hangar... so the hypothesis that airport MGr and assistant Mgr are being pushed from above seems to be the case here.....It all makes sense considering we had law enforcement looking into hangars and asking questions about the contents of plastic jugs and other things last month...I had considered denying access to my hangar to anyone asking to enter however it doesn't seem I have that right if the airport Mgr or assistant Mgr demand to look in my hangar... for now I'll just lay low and keep my mouth shut....