No, not mine, mine is about as long as this is wide. And it is private, says so in big white letters. Don't you wonder what's in the hangar? Gulfstream IV I'm thinking, at least!

It's in the Little Lost River Valley, in an area that would be a real pain (not if you have the money though I suppose) to build, everything (asphalt batch plant, ready mix plant, lumber yard etc. etc.) being real far away. This area is not to be confused with the high dollar places like Sun Valley, this is more the "real" Idaho, and it is a real mind blower to see the size of this place, literally in the middle of nowhere. More power to him, I can think of worst ways to spend the money!

Through a simple Google search (all public). This is what I found.

http://redfordcorporation.com/Documents/FlyingJosephRanch%209_25_09.pdf
Very Cool!!

Similar to the Hilton Ranch. Middle of no where million dollar airport.

fly over it all the time...called the chief joseph i believe, nicely done!

Courierguy, is that just a little west of Jackson Hole?? I was following the snake river through the mountains from the west. I landed at a place like that several years ago for a needed break. Did my thing and left without talking to anyone. pg

It is west of Jackson Hole, but closer to Challis. It is over a ridge east of Challis. I flew over it last summer on the way to May Id., which had a HUGE dirt airstrip, good little cafe.
Gary

Almost 20nm east of Challis.
http://skyvector.com/?ll=44.45381091309581,-113.79168860218597&chart=78&zoom=2

Airport Info:
http://skyvector.com/airport/0ID2/Flying-Joseph-Ranch-Airport

PatrolGuy,
I'm thinking you were at Rexberg maybe....it is quite a bit shorter then this strip! There are a few warbirds there, and friendly people.

Good link as to what it is all about. Nice floor for sure, I expected no less! A flying buddy of mine (and also another crane operator) has been spraying urathane foam up there.

He would have been better off going with flat plate solar thermal panels if he was trying to heat the floor, doing it with the type pictured is needlessly complex, and actually less efficent at the very low tempertures used for radiant floor heating. I saw them all out on the ground, not a good sign! Looking at the picture, you can see them all stacked on the ground at the right side of the hangar. As one who has heated his hangars with solar thermal for 30 years I'd have a few comments on the way his system was set up. Needlessly complex, and the fact that they are on the ground speaks volumes, problems obviously, too bad. Damn I wish I got have got in on that!

My big solar job is south a ways in the same valley, in the low rent neighborhood. No asphalt either. But at least I can land right at the job site, this day I was working in the battery shed on the left, wrapping up the auto start feature of the backup generator. I got sidetracked on the way there, usually a 1 hour flight, it took me 4. At the end of the day, by the time I got home it was 5.3 hrs of flying and 2.5 hrs of work, just right

First time I saw it it wasn't on the sectional yet. There I was, flying along when suddenly there was a hugh runway in front of me. What the H#(%? I checked and re-checked the sectional, and there just wasn't any runway there. If there wasn't a runway on the sectional, then where was I? Took me a while of looking around to asure myself that I hadn't gone through a time warp into another dimension. Pretty crazy! That big of a runway appearing out of nowhere in that deserted valley just didn't make any sense. I felt better though, when it was still there the next time I flew past!

As far as I know, this strip was built by some contractor out of Challis. The owner is a guy named Joe Clark, from Seattle, and who has extensive ties to business folk in Sun Valley. Also, he apparently was an executive with Horizon Air back in the day. And, now, he apparently is one of the partners (actually I think he is President, but not sure) in Aviation Partners based out of Boeing Field.... The same people that put all the winglets on all those jets... Yes.... ALL those jets. Hence the huge runway and ranch. I have seen N17A there numerous times, blocked by Flightaware, it is a Lear 36. Also seen some Lear 31's and a few Falcon 900's there. I only know because the fishing out in the Pahsimeroi Valley is second to none, if you can get land access... (don't tell anyone!) If not for that, I wouldn't have gone.... Quite a shocker to see heavy metal out there. Ohh to be rich!

This morning, I delivered a new factory built Just Aircraft SuperSTOL there to Flying Joseph Ranch that I hauled out from the factory in Walhalla, SC. There sure are some wonderful and very expensive flying toys in that big hangar!

Let's hear some details!
How long was the flight?
Impressions of the plane?
Oh and what kinds of toys in the hangar [emoji41]?

I actually hauled the SuperSTOL inside my enclosed trailer. It is a new factory built plane and the new owner wanted to fly the 40 hours off from there at his private airport, rather than spend the time flying it off out in SC. I was out east already, so the Just factory called and asked if I would haul it out to May, Idaho for the guy. It's only 150 mile drive from my place, so I had that going for me. I just uploaded some photos into a photo album here on BCP of the aircraft in his hangar, and if I can figure out how to direct y'all to them, I will do it.

Here is what's in the hangar at Flying Joseph Ranch:

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/me/my-photos/3717-just-kitplanes/album?albumid=4979

Yea, that's incredible.

Yea but are they happy?

Nice digs. I like his control tower/guest quarters with a view.

fshaw wrote:Yea but are they happy?

I don't think you'd have time to be unhappy with that collection. Keeping current in every aircraft would be a full-time job....

Jump out of the SuperSTOL into the PC6, then into either their private jet or the Trojan, then back into the Cessna or the glider... back to the Husky. There goes a three-day weekend once you've done all the pre and post flight stuff.

They are stacked pretty deep too, moving airplanes would be a hassle..... probably needs a bigger hanger....

The funny thing is, after I dropped in there on my initial visit, it was clear from the start that Joe and I were both having a blast that day, and it had nothing to do with the cost of our birds. I'm probably to blame for him buying the Just SS, as I don't think he was aware of the whole off airport thing, probably too busy flying his other birds!

I'll never forget us comparing notes on what it took to put our strips in: JOE: "We excavated down 55" and brought it back up to grade before laying the asphalt with an engineered compacted layer specific type of gravel." ME: "I ran the Kubota with the brush hog up and down 4 times and called it good, that's why my runway is 18' wide."

I don't know what all he has for airplanes in total, but I believe what's in the ranch hangar are just some, not all, of them. Couldn't be a better proponent of aviation, and a welcome addition to the Idaho flying community.

courierguy wrote:The funny thing is, after I dropped in there on my initial visit, it was clear from the start that Joe and I were both having a blast that day, and it had nothing to do with the cost of our birds. I'm probably to blame for him buying the Just SS, as I don't think he was aware of the whole off airport thing, probably too busy flying his other birds!

I'll never forget us comparing notes on what it took to put our strips in: JOE: "We excavated down 55" and brought it back up to grade before laying the asphalt with an engineered compacted layer specific type of gravel." ME: "I ran the Kubota with the brush hog up and down 4 times and called it good, that's why my runway is 18' wide."

I don't know what all he has for airplanes in total, but I believe what's in the ranch hangar are just some, not all, of them. Couldn't be a better proponent of aviation, and a welcome addition to the Idaho flying community.

I agree, ya done good courierguy. Nice having a new advocate with deep pockets.