It’s a Glasair, which is a small, two-seat fiberglass plane built from a kit. It took about 4000 hours over the course of seven years to build. The cost of owning it might be compared to that of buying a new car every few years, or probably less than taking up golf. If you want to learn more about homebuilt aircraft, try www.eaa.org. You'll find links to all the major manufacturers.

The hangar uses three separate overhead sectional doors, total open width is 36.5 feet. This was made possible by building two removable mullions between the doors. This method was necessary because standard bi-fold doors required too much building height and sliding doors would have required too much width. The overhead doors are standard types with smooth-finished insulation inserts. I wouldn't recommend this method for anyone who needed to open and close the doors too often, but otherwise it works out rather well.

The strip is 1400 feet long and about 70 feet wide. And it’s on a ten percent slope. No I’m not kidding, the high end is 140 feet above the low end. Before buying the property I talked with an expert bush pilot about the logistics. His comments were encouraging and he said that he routinely flies into much more difficult locations. He guesstimated that the landing roll would only be about 700 feet, and he wasn't too far off. He also gave me some good advice on avoiding the optical illusion that causes a too-high approach. The plane is in limbo until we get a little further along with the house. In the meantime I've used the strip for some ultralight flying. The Glasair is not thought of as a short-field plane, but it fits the strip better than some might think.  It’s reasonably light, so stall speed is about the same as most light planes. I’d had lots of time riding the dozer to imagine what that first landing would be like, but even so it was a butt puckering experience. The strip looks like most others from overhead, but gets mighty compact on short final. I was a little fast and a little high, but got stopped with plenty of room to spare. Needless to say we won’t be inviting many others to land here, it’s just too dangerous. Takeoff acceleration will be brisk down the slope, even at this elevation. The problem is prop clearance. I expect to commence the roll on concrete, gradually accelerating on the dirt to avoid prop dings. A late abort on takeoff would probably result in total aircraft destruction, although you might expect to live. Balked landings will not turn out so well, the terrain out-climbs most GA craft, and the ruggedness precludes any hope of a gentle off-airport arrival. But the whole thing is ours, and I expect to have a lot of fun with it.

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