Grassroots Airports

skimanjim

New member
I am looking for information on grassroots airports in the midwest (WI, MN, IL, IN, OH, IA, NE). Myself and a partner in our champ are graduating from the Air Force Academy and are planning a trip to different grassroots airfields in the midwest. We are looking to experience small airport (farm, dirt strip, etc???) america. Anyone with advice on where to go for neat grassroots area, it would be much appreciated
Thanks

Jim
 
Hi Jim,

I plan on doing the same thing for the month of May. I started threads on the Yahoo Citabria forum, the AOPA forum, and on the Pilots of America forum asking others for ideas for grassroots/grass strips. I received a LOT of good suggestions for airfields. If you are a member of AOPA, I'll send you those links.

Here is the link on Pilots of America:

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12659

Here is the link on the YahooCitabria forum:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CitabriaPilots/message/20185

All of these wonderful folks are an incredible source of information! :) I hope to get to meet some of them on my month-long flight low and slow across part of the country.

If you make it down to MO, please fly into our grass airfield for a visit. :)

http://www.airnav.com/airport/08MO

I'll be glad to send you a jpeg of my proposed route so you can get some of the identifiers of the states you're interested in. I'm skipping WI and MN this trip, but there are some great strips in those states suggested in some of the above links.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

Have a GREAT trip! It sounds like fun!

Diana
Citabria 4216Y
 
If you get by Lodi, Wisconsin be sure and stop by the grass strip behind my parent's house! Walk over the hill and into town the half mile for some good Midwestern hospitality! Nice little main street with a creek flowing through it with a little coffee shop and cafe. Bring the kids and feed the ducks. Lots of old Victorian homes if you like that sort of thing. Rent a car and make the ten minute drive west of town to the only free ferry on the Wisconsin river!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13896784@N00/439017687/

http://www.airnav.com/airport/9WN5
 
Zoomies,

Try this FAA website. You can search by state, town, etc. Download the .xls file and you can sort them by turf vs. conc. This will only give you FAA registered public and private airports though. These owners might know of some other unregistered airfields.

http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/airport_safety/airportdata_5010/

Good luck,
Doug
 
What landing at all of these Private strips?? I have been told by some if you see an field, land, especially if there is an open hangar and have a cup of coffee. But in colorado, the trend seems to be to keep the strips private...

Any suggestions?

Jim
 
I would obviously call the owner first. You need to find out if he/she is open for visitors or not. You can also call the EAA clubs in the areas you plan to go. Most EAA members would love to bs about airplanes and good spots to go. They can also point you in the right direction.

Doug
 
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