Hello from Huntsville, Alabama!

[The Crusty Old Pilot]

Hello from Huntsville, Alabama!

 

[Thad]

Hi there. Do you fly out of the main airport, Moontown, Hazel Green or Athens? or possibly Meridianville Ex. Airport?

I know that area.

 

[Angie]

Neat about Huntsville AL area. Back in 1982 I flew to the Hazel Green airport and the Meridianville airport, it was small back then.

Crusty, what do you fly these days?

 

[The Crusty Old Pilot]

I fly out of Huntsville Executive Airport. I've been based there for the last 20 years. I currently own a Cessna 150J, my eighth airplane. I try to get in the air three times a week, although it's hard to do with the weather. KMDQ has become very busy in the last few years. The runway has been extended to 6,400 feet and we have a lot of large airplanes flying in there now. Sometimes, I might be one of six or seven planes trying to work my way into the pattern. Yulista is based at KMDQ and has added to the problem with their helicopters. I shoot a lot of video. You can check out some of them on YouTube by searching N512224, N23800, or N15057.

 

[Angie]

This is strange. Yulista is the partner of SES that I worked at for 7 years a bit ago. I have only been a passenger to that airport about a year ago and it is so much larger than it was in 1982. Back i 1982, it was just the small airport. The taxiway was rather rough gravel/asphalt. A puff of wind came and push the 152 I was in towards the wall of red dirt that was there and I broke the red nav light off. Since it was Sunday, there was not a place to get a nav light. We (instructor and I) did get the nav light replaced. I think up at the Fayetteville airport.

And I do imagine those helicopters are a plane hazard. Out at the old Dunlop building behind what was Intergraph (now Town Madison) Science and Engineering Service customizes the Helios for USA and foreign governments, and teaches helio pilots about the special features. Once or twice I was able to go out and see the helios up close.

I love your video and will look up more of them. Nice to talk to someone that knows the area.

PS: Have you ever flown into Hazel Green small airport? It is definitely for smaller planes. But really good people own and live around it.

 

[The Crusty Old Pilot]

Hey Angie,

At KMDQ the runway is now 6,400 feet long, the place is covered up with those Yulista helicopters, commercial traffic is getting heavier every day, and the flight school at MTSU is drawing those "touch and go kids" like a magnet, making it a very crowded and dangerous place to call home. Getting a hangar at KMDQ is just a dream. It needs to be class D airspace. Still it is a much better option than KHSV. I moved one of my planes to KHSV and, after six months of the security spies waiting anxiously for me to violate one of their crazy rules, I was begging to get back to KMDQ. I have called it home for the last 20 years. Huntsville itself has grown to be the largest city in Alabama. I have been here since 1972 and watched the evolution of a small town grow into a busting metropolis. It great to get in the air and fly to Sewanee, TN and walk the Mountain Goat Trail or to ease into Moontown Airport and chew the fat with the old guys in the FBO. Flying is cheaper than therapy. Here is a video that shows the experience of trying to get back into KMDQ. Thank you for your message.

 

[Angie]

Wow, you do have history in Huntsville. I've read that Huntsville is the fastest growing and now largest city in Alabama.
It's amazing. I'm glad you could get out of KHSV. I didn't know of the security spies. Have you ever run into Wayne McCain< he teaches aero stuff at Athens University and teaches dual engine flight.

 

[The Crusty Old Pilot]

No. I don't know Wayne. I am multi-engine rated and flew once a week to Clarksville (Outlaw Field) form my instruction. It would have been nice to have known Wayne and done that here locally. Yes.. Huntsville is booming. People are pouring in here every day. Housing prices have doubled in most areas in the last 5 years. Flying over the city, a person can get a real feel for how much it has expanded. Decatur, Athens, and Fayetteville are quickly growing together. KMDQ is getting really crowed. I flew yesterday and had to do a complete 360 and break off an approach due to spacing. I do that almost every time that I try to work in to the pattern. We have some very large aircraft, and helicopters (mostly from Yulista) making us remain very alert when close to the airport. Yesterday, a Citation jet sat ready to takeoff and had to wait a good while while a 172 and, me in my 150, puttered along and landed. I know they get irritated at us. Lots of folks are breaking the pattern rules also by shortening their patterns, flying tight patterns, straight in approaches with folks in the pattern, and flying low patterns to expedite their touch and goes. We need very badly to be Class D airspace.