# Super Rich Buying Private Airstrips



## TJ Eckleburg (Mar 22, 2015)

This story has me pretty curious-- Why are some super rich panicking? ?

A bunch of the super-rich in Europe are buying up private airstrips and remote ranches. Curiously, many of them are heavily involved in finance. Since the global economy is pretty on the fritz right now, you gotta wonder how prevalent this trend is among the wealthy elites. It may also say something that they feel the need to hide themselves- why the guilty conscience? They really seem to think they did something wrong...


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

I take it as a sign Europe and the Euro are in worse shape than we are. They could go anywhere in the world and the US is the best option to them.


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## TJ Eckleburg (Mar 22, 2015)

Very true, and thats sayin something considering our economy is only barely chugging along


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

I wouldn't infer anything from it. I used to be a private pilot and you can find club developments right here in the US where people build their homes along a shared airstrip much like a golf community. Folks that are into flying and have the money to indulge can afford homes that would be out of the reach of someone with more modest means.


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## TJ Eckleburg (Mar 22, 2015)

Diver, out of curiosity was the trend common with wealthy individuals outside of the financial sector too?


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Anybody who has half a brain should see that if you are not preparing, if you are not working toward self sufficiency and self protection you may be putting yourself in a potentially difficult situation.

Why not be more self sufficient like generations before us? Seems like a good idea to me. So if you can afford a private island and airstrip...more power to you. If you feel safe in downtown Detroit, East LA, Trenton, NJ, Southwest Atlanta, Southside Chicago...go for it.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

TJ Eckleburg said:


> Diver, out of curiosity was the trend common with wealthy individuals outside of the financial sector too?


This is just Florida:

Florida Airport Homes and Florida Residential Airparks

This is more geographically diverse:

http://airportairparkhomes.com/


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## wesley762 (Oct 23, 2012)

If I could afford my own airstrip I would have one to just saying.....


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

wesley762 said:


> If I could afford my own airstrip I would have one to just saying.....


There is money, good health so you can fly, a plane, etc. This isn't for everyone, but it doesn't infer people are prepping for something either.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

It only means they have disposal income.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

tango said:


> It only means they have disposal income.


Affluent at least, but often a used plane isn't all that expensive. They last forever if maintained well.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

A used plane and a private airstrip are not the same.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Diver said:


> Affluent at least, but often a used plane isn't all that expensive. They last forever if maintained well.


Most "average" white collar guys can not afford to buy and maintain even a used single engine plane. Most often 4 or 5 will go together, form a club, buy a plane, rent hanger space, and then share fight time plus renting the plane out.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Most "average" white collar guys can not afford to buy and maintain even a used single engine plane. Most often 4 or 5 will go together, form a club, buy a plane, rent hanger space, and then share *fight* time plus renting the plane out.


That was probably a typo, but I have noticed a lot of _fight_ time.

Three of our inspectors went in together in such an endeavor. They were better friends beforehand.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

Got Money = Spend It.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Most "average" white collar guys can not afford to buy and maintain even a used single engine plane. Most often 4 or 5 will go together, form a club, buy a plane, rent hanger space, and then share fight time plus renting the plane out.


Generally for the economics to work of owning vs. renting you need to use the plane 300 or more hours a year. A typical recreational pilot will fly about 100 hours a year, hence the tendency to form partnerships. Some work, some don't.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

tango said:


> A used plane and a private airstrip are not the same.


An airstrip just takes some flat open ground. You could put one on many farms if you were so inclined. It doesn't even require pavement depending on the type of plane. I landed on a grass strip once that was next to a cornfield. Basically it was a farm where the owner was a pilot. He was sort of surprised to see someone else land there but he was on the charts and you could rent a tie down for a night. I think he got about 3 visitors a year.

The communities I posted links for are no worse than golf communities. They share an airstrip instead of a golf course.


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## rjd25 (Nov 27, 2014)

I think the bigger issue to take away from the story is not so much the airstrip purchases, but the type of land they are buying. They are buying into rural farmland. Two things immediately come to mind here: First, people of wealth do not typically farm (at least not for themselves) and Second what does the fact that they are buying farm land mean? When financial institutions collapse what is the most valuable commodity, i'll give you a clue it ISN'T gold or silver... it is FOOD. Perhaps they see financial collapse coming and want to make a good investment.... or perhaps it is something more ominous where they are looking to provide for their families after a large financial/social meltdown. You can make the case that it is no big deal when wealthy people buy airstrips but it is much harder to dismiss the fact that they are scooping up farmland.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Diver said:


> An airstrip just takes some flat open ground. You could put one on many farms if you were so inclined. It doesn't even require pavement depending on the type of plane. I landed on a grass strip once that was next to a cornfield. Basically it was a farm where the owner was a pilot. He was sort of surprised to see someone else land there but he was on the charts and you could rent a tie down for a night. I think he got about 3 visitors a year.
> 
> The communities I posted links for are no worse than golf communities. They share an airstrip instead of a golf course.


I recently read the Spirit of Saint Louis by Charles Lindbergh. I got a flashback from your post.

When are we gonna get flying cars?


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

If a 1000 poor people do something nobody notices. 2 rich people do it and it's a trend.


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## Diver (Nov 22, 2014)

rjd25 said:


> I think the bigger issue to take away from the story is not so much the airstrip purchases, but the type of land they are buying. They are buying into rural farmland. Two things immediately come to mind here: First, people of wealth do not typically farm (at least not for themselves) and Second what does the fact that they are buying farm land mean? When financial institutions collapse what is the most valuable commodity, i'll give you a clue it ISN'T gold or silver... it is FOOD. Perhaps they see financial collapse coming and want to make a good investment.... or perhaps it is something more ominous where they are looking to provide for their families after a large financial/social meltdown. You can make the case that it is no big deal when wealthy people buy airstrips but it is much harder to dismiss the fact that they are scooping up farmland.


If you are going to put in an airstrip it needs to be in a place with open land, i.e. rural. Rich and affluent people can enjoy vacation homes in rural locations as much as anyone else. The fact that someone wants an airstrip is an indicator that they like to fly. Other than someone writing an article I don't believe there is really a trend to rich people putting in airstrips, or that the airstrip means anything other than they intend to fly in. I quit flying about 20 years ago. These things were around then. To the best of my knowledge nothing has changed.

An airstrip is completely at odds with OPSEC. It is impossible to hide. Legally you are open to emergency landings. About the only thing consistent with prepping that I can see is that an airplane could make an excellent BOV and get you to a much more distant BOL than a car.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I would not call that an article... there was no specifics or real facts... and the U mirror reports link goes to google mail...

bah hum bug


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

AND from that "brief" what do we really KNOW.. we know that somebody took 2 minutes to write a report about unknown rich people buying unknown land in unknow areas of new Zealand for unknown reasons...

can we match plane purchases to land purchases.... and frankly.. I would thin RICH people would be smart enough to buy land near each other and SHARE an air port


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