AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 39

JOHN HOLMS

TEST PILOT
the surrounding community, won a hardfought battle to save the airport and were
granted a 99-year lease on the 60 acres
that comprise 39 hangars, the runways
(there's an adjacent turf strip), and a small
FBO building. The pilots' association is
formed as a membership club and operates the airport on an all-volunteer basis.
This public-use airport does not have a single employee-only passionate aviators,
aircraft builders, mechanics, and friends
who care enough to dedicate a significant
amount of their time, skills, and energy
to preserving and restoring this beautiful
piece of Maryland history.
Originally constructed in the late 1930s,
the airport has survived many iterations
and even a few name changes. It hosted
a residence and a beach bar, both lost to
storms long ago. It has a sordid and interesting history with Navy sailors visiting
the Port of Baltimore. It is said that bootleggers would hide their bottles in sunken
crab pots in the rivers and bay, identified
only by the color of the float at the surface.
Nighttime boaters would gather the stash
for later distribution.
The surrounding acreage is a true wetland teeming with wildlife. Waterfowl,
hawks, egrets, herons, and eagles are
tenants, as are deer and many other lowland critters. An albino deer was spotted
recently.
Long neglected, the airport is now
enjoying a rebirth. With the stability of a
99-year lease, local pilots are investing in
the reconstruction of hangars that were
originally shacks built more than 70 years
ago. Access points and taxiways have been
repaired. Hundreds of feet of drainage pipe
were installed to mitigate incursion on the
near-water-level elevation.
The county lease and environmental
easement all but prevent the airport from
attracting funds from outside the local
pilots' group. As a result, we don't have a
lot of money.
Thankfully, an effective stand-in for
money is a combination of passion and
talent. Essex Skypark has an abundance
of both. On this field we have expert
welders, builders, hydraulics engineers,
heavy equipment operators, lawyers,

mechanics, woodworkers, financial advisors, construction managers, physicians,
flight instructors, concrete installers, and
machinists. We have yet to run across
a project where someone did not say,
"We can do that ourselves." And do it we
have. In recent years, the large community hangar received a new rear wall, floor
coating, paint, windows, and a hydraulic door. Nearly every hangar on the field
has been rebuilt or is currently undergoing construction.
The 1940s-era FBO building is the current focus of the pilot's association's efforts.
It has been a decaying runway-side eyesore
for too long, but it has strong and handsome bones. Arguably the biggest challenge
faced by the pilots since saving the airport,
the rehab will take at least a year of concerted effort to restore the sagging and
leaking roof, ancient plumbing and electric,
drafty windows, hanging siding, and crumbling concrete porch. But we have a vision,
we are motivated by this airport's place in
Maryland's history, and we certainly have
an abundance of talent.
When you visit W48 you'll still experience the idyllic atmosphere of open hangar
doors, barbecue grills, hangar flying, a little ride hopping, and maybe even a flying
musician picking a tune, but you will also
find us hard at work driving nails and pouring concrete.
I often wish that we had more money to
work with, or at least a less restrictive environment where money could be earned
from public services. Things would certainly happen much faster.
But then I find myself part of a Saturday
work party, a group of volunteers with disparate backgrounds, bonded by a passion
for aviation. I watch them take stock, discuss issues and options, formulate a plan
of action, and then implement that plan as
a team.
Most important, I witness the dawning of a sense of ownership. We are dug in
here. This is going to be a beautiful place,
a magical place, and it won't be something
that we bought.
JEFF AUEN is a private pilot based at Essex

Skypark in Maryland.

|

BY BARRY SCHIFF

1. From reader Andy Schmidt: True or
false? The Mexican Air Force sent its
201st Fighter Squadron of Republic P-47D
Thunderbolts to fight against Japan in the
Pacific Theater during World War II.
2. True or false? The word empennage
is derived from French and refers to the
feathers of an arrow.
3. From reader George Shanks: A challenge in World War I fighter aircraft was
to determine a way to prevent a pilot from
shooting though the propeller disk without shooting off his own propeller in the
process. What was the first applied solution to this problem?
4. Can you name 10 three-engine airplanes?
5. From reader John Schmidt: The fourcylinder engine that powered the Wright
Flyer on December 17, 1903, did not have
which of the following items?
A. carburetor
B. fuel pump
C. spark plug(s)
D. throttle
6. True or false? Howard Hughes' Spruce
Goose is not made of spruce.
7. From reader Martha Lunken: Why during
World War II did a USAAF bomber, a Boeing
B-17 Flying Fortress, intentionally drop six
250-pound bombs on Miles City, Montana?
8. Ignoring pilot physiology, if a Cessna 172
were given a gentle shove downward from
the International Space Station, would
the flight controls become effective soon
enough to allow the aircraft to be glided
safely to Earth?
ANSWERS on page 48

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019
