SANTA PAULA, Calif. — Bob Banman has spent so much of his life at the little airport in this old farm town that calls itself the “Citrus Capital of the World” that he has decided to move in — lock, stock and airplane.
He doesn’t want to live there alone, so he plans to fill it with condos — two-story units with hangars for planes downstairs and living space for the pilots and their families upstairs.
Banman, who flies a World War II T-6 Harvard dive bomber, and his business partner, fellow pilot Bill Lindsay, plan to break ground this fall for 37 hangar-homes, dubbed the Sky Lofts of Santa Paula.
He came up with the idea a dozen years ago. But that was before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks made pilots worry about the safety of their unattended aircraft at out-of-the-way airports. That, coupled with convenience and simply the love some fliers have for their planes, has fueled growth in the practice of pilots living as close as possible to their aircraft.
More than 600 such air parks now dot the country, says Dave Sclair, retired publisher of General Aviation News.
“It’s a very popular trend,” he says. “It has been growing over the last few years, particularly since 9/11.”
The most famous air park resident is likely John Travolta, who keeps his Boeing 707 parked at his estate in the Jumbolair air park at Ocala, Fla.
Most air parks are adjacent to airports, providing a taxiway along which residents can drive their planes to the runway and then take off. A couple dozen, says Sclair, are located on airport property, but those rent homes to plane owners.
Sclair says Banman’s proposed condos — planned to sell for as much as $800,000 each — may be the only ones in the country in which the resident will actually own the chunk of airport that sits beneath his home. They will be the first in California, say Banman and Lindsay.
Getting the unusual development off the ground was no easy feat, even though the airstrip is already private and owned by pilots. The Federal Aviation Administration had to sign off, as well as local planners and transportation agencies. So did the state Department of Fish and Game, because the Santa Clara River runs right by the airport.
Despite the economy’s nosedive, Lindsay and Banman say they already have about two dozen serious commitments from interested pilots.
Banman, 63, has been a fixture at Santa Paula Airport since the day he landed there 25 years ago and fell in love with its biplanes, midget racers, ultralights and War II-era aircraft.
“It represents a step back in time,” explains Mike Dewey, who has been hanging out at the airport for more than 50 years, starting as a 13-year-old gas boy and eventually making a living as a stunt pilot for movies and TV shows.
The 78-year-old airport doesn’t look much different now than it did in photos from the 1930s. And on the first Sunday of every month, the airport rolls out a display of vintage aircraft and restored cars.
But who would want to live in an airport? With airport noise and airport smells?
“Someone who is nuts about their airplane,” Dan Gray said on his day off from flying a Boeing 777 for United Airlines. He is building a small aircraft in a hangar at Santa Paula.
Gray has been flying in and out of Santa Paula since his 16th birthday — the day he received his pilot’s license in the morning and his driver’s license in the afternoon.
“I was a lot better flying in those days than I was driving,” he laughs.
A nearby hangar belongs to Rick and Susie Williams, who have all but turned it into a home by installing a kitchen, bathroom and small loft. They park their plane in a living-room setting that includes a couch, chairs and a throw rug.
Still, Susie Williams is eager for one of Banman’s two-bedroom condos, with an upstairs patio for plane watching.
“Tell them to just hurry up already,” she says of the developers. “Everybody here has been waiting forever for this.”
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