What do Williamson, Georgia, Shell Knob, Missouri, and Bay City, Michigan, have in common with Fresno, California? They're cities where airpark builders are following a lead set down nearly 60 years ago by Doris and Bill Smilie.
On October 23, 1946, the Fresno city fathers officially approved Bill Smilie's dream of building an airport where pilots could take their airplane home. Soon afterward, the details of that dream were laid out on 130 acres located seven miles north of downtown Fresno. By 1950 Smilie had begun selling lots, before building the family home alongside the runway in 1952.
Smilie's creation is named Sierra Sky Park and it's still going strong. There are 110 homesites located adjacent to Runway 12/30. The streets are 60 to 80 feet wide. This, coupled with street signs that are no more than 2 feet high and wide turns that are easy to safely maneuver in an airplane, permits owners to get up from their kitchen table, walk a few steps, open their hangar door, climb into their airplane, and taxi to the runway for takeoff. Those same streets handle the local car traffic, but airplanes always have the right of way.
A residential airpark is an airport surrounded by homeowners who like airplane noise. These airparks vary somewhat in the actual details, but almost every one features a runway that airplane owners can taxi to from their homes. Many of these homes are built above hangars, or have airplane hangars attached. Almost every house at Sierra Sky Park has either a hangar or a plane port — which can be described as a taxi-through hangar — adjacent to the road. According to Ben Sclair of the Living With Your Plane association, there are more than 430 residential airparks in the country, featuring more than 22,000 homesites. Although Bill Smilie passed away a few hours before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Doris still occupies their home adjacent to the runway. Her Cessna 150 is parked out front.
Forestiere Underground Gardens
Baldasare Forestiere traveled to America during the early part of the twentieth century and settled in Fresno. As the story goes, he was trying to stay cool in his Fresno-area cellar one hot summer day when he asked himself if a tree would grow underground. He tried it and the tree grew. With that realization Forestiere started digging and didn't stop until he passed away in 1946. Reasoning that an underground garden would use less water, and be quite a bit cooler to tend, he built that underground garden. But that's not all. Using primarily hand tools and a wheelbarrow, he dug nearly 100 niches, courts, passages, and patios, a two-bedroom house, and an 800-foot-long car tunnel. Tours are available from Wednesday through Sunday.
Sierra Sky Park is a privately owned, public-use airport. The 2,920-foot-long-by-50-foot-wide runway was paved in 1980 and is lighted for night operations. Bill Darnell, who serves as vice president of the homeowners association, took time from some general housekeeping chores at the airport to answer questions. Darnell pointed out that there are no longer services or fuel available like there was in the past when there was a full-service FBO, a flight school, and a Mooney dealership and service center. Darnell also volunteered that a portion of the airport operating funds are generated by selling copies of Cooking With Sierra Sky Park and Friends. This colorful 218-page book is chock-full of recipes such as "Marvelous Marinade" by Ted Nickel and "Tijuana Train Wreck" by Barb Kleiber. And then there's "Elephant Stew" — a recipe that starts with, "Cut elephant into bite-sized pieces. This will take about two months." Copies of the book can be purchased when flying in on the second Saturday of each month (except July and December) to enjoy an airport lunch, sponsored by the members of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Kings River Chapter 376. The menu includes tri tip, beans, salad, and dessert. If flying in isn't possible, the cookbook can be purchased by calling Darnell at 559/288-6039.
This chapter joins with other local fliers on most Saturdays for a group flight it calls the Dawn Patrol. The chapter's motto is Exploratus Panus et Ius, which can be loosely translated to mean "searching for biscuits and gravy."
Fresno
Sierra Sky Park is 188 nm northwest of Los Angeles International Airport and 128 nm east of San Francisco International Airport. It's located seven miles northwest of the Fresno city center and is the smallest of three airports that serve Fresno-area pilots. Fresno Chandler Executive Airport is a very GA-friendly airport located two miles west of the city center. The big airport in Fresno — Fresno Yosemite International — with its parallel runways, commuter airline traffic, and Class C airspace is located five miles northeast of the city center. A "California Flying" article in the November 2005 issue of AOPA Pilot magazine (see " California Flying: Fascinating Fresno") highlighted Chandler airport and two of Fresno's outstanding attractions — the Legion of Valor Museum and the zoo at the Chaffee Zoological Gardens of Fresno.
Sierra Sky Park is located under the Yosemite International airport's Class C airspace. Fresno Approach Control is very good at providing assistance for Sierra Sky Park-bound pilots on 119.6 MHz. Local pilots often choose to descend below the floor of the airspace before entering the traffic pattern at 1,300 feet msl.
Right traffic to Runway 12 and left traffic to Runway 30 are preferred. The calm-wind runway is Runway 30. To maintain good relations with noise-sensitive neighbors, climb straight ahead off Runway 30. Turn after crossing the San Joaquin River.
Within the next few months construction is slated to begin immediately south of the airport. When it's finished there will be more than one new restaurant within easy walking distance of the airport.
There's little doubt that most members of the Dawn Patrol will continue to launch skyward every Saturday in search of biscuits and gravy. What's not certain is how many fliers from other airports will then set course for Sierra Sky Park — the first aviation community in the world.
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