Fishing has been very good recently with good catches of snook and redfish. Sheep head are moving in and the “brown marlins” have arrived in numbers. The tarpon bite, at least for me, was slow last week, however.

Fishing is good, but the Airpark is great. It is an untapped resource for this community. For example, next weekend, I have an angler and his son flying in to the Airpark. They are coming in to town and staying at the Rod and Gun Club Friday and Saturday Evening. They plan to take an airboat ride Friday evening. They will eat dinner at the Seafood Depot. They will be having breakfast at the Oar House before we fish. Glades Haven will be making lunches. They will be fishing with me. The next day, they will do it all again. Yes, before they leave they will fill up the aircraft with fuel. Their vacation and is coming to us because of the Airpark. It is great for this community. We can not loose it.

The Airpark itself is an asset to this community that has been very much overlooked. Pilots and aircraft owners, in general, are absolutely starving for a destination to take their friends and their aircraft. If they could fly every weekend, most would. As a pilot for 27 years myself, I know first hand, we are going to fly. Where we are going to fly is the big dilemma. There is something known amongst we pilots as the “$100 Hamburger”. This is a simply way of saying we had nowhere special to fly so we flew someplace with a restaurant and had a hamburger. Nowadays, with the cost of fuel and other operating costs, it will cost more that $100 to get that hamburger. The point is we are going to fly and get it anyhow … no matter what it cost. We must fly. Find a great place to go is the real challenge!

The real point ... I submit to the flying community that Everglades City could be and should be one of the premier destinations for general aviation pilots. For the flying pilot and family there is a lot to do. It has an excellent, safe runway and new facilities; fine eating establishments are within walking or biking distance. You can fly in and stay at some very nice places, you can get fresh stone crabs and other seafood, you can bike, you take a eco tour, you can get ice cream, you can get a message, you can take a fishing trip, a airboat ride, or paddle a kayak or canoe. You can also get a hamburger!

If this is such a great fly-in destination, why is there not more “to-do” about our Airpark? Why aren’t there more pilots flying in? The answer is very simple. No one knows about it!!

The aviation community eats, breathes and lives aviation. Let them know about this destination and they will come. Just let the ones who are flying over head everyday going to the Keys know about it and they will stop in on their way down South (or back North) We as a community AND the County as a whole have not done a very good job marketing this asset.

A few inexpensive advertisements in several key aviation magazines will spread the word. A few Fly-In Stone Crab Lunches or Pancake breakfasts combined with a discounted tour or two, hosted by the community, will give the weekend aviators a place to go and something to do. Drop the price of fuel a bit; pass the word to the pilots at other airports and the pilots headed to Key West will stop here for fuel and fun. Market the area as a destination for pilots and they will come! Let’s do the $100 Stone Crab … Forget the $100 hamburger!!