Small Airports Offer Fun and Flight

March 18, 2016

People fly to get from one place to another, but for users of the area’s smaller airports it’s about more than that. Cherry Capital Airport, Manistee’s Blacker Airport and Pellston Regional Airport may handle the most passengers, but pilots of small planes – sometimes very small planes – have numerous other options scattered across the region:

Frankfort, Boyne City, East Jordan, Indian River and Kalkaska, among others. Bellaire and Mancelona are just 12 miles apart and each has an airport. Mackinac Island and Drummond Island each have one; Beaver Island has two.

Those who use these smaller airports typically say there’s a fun factor involved. Maybe it’s just for a "hundred dollar hamburger," a phrase local pilot Mike Stimac used to describe a scenario where a pilot gathers a few friends on the spur of the moment and flies somewhere like Mackinac Island or St. Ignace for a quick meal. Whatever the reason, the ability to easily fly in and fly out keeps these airports open, no matter how small.

Thompsonville Airport

With a population of 441, according to the 2010 census, Thompsonville seems an unlikely candidate for an airport. Yet, there it is, just off M-115 near Crystal Mountain Resort.

"In 2000 I got my pilot’s license and a two-seater Cessna. That’s when I got involved," said Marv Prepejchal, who manages the airport. Now, 16 years later, he said he still enjoys the feeling he gets when he’s in the air. "I’m still kind of in awe when I go up."

He said the airport’s biggest disadvantage – its location – is also an advantage.

"It’s quiet and peaceful. There’s not a lot of traffic."

Despite its small size, it is open year round.

"We received a grant to blacktop it several years ago. Part of the agreement was to maintain it year round. The village plows it," he said.

Empire Airport

Even smaller is Empire, which the 2010 census pegs at 375 people. Yet, it too boasts an airport, located just east of town off M-72. Local businessman Lance Roman is the manager.

"In the 80s, at a township meeting, no one wanted to take care of it. I got volunteered into it," he said with a laugh.

The airport attracts private flyers and flying students from NMC, and its biggest drawback has nothing to do with planes.

"The biggest thing it could use is a rental car," said Roman. "I flew into an airport [downstate] and they had a car for me to use."

Besides private and student flyers, one other group uses both Empire and Thompsonville airports: BARC, the Benzie Area Radio Control club. The group of 40 to 50 model airplane enthusiasts meets at one of the two airports throughout the temperate seasons to fly their planes, which can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

BARC member Bob Ballmer said they meet a couple times a week at the airports. When someone gets the itch, they email other members and Ballmer said 10 to 15 flyers typically gather at a time.

"Most of BARC is in the Benzie area," he said, so the Thompsonville airport is closer. Those in Leelanau, including flyers from Lake Leelanau and farther north, find it easier to get to Empire.

Torchport Airpark, Eastport

Torchport is modeled after airparks in the South, with homes located right on the airport property. Maryanne Jorgensen and her husband Duane were part of a group that purchased the airport many years ago and added a second runway, as well as home sites, a model home and 10 hangars.

It hosts a fly-in each year and a camp-out weekend in the summer, but the cost of airplane fuel ("A lot of people stopped flying," said Maryanne) and the fact that the airpark model didn’t seem to catch on prompted the Jorgensens and the remaining co-owning couple to put it up for sale.

Stimac, a pilot from Traverse City who keeps his plane at Frankfort Airport, said Torchport’s proximity to the shores of Lake Michigan and Torch Lake makes it one of the most scenic airports in the entire country.

"I don’t know if you can find a more wonderful place to fly," he said.

Antrim County Airport, Bellaire

Airport director John Strehl said $4.3 million in grants has helped the airport grow to the point where it can accommodate small jet traffic, although traffic has changed since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Prior to that date, "Everybody knew someone who had a small plane," he said. "We [now] deal with such a small segment of the population."

Nevertheless, Strehl said the airport remains busy, particularly in the summer months, though it is open year round.

"When you get federal dollars, you’re obligated to operate year round."

Calvin Campbell Municipal Airport Airport

Owned and operated by Tuscoarora Township, the airport in Indian River was built on land donated by a state representative in 1936 to be used as an airport. Airport manager Norman Pratt said, following World War II, the township started clearing brush and trees and, by 1988, the runway was paved. That’s also when Pratt became manager.

Pratt said the airport has grown a lot since then.

"Everybody flies in and the first thing they need is a bathroom and a phone. So we put in a small terminal," he said.

Local flyers are "coming and going all the time," according to Pratt. In fact, just prior to the interview, Pratt said a local pilot had landed after picking up a friend and his wife who he had flown back from the Mayo Clinic.

The airport hosts a local chapter of the Experimental Airport Association and Pratt himself has been flying since 1949, though the 87-year-old admits he hasn’t flown in the last four or five years.

"I’m so busy with managing the property. It’s a lot of work to maintain it," he said.

Frankfort Dow Memorial Field

Like most of the other small airports, the majority of people using Frankfort Dow are pilot-owners, according to airport manager Doug Kirk. Also like the others, summer traffic far exceeds winter traffic.

"It runs close to triple digits in a month in the summer, single digits in the winter," he said.

Kirk himself is a private pilot and he took on the management position because, as a Benzonia resident, he was the closest.

"There was no one else around that lives in Frankfort," he said.

While its runway is more than 4,000 feet long, it’s technically listed at only 3,500 feet because of some trees at one end that present a potential hazard.

In addition to motorized flights, the airport has a history with a glider club that used to be based there. Kirk said a previous manager didn’t see the utility of the group and ran them off.

"He kicked them out and we’re trying to get them back," he said.

The group is now based in Grand Rapids.

Boyne Mountain Airport

Nearly every Up North resort has ski hills and golf courses, so if you want to set your resort apart, what better way than with an airport? Boyne Mountain General Manager Ed Grice said its airport actually came about for a more mundane reason.

"It started because of [resort founder] Everett Kircher’s love of flying," he said.

That was back in the ’50s. In the ’70s, it was expanded to accommodate Kircher’s newest plane, a Citation jet. Today, the airport welcomes resort visitors and property owners eager for a weekend of skiing, golf or the resort’s waterpark.

"Over the years we’ve had conventions like aircraft companies or flying clubs," said Grice.

He said local manufacturers occasionally take advantage of the airport by flying parts in or out, as Boyne City’s airport can’t accommodate jets.

Besides the enjoyment of being in the air, pilots said the convenience of flying from the numerous small fields might make it preferable to driving.

"From Traverse City to Marquette, it’s five and a half hours driving. It’s 36 minutes in the air," Stimac said.

He said it’s often more practical to eschew flying commercial and landing in large airports, as well.

"You don’t have to go to O’Hare and wait for the seat belt light [to go off] and then pay a taxi," he said.

That ability to move quickly can be a huge boon to conducting business, as well. Stimac said he knows of a local business owner who uses his plane to take advantage of opportunities by being the first on the scene, flying quickly and easily to visit customers or repair machinery.