Fly-In Camping
Sleeping with your airplane in the great outdoors
BY GREG LASLO
IT’S THE DREAM: SPENDING the night under the stars—and under the
wing of an airplane.
For experienced campers and backpackers, it’s a piece of cake—
load up and go. But for those of us who don’t have campcraft merit
badges, the idea can seem a little intimidating.
Not to worry. To find out how to turn the dream into a reality,
we asked three experts for advice. Don Abbott is founder of the
American Air Campers Association. Ramona Cox is an expert air-camper from Los Angeles who flies to backcountry airstrips
across the American West and maintains www.
SkyChickAdventures.com. Patti Andrews is a flight instructor in
Palo Alto, California, who takes student pilots on cross-country
“boot camp” flight-training experiences.
CAMP? OUTSIDE? WHY?
Don says there are a couple of good reasons to consider a camping trip. First, it’s
a cheap vacation. Second, it’s a chance to
fly with your family to something other
than another airport pancake breakfast.
Third, it’s a way to discover new places.
“It offers excitement, it offers laughter, it
offers conversation—all that stuff,” Don
says. “It offers [pilots] the benefits of getting the family back together, and it gives
a purpose of owning an airplane—to go
out and adventure.”
