AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014 - 34

PILOT BRIEFING
|

AIRPORT STORIES

FLORIDA

Hidden gem
Airport on the edge of wilderness

Everglades City

BY MIKE KLEIN

DID YOU KNOW
In February the city is home
to the annual Seafood Festival
that draws more than 50,000
visitors. It's about a 10-minute
walk from the airport, or there
is usually a free shuttle service
provided to and from the festival entrance.

34 | AOPA PILOT September 2014

some minimal survival skills-there are no
hospitals, clinics, drug stores, traffic lights,
fast food joints, taxis, golf courses, or shopping malls-a visit here will fill your camera,
treat your stomach, and provide a lifetime of
tales to relate.
Bicycles are available to rent at the
airport for touring the mile-long, half-milewide city that is full of great attractions and
activities. Or a phone call to any restaurant
will get you a free pick-up and ride to town.
If you're not yet ready to eat, you and
your passengers could hike around the corner to the national park headquarters for
a cruise through the wetlands-where you
might spot a gator-or out toward the Gulf
where along the way you will see dolphins,
wading herons, diving cormorants, snook,
and views of one of the most memorable
places on Earth.
Chuck Gretzke, who operates Wings
Aero Tours, flies his bush plane down from
Alaska for the winter season and once a
month hosts a pancake breakfast, attracting
dozens of fliers in unique, antique, homebuilt, and Experimental aircraft; plus Light
Sport aircraft, Beech Barons, Pilatus turboprops, and numerous large and small
whirlybirds. The 2,400-foot-long runway,
which drops off behind the mangroves,

sometimes makes for a few go-arounds,
especially if a crosswind is up, but the earlier arrivals sitting on the viewing deck will
offer plenty of informed opinions on your
technique. On any given day there is the
chance of watching John Apte set up and
pick up a banner with his Cessna 170 for
his advertising routine, a demonstration of
precision low-level flying and maximum
climbout effort.
The FAA Safety Team frequently
hosts Wings-qualified seminars on issues
ranging from aircraft maintenance to wilderness survival. These are popular events,
and many pilots gas up afterwards and
head on down to the Florida Keys for a tour
of the emerald waters of Florida Bay and
the vast southern wilderness. Everglades
Airpark is the last stop on the Gulf Coast
before the Florida Keys and the first stop
on the return. Fuel prices are generally
one to two dollars per gallon less than anywhere on the Keys.
This little airport is a gem of discovery
and if you visit once you'll surely want to
return often with friends and family-or
keep as your personal escape site.
MIKE KLEIN, AOPA 893706, writes from

Florida.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PHOTO BY RODNEY CAMMAUF

ON THE GULF COAST OF FLORIDA, just on
the edge of the Everglades National Park,
sits the first airport chartered in the state-
Everglades Airpark (X01). Some visitors
refer to it as the "10,000 islands outpost,"
and it could certainly qualify as such.
Everglades Airpark is on the boundary
of Everglades National Park and located in
Everglades City, the town built by Barron
Gift Collier in 1924 as a base for construction of the Tamiami Trail. The city was the
original Collier County seat and was nearly
destroyed when it was inundated with 11
feet of water from Hurricane Donna in 1960.
In 1947 President Harry Truman visited
to inaugurate the opening of the Everglades
National Park. Many world leaders and
celebrities seeking scenic serenity-for
artistic production, business, or a getaway
visit-have visited this historic outpost.
Everglades City is known as the Stone
Crab Capitol of the World. Every year
aviators and boaters arrive to take home
coolers filled with this unique delicacy.
There are experiences here that you
will find nowhere else: airboat tours, fishing
expeditions, kayaking, and wildlife-such
as alligators, manatees, birds of all species,
snakes, and, yes, crocodiles. The area is truly
the last of the wild, and although it does take

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2014

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