Sam Sessler, a private pilot from Seattle, has created a new way for fellow aviators to share their aerial adventures with one another in a mobile app he created called Hangar. 

“A little over a year and a half ago, I had an idea for an aviation platform used to share flights and connect pilots,” Sessler said. “This was mainly inspired by two things: pilots sharing screenshots of their flight tracks to Facebook groups, Instagram, Twitter, etc., and my love for Strava, the run/bike/hike sharing platform. So, in November of 2022, I set out to build this thing.

“Hangar is a social sharing platform for pilots. It is more than a logbook and can allow you to make new connections. I see a logbook as a work item, whereas this is more of a storybook about your flights. You can go back and look at all the different flight tracks, statistics, and pictures from your favorite flights.”

Sessler has built the digital product entirely himself, including creating the code that powers its diverse functionality. His main goal is to build the platform with the community, rather than for the community, and is continually working to incorporate user feedback into future versions. 

“Hangar is a flight-sharing platform that utilizes ADS-B to retrieve your flights and share them with the world, or just your followers,” he said. “The maps are fully interactive, and you can include up to four flight tracks (10 with the pro membership) stitched together for these fun multileg cross-country trips. Pilots will be able to see their flights broken down into each leg.

“There is also a stats button on the bottom right that shows altitude and groundspeed charts throughout each leg. The pro membership has takeoff and landing wind data. Pilots can include up to six images with their flights or simply just post a map. My favorite feature…is the ‘props’ button. Instead of sticking with a boring ‘likes’ feature like every other social media platform, Hangar users will instead give ‘props’ to each other. The icon spins when you click it, which is kind of fun.”

As many pilots know, finding new and unique places to fly to can be a challenge. Hangar makes it easy to discover new places to explore, searchable by several characteristics. Users can even search for fly-in restaurants to find their next “$100 hamburger” destination.

“[You can] find airports near you or explore over 70,000 airports around the world on Hangar’s interactive map,” Sessler said. “Each airport shows flights that have been posted to it, basic airport info, live weather, and reviews that users leave. Once more users are on the platform, the explore page will develop into a more exciting experience as well with new features allowing you to discover active pilots on the platform.”

One of the most unique features is what Sessler has labeled the “stick-and-rudder rating.” This rating, he advised, is a custom formula that highlights a pilot’s currency based on total hours in the past 90 days that helps gamify their recent flights. He also noted that pro users have access to a map that shows all of the airports they’ve flown to, as well as a reference to takeoff and landing wind conditions during those flights.

The Hangar app, which was released in late February, is available for download in the App Store. The basic version is free, and the pro version is $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. 

“We have more than 2,500 users so far, so it’s going pretty well, and these users are active,” Sessler said. “Initially I had beta testers for three weeks before I launched Hangar to work out some of the bugs. I posted the app on a couple of Facebook groups and got like 130 people from that. Then I started rolling out a couple of Instagram ads, just kind of testing the waters after I launched. Those, I think, helped a lot. People are liking the app a lot.”

One of those users is Sean Smith, another pilot from the Seattle area. Smith, who flies a 1979 Mooney M20K from King County International Airport-Boeing Field (KBFI), was one of the first to download Hangar.

“I heard about the app through Flights Above the Pacific Northwest (FATPNW),” said Smith. “I signed up for the beta and started using it immediately. It’s been fun to watch the meteoric user growth since [its] public launch.

“I’m a user of Instagram, and I’ve used it to meet other pilots and form friend groups. However, it’s too superficial, and it’s nice to have a pilot-specific app that self-selects for people who are actually flying. It creates a different type of community, less focused on showing off and more focused on actual flying. My favorite part is seeing people across the country take check rides and do their first solo. It’s been fun to be able to share flights on Hangar.”

The post New App Helps Pilots Connect, Find New Places to Explore appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I’ve written in these pages about combining my love of racing motorcycles with aviation, flying to distant racetracks and sometimes even landing on the track itself. Aviation sweetens the pot for any adventure. It’s a simple equation: Anything you like to do + Aviation = A Win.

Food pairs exceptionally well with aviation. In fact, one of the oldest cliches in aviation is the $100 hamburger (now pushing $300 in many modern airplanes) whereby you fly to a semi-distant location and have a burger before flying home. Sometimes the burger is just an excuse for the flight. There is something about a flight being mission-oriented that checks another box for me. I understand why pilots take part in humanitarian relief, angel flights, or dog rescue missions. I would fly just for the sake of flying, but having a reason makes me feel like an airline transport pilot.

Food is one of the last remaining things in this ultra-homogenized country that still has some regional specificity. Take a road trip this summer and stay on the interstates if you want to see hat I mean. It all looks the same. Chain after chain punctuated with superstores visible from the freeway. It’s numbing and offensive. Cracker Barrel does its best trying to masquerade as local fare, but it’s not authentic Southern cuisine by any measure. Waffle House is the only one I find irresistible, but I’m not starting up the big-bore Conti to go there either.

No, you have to exit those thruways and get on some two-lane blacktop, where you can still find the mom-and-pop restaurants that don’t have an HR department or a social media presence. This dovetails nicely with general aviation in that the bulk of our 5,000 some-odd airfields are well off the beaten path. Throw in a free crew car and a little bit of research, and you’ve got the makings of a nice lunch. Sometimes I skip the research, roll into a small town and just ask who makes the best fried chicken. If you were to only fly into commercial-service airports in the hope of finding a similar experience, you would miss a whole lot.

I am writing this column from the patio of La Mama in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s a new restaurant housed in what was previously a craftsman home right in the middle of town. Landed in Moriarty (0E0) this morning and dropped the Bo off with Fernie, who is addressing a few leftover squawks, post-annual. Jumped in his truck and drove straight here for a sublime bowl of soup and a sandwich on house-made focaccia. Double mission, double joy.

• READ MORE: Flying for Food: The Butcher Block Edition

I have flown to Catalina Island (KAVX) in California numerous times for what is a decent breakfast (nothing I’d spend time driving to) just to justify the gorgeous trip across the water and the carrier landing on top of a mountain. Camarillo (KCMA) is a close second, where the landing is not as exciting but walking up to the outdoor restaurant on the field a mere 50 feet from your parked airplane is an experience worth burning some 100LL.

I seem to make a cross-country trip in my Bo every few years, and I keep a digital folder of restaurants I want to visit. While a restaurant on the field is the gold standard, there is also something great about borrowing a mid-’90s vintage Crown Vic crew car with the driver’s side spotlight still intact from its previous life as an unmarked police car. I love how people still get out of your way in that thing.

Sometimes, the culinary destination outshines the flight. Rare, but it happens. My buddy Carlo and I flew up from Los Angeles to Los Gatos, California, a few years ago to experience one of the best-ever meals at Manresa. Sadly, the restaurant is now closed (a victim of COVID-19), but I will always remember that flight/meal.

I enjoy the cheap meals as much as I do the high-end cuisine. Aside from an appreciation of all foods, the people are much friendlier in the eateries that don’t come with Michelin stars. I tumbled into PJ’s Rainbow Cafe in Mountain View, Arkansas, a few years back on a cross-country flight. With an actual rainbow on the front glass, this place would absolutely be a gay hangout if it was located in the West Village in NYC. I walked in and immediately noticed the tiles of the dropped ceiling were individual advertisements for local businesses. I’d only seen this done on menus and the occasional tabletop until I entered this establishment. Dining next to me was a woman with an incomplete beard who told me to get the chicken-fried steak. She was with her husband (full beard), whom she met online and who “drove down to Florida to pick her up.” I overheard another woman discussing the eye makeup in the Netflix drama series The Queen’s Gambit and finally had a conversation with a elderly man in full military dress blues who owned a local health food store. He somehow confused me with someone else in the small town (population: 1,700) who apparently I looked like, and we struck up a conversation. He works in the honor guard and buries deceased servicemen and women. These are encounters and meals you simply aren’t going to have anywhere near JFK.

Gonna pick up the airplane in Moriarty tomorrow then head back east for the summer. I haven’t been home in more than a year because of my work. Staring at a VFR map of the country, I am planning my route back. People assume this is a regimented, regulation-fueled exercise. Nope. Taste buds and curiosity are the drivers here. BBQ in Kansas with Sean or a little sandwich shop on the South Side of Chicago with Chris? Not sure yet. Will get airborne and figure it out at 11.5K.

This column first appeared in the July 2023/Issue 939 print edition of FLYING.

The post Food for Flight Is the Way to Go appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

It was the Beaumont Hotel Airport (07S) in Beaumont, Kansas. Situated in the picturesque Flint Hills region of the state, the airport is a short taxi from the same named hotel that first opened in the 19th century. And without the hotel, Craig’s connection to the airport would not have endured as it has today.  

Having been involved with hospitality property development and operations since the early 1970s, his re-involvement with the airport provides a story of happenstance. 

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“I had been living in California and the company I was involved with had changed quite a bit,” Craig said. “Eventually, I became the sole shareholder. One day, my operations guy ran across a unique hotel and airport in Kansas that he brought to my attention. 

“The hotel was closed with a lot of deferred maintenance. But at the asking price, I thought it would be a good opportunity.” 

Armed with the experience and resources to improve it, Craig purchased the property in March 2001. Improvements were made over the next nine or so months. 

“The entire building was remodeled, including the restaurant, café, kitchen, and 10 rooms. [It was] all brought up to current codes.” 

Each of the improvements were carefully chosen as to not erase the charm of the establishment, rather add to its, at the time, 122-year history. 

How it Started

As noted on the property’s website, “The Beaumont Hotel was created in 1879 as a stagecoach and railroad stop to shelter weary pioneers when the railroad brought cattle barons and frontier society to Beaumont. 

“Surrounded by lush native grass, the hotel nestled deep in the Flint Hills became a magnet for cattle buyers visiting the surrounding big spreads. As the nation grew, so did aviation; in 1953, a north and south native grass airstrip was carved out of the prairie so airplanes could taxi right up to The Beaumont Hotel’s front door.”

• READ MORE: Grant Boyd Archive

Still boasting its original charm, the hotel as it exists today offers five rooms with king-sized beds, five rooms with queen-sized beds, and a restaurant, as well as common areas and meeting spaces. Also housed on the grounds are an 11-space, full-service RV-park, and a tiny home that’s available to stay in. 

The site is also home to Barry Seal’s 1949 Twin Beech D18S. The life of Barry Seal is well portrayed in two recent movies—American Made starring Tom Cruise and Double-Crossed starring Dennis Hopper. 

The Atmosphere

The place serves as an attractive spot for people wanting to come to a place with old roots and modern amenities. Spring, summer, and fall are the busy seasons for the hotel, but it also sees a steady flow of visitors throughout the winter as well. 

The atmosphere has increasingly become a competitive advantage in the world of large chain hotels, during a time when people have sought more personal experiences. 

Beaumont’s visitors are a healthy mix of people arriving via car, motorcycle, or RV, in addition to pilots flying in a wide variety of aircraft. Many of the guests arriving with their aerial transports come to attend model-specific fly-ins. Over the past several years, the hotel has hosted many aviation type clubs, including the: 

• International Stinson Club
• The Cessna 195 Club
• International 180/185 Club

Whichever aircraft makes the journey is treated to the unique experience of taxiing through some of Beaumont to get to the hotel. After exiting the airstrip at the southern end, pilots take a paved county road approximately a fifth of a mile and then park right across from their intended destination. Here, airplanes line up facing the hotel, adjacent to several spots listed in the National Register of Historic Places. One of these is the Frisco Water Tower, which was built in 1885 to provide water for steam locomotives. It is believed to be the last remaining one of its kind in the country. 

From the Bent Propeller Parking, next to the aged wooden tower, it’s only a quick walk to the restaurant. Here, surrounded by aviation memorabilia and photos signed by famed aviators, pilots from near and far congregate Saturday mornings for good food and skyward conversation. 

Craig and his team have made adjustments to help preserve the spot’s heritage and entice fellow aviators to enjoy it. Most important to these flying travelers is the airport and 2,400-foot-long by 80-foot-wide turf runway that serves as their gateway to south central Kansas. Before, the landing strip had largely been left untouched since its creation. 

One of the first things Craig accomplished was obtaining an FAA recognition of the Beaumont Hotel Airport as a privately owned, public-use airport with the 07S identifier. Today, most of the work pertains to the runway surface itself, and in particular, its length. 

Craig’s team is preparing for an extension.

“I recently purchased approximately 18 acres from the adjoining landowner to permit lengthening the runway from its 2,400 feet to 3,400 feet,” Craig said. “Extensive excavation is ongoing to make overall improvements to the runway.” 

Having re-opened the hotel shortly after 9/11, the facility has weathered several general aviation slumps in recent years. But the persistence of pilots and their love for the sky will ensure the site’s treasured continuum well into the future.

The post Historic Kansas Aviation Spot Holds Special Meaning for its Owner appeared first on FLYING Magazine.