Sky Acres Airport Developer Douglas C. Cochran

July, 1970 Sky Acres Airport airshow. Watching the show and taking airplane rices for penny a pound!

My father would have turned 97 years old this week. He built Sky Acres Airport in 1965 when he was only 42 years old. He designed the airport on in his head and used his own equipment and experience in the excavating business he started in 1945 to accomplish something few have ever dared to try. I was able to witness his work from start to finish. 55 years have come and have gone but the airport my dad built is still a big part of general aviations success.

The pilots lounge was added onto the dairy barn after the runway was opened in the spring of 1966. My father wanted the pilots who had flown in from out of the area to have a place to relax and enjoy the wonderful view of the Catskill mountain range to the west of the property. Also the flight school was growing in leaps and bounds with over 100 students and three full time flight instructors. The new was a place for them to learn the basics of aviation. The airport was alway...s open to the public and on the weekends the lounge was always busy. Dad wanted to have a fireplace in the lounge and had the stones delivered from Tennessee. On the cold winter days the fireplace would warm up the room and give the lounge a cozy feel for everyone to enjoy. As the smoke would rise up the flume to the top of the silo the atmosphere inside the pilots lounge was beyond words to describe. Learning how to fly and seeing airplanes take off and land has been a very unique experience for all to enjoy. See more

The snack bar was always a big hit at my fathers airport because like my dad said over 50 years ago the same is true today, Pilots love to exchange their stories about flying over a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup! The fact of the matter is that an airport needs a destination for it to exist and food was a way to attract the flying public and the local airplane enthusiasts to Sky Acres in the mid 60’s when it opened. My father knew this from the experiences he had when he w...ould fly his Beechcraft Bonanza all over the country. He said that he usually would ask if the snack bar was open on Unicom before he landed. If not he would fly to an airport that the snack bar was open. It is great to report that the snack bar/restaurant at Sky Acres is now open! Stop by and enjoy. A question to anyone that reads this story, was my father right about pilots and snack bars or has his thought changed after 50 plus years? See more