Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts

Friday, September 13, 2019

Driving on Airport Runways


    For the record, I *have* driven down the runway at an airport, in a roommate's VW beetle, under the influence of the sacred weed, fish-tailing all the way, totally unauthorized, while blasting some rock-&-roll song on the radio. It was a small airport, no planes were trying to land, and I was eventually apprehended by the airport's custodian. A simple apology sufficed to clear me.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Driving on a Runway


    True story - once upon a time, I drove on an airport runway, illegally, and in a VW beetle.  It was obviously a very small airport, called Starlight Field, IIRC, and located in Chandler, Arizona.

    I got on it accidentally, but I admit, I was aware of what it was immediately, and I thoroughly enjoyed fish-tailing down the gravel runway.  What I didn't count on was the airport's keeper living in a house at the end of the runway, coming out to see my antics, and jumping in his pick-up and giving chase.

    At the runway's end, there was a bit of a rut, then a curb, then a road again.  So it was easy to make my escape.  Alas, a VW Beetle with a driver and three passengers is no match for a guy in a pick-up, and he eventually caught up to me, and flashed his lights for me to pull over.  Which I did.

    He asked me if I knew I was on an airport runway, and I said, "Sure.  But once I was on it, I figured the quickest way off was to drive to the end."

    He accepted this story (It pretty much was the truth), and we parted on amicable terms, after he warned me that I could've been hit by an airplane landing there.

    It should be mentioned that when he pulled me over, and got out of his truck to come talk to me, my three passengers were all telling me to put the Beetle in gear and flee the scene for Phase 2 of The Chase.  I resisted the temptation.