By D.R. STEWART, Staff Writer
Tulsa World
10/23/2009

Pilots and aviation enthusiasts in east Tulsa are preparing for the third
fly-in of the year Saturday at Harvey Young Airport, an event they hope
will spark improvements at the 93-acre general aviation landmark.

Chip Taylor, director of operations for Aviation Management Group, owner of
the privately held airport, said he expects 50 aircraft and 300 people at
the fly-in. Nonfliers and the general public are invited, Taylor said.

"There are some people who will be providing aircraft and helicopter
rides," Taylor said. "There also should be antique and experimental
aircraft. We'll have free food — cheeseburgers, hot dogs, baked beans,
chips, pop and water."

A donation jar will be located at the head of the food line, fly-in
organizers say.

Money collected will go toward infrastructure rehabilitation at Harvey
Young, 1419 S. 135th East Ave., which has a 2,580-by-40-foot asphalt runway
and a 2,380-by-80-foot grass runway.

The National Weather Service is forecasting clear skies and 65 degrees —
ideal flying weather.

The forecast for Harvey Young itself was anything but ideal two years ago.

At that time, some of the owners of more than three dozen tenant aircraft
based at Harvey Young were relocating their planes. They were discouraged
by the airport owner's plans to convert the airfield to a residential
subdivision.

That effort sparked a Save Harvey Young campaign, which wasn't as
successful in thwarting the proposal as the limestone bedrock underlying
the site.

"Aviation Management Group studied the 90 acres and found it didn't market
well as a subdivision," Taylor said. "The owners decided they liked keeping
it as an airport."

Harvey Young is a remnant of northeastern Oklahoma's early aviation
history.

A destination for barnstorming aviators, it later became a pioneering
late-1930s airfield and a training ground for World War II pilots.

Like many Harvey Young tenants, Tim Jarrett has a family history with the
airport.

His father, Lewis Jarrett, was a pilot for The Tulsa Tribune who flew out
of Harvey Young. When the elder died, Tim inherited his 1946 Piper Cub.

The aircraft has been based at Harvey Young since his father bought the
plane in 1982, Jarrett said.

"I like the fact I don't have to talk to a (air traffic control) tower,"
Jarrett said.

"I can climb in the aircraft, taxi out, and if no one is out there, I can
take off and fly. It's not busy; it's laid back. It's like belonging to a
yacht club

"If you just want to go out and sit in your airplane, you can. If you want
to practice your putting in the hangar, you can."

Taylor said the main asphalt runway needs to be resurfaced, along with its
parallel taxiway.

"We have made small improvements, but the revenue turnover is small for
that airport," Taylor said.

Fifty of 60 private hangars at the airport are rented, but at $80 to $500
per month the rental income will not cover rehabilitation of the runway and
taxiway, Taylor said.

"About 60 acres of the airport is undeveloped field," Taylor said. "There
are plans for 2011-2012 to put in a flying community. We're looking at 50
homes, all with airfield access. We plan on selling the lot, and they could
build their own home.

"Management's current philosophy is expansion. We want to get Tulsans aware
of this airport and get tenants active again like they were at Harvey Young
in the 1980s."