Residential "Air Park" Is Planned To Honor Chuckey Aviation Pioneer
by: Cameron Judd, Assistant Managing Editor

An exclusive residential development project called an "airpark" apparently the first one ever in East Tennessee, is being created in Chuckey.

"Air parks" - communities centered around private air strips - are relatively common in other parts of the country, but none has previously been developed in East Tennessee, according to Ted Hensley, who owns the land under development.

The approximately 40-acre air park he is developing along Mitchell Road in Chuckey, near the Greene County Mennonite Church, will be named the Huffaker Memorial Air Park and will feature five home sites.

The grass airstrip already is in place, permissions from the Greene County Planning Commission have been received, lots have been surveyed, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given its blessing.

Within the last few days, all necessary signatures have been obtained, and home sites are expected to enter local real estate listings right away.

The air park will provide home sites that, because of deed restrictions, will be available only to pilots who have their own planes and can be resold only on the same terms. Hangars will be nearby , and utility lines will be buried for the safety of the plane traffic.

Hensley, an affiliate broker with Pro-Service Realtors in Greeneville, has already heard from three pilots interested in living in the air park. This does not surprise him.

"I don't think I've ever met a pilot in my life who doesn't at least fantasize about having a private hanger in the back yard - some place to take off from to fly to the beach , or wherever on the weekends," Hensley said.

page 2 - Who Was Huffaker?

page 3 - Air Park's Inspiration

page 4 - An Aviation-Centered Family