WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — An air park in Warner Robins is surrounded by homes and has daily air traffic. Pilots have heard that more homes are possibly coming near the end of the runway, and some have their concerns.
Jason Ellingson flies his plane there and believes building homes near the end of the runway would be dangerous.
"If somebody was to build a home there at the end of the runway, that would make that end of the runway pretty much useless for people like me that actually have to use the whole length of the runway to safely land and safely takeoff," Ellingson said.
Ellingson has been flying his plane for years. He grew to like it so much that he moved next to the air park, but he said the possibility of homes being built by the runway would end his hobby.
"It would be merely unusable for me, especially for my aircraft. I would not be able to do it at all," Ellingson said.
Not only does he need the entire runway, but building homes there would limit when they could fly leaving it all up to the wind.
"We could only fly if the wind was coming from that direction. That would be the problem, because you only want to land into the wind and only want to takeoff into the wind," Ellingson said.
Elgin Clarke has lived in the Mayberry neighborhood for seven years. He said the airpark was part of the reason for buying his house.
"Because of the air park and those lots being empty, it's kinda a reason for buying the lot we did, because it gave a little bit of privacy," Clarke said.
Clarke also enjoys living nearby during the summer and on weekends.
"I sit on my back porch and enjoy a little air show on the weekends you know as they fly around in the summer. It's not bothersome at all," Clarke said.
Pilots spoke at the Warner Robins Planning and Zoning meeting to warn the board that building homes at the end of the runway would be dangerous for flying and for the people in those homes.
The board approved the property to be annexed and zoned residential for the city of Warner Robins instead of Houston County.
They're planning to schedule a meeting with representation from the Georgia Department of Transportation or FAA to see if developments on the property would violate FAA regulations.