Pilots and their planes now call more than 600 fly-in communities across the country home, says Dave Sclair, retired publisher of General Aviation News.

“It’s a very popular trend,” he says.

John Travolta keep his Boeing 707 parked at his estate in the air park Jumbolair near Ocala, Fla.

But celebrities aren’t the only people who choose this lifestyle. Lots of serious pilots want to be close to their planes for convenience and security, says Sclair.

In Santa Paula, Calif., developers are breaking ground for what they believe is a first – two-story condos with hangars for planes downstairs and living space for pilots and their families upstairs. The units will sell for about $800,000 each and buyers will actually own a piece of airport property.

Pilot Bill Lindsay, one of the people behind the project, says many of the condos are already sold and developers aren’t concerned about selling the rest. “I think it is enough of a supply-and-demand type of thing, enough of a niche, that we’ll be fine,” Lindsay says.

Source: The Associated Press, John Rogers (10/26/2008)