hangar / tie-down availability in greater Boston

Hi everyone,

I'm considering taking a job in the Boston area, and I'm trying to collect some general info about housing my RV-12 in the Boston area.

The job is in Lexington, so Hanscom/Bedford would be ideal, but I expect it's expensive, if anything is available at all.

Other airports I'm looking at are Stow, Lawrence, Nashua, Beverly.

Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge about hangar (preferred) or tie-down availability and pricing at any of these or other nearby fields? Even better, if you know of anyone who'd be willing to sublet a portion of a hangar, that would be my dream scenario (since the 12's wings are removable).

I'm going to start calling airport managers soon, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask here.

Thanks in advance!

kritsher said:

Hi everyone,

I'm considering taking a job in the Boston area, and I'm trying to collect some general info about housing my RV-12 in the Boston area.

The job is in Lexington, so Hanscom/Bedford would be ideal, but I expect it's expensive, if anything is available at all.

Other airports I'm looking at are Stow, Lawrence, Nashua, Beverly.

Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge about hangar (preferred) or tie-down availability and pricing at any of these or other nearby fields? Even better, if you know of anyone who'd be willing to sublet a portion of a hangar, that would be my dream scenario (since the 12's wings are removable).

I'm going to start calling airport managers soon, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask here.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Where are you going to be living?

not sure

well, I don't know yet where I'll be living. Somewhere within a reasonable (~40 minute) commute from Lexington. The plane situation will likely have some bearing on where I decide to look for a place.

For the short term, I"ll be staying with family near Lexington, but I expect I'll either live in/near the city (boston/cambridge/somerville) or far enough away to escape some of the suburban sprawl (maybe as far as stow/harvard to the west or the NH line to the north).

I can help...

I used to keep my plane at Hanscom. I did the first flight of my -4 from Hanscom and never went back. Hanscom is very expensive, and not friendly toward small planes. When I worked in Lexington, I often flew my Citabria at lunch.

After I finished my -4, I kept it at Nashua for a while. A great airport - lots of small planes, a bunch of RV's, good restaurant. From my house in Arlington (one town east of Lexington), it took about 35 min to get to Nashua. In bad traffic, it could take all day, though.

Stow is nice, small, and convenient, but has one rough paved runway and one really rough dirt one. Hangers are very expensive, but tie downs are cheap.

Lawrence is not a bad choice, hangers may be available. Beverly is a long ways from Lexington.

My -4 is now hangered in Fitchburg - a great airport, but rather far from Lexington. If you live west of Lexington, you could be 30min from work and 30 min from Fitchburg. I live in Bolton which is about 45 minutes from Lexington (my wife worked in Lexington until recently) and 20-25min from Fitchburg. There are lots of good choices...

Please feel free to send me a PM, if you would like more info.

Good luck.

Hi Ken,

Unless you are working an odd shift, the commute around that area is grueling. You will not want to be further away than you have to. That stretch of RT3 and all of RT128 is tough during typical commute hours.

The runway at Beverly is in need of work - at least it was 18 months ago - and with it on the tower closing list, I suspect it is not getting the funding attention it needs.

Rt3 + 128S is pretty bad (so, coming from NH is pretty rough), but 2 into Lexington (from either direction) is generally OK, and 128N is generally fine.

KBVY got a new runway a couple of years ago, IIRC. Not sure though, I've been based out of KFIT + Stow for a while and haven't been to BVY recently.

Thanks!

Thanks for the insights, guys.

Dean, thanks for the offer - I may follow up with a PM in a few weeks when my situation is a little bit more resolved.

Ken

Ken,

I live in Arlington, not far from Lexington, and fly out of Hanscom. Even though I have access to some relatively inexpensive hangar space there, I plan to do final assembly somewhere else - probably Nashua, for all the reasons that Dean mentioned. Plus, after an incident or two with E-AB aircraft, the FAA seems to be reluctant to approve first flights and Phase 1 out of BED.

I'm hunting for hangar space myself, feel free to PM me and perhaps we can share info.

Best,

Dave Setser

You might also consider Norwood airport (OWD). Plenty of Tie-downs, no hangar space, traffic generally not a problem. It is a bit "corporate" oriented with expensive fuel prices, but generally GA friendly. That's where I keep my Cessna now. However, Lawrence (LWM) is very GA (and homebuilt) friendly, and home to a very active EAA106 chapter. You will probably find your best hangar deals at Lawrence. As a matter of fact, I may be going there myself even if it is 3 times further to me than Norwood.
Welcome to the Boston area.