Airpark owners plan second phase of homes with hangars

With a longer runway in place and a state grant to repair an existing taxiway, the owners of Cook Airfield are hoping to start selling home lots in the second phase of the development of the rural Sedgwick County airpark.

The privately owned airpark with a public airport has added new amenities in the past couple of years, including a fixed base operation with a 24-hour, self-service fuel pump and a 950-foot runway extension last winter, bringing the lighted, asphalt runway to 3,450 feet.

Now, owners Greg Thomas and Steve Logue would like to get started developing the second phase of the 113-acre airpark, between Derby and Rose Hill, and 16 miles southeast of downtown Wichita.

The next phase includes 19 home lots in a gated community with access to the runway. Lots are priced between $65,000 and $95,000 on sizes from 1 to 1.8 acres, Thomas said.

“This is the best kept secret around Wichita,” said Abe Kuipers, who since 2007 has owned a hangar at Cook for his Van’s Aircraft RV-6 kit-built airplane, and is building a house next to it. “I love this place.”

Kuipers’ house is one of two under construction at the airpark, which also has six completed houses.

Thomas, the airpark’s co-owner, said future projects include the addition of a pilot lounge at the FBO and repairs to a taxiway at Cook that serves Air Capital Drop Zone, a skydiving business. This week, the Kansas Department of Transportation announced a $112,500 Airport Improvement Project grant for Cook’s taxiway work.

Compass Rose Aviation, which provides flight training, aircraft sales and service, and converts planes for skydiving, is the only other business at the airpark.

Thomas and Logue, who are retired military, bought Cook from a trust in 2003. The airport had once served as a reliever airport for Cessna.

They developed the airport’s surrounding property — which once served as a motocross park — for houses, including their own.

“My airplane was parked there, and I wanted to live on an airport,” Thomas said of his reasons for converting the airport to an airpark.

More information on the airpark is available at www.cookairfield.com.

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Airpark owners plan second phase of homes with hangars."