wrote in message
ups.com...

But the advertised 390-ft fully-loaded ground roll got me fantasizing
about all the convenient places I could land with a STOL bush plane.
Somebody give me a reality check

Forget about it.

The first problem you have is the Washington DC ADIZ. Basically anything
within 30 nautical miles of DCA is *very* strictly controlled in terms of
arrivals and departures. Assuming you are within this ring there is no
chance you would be allowed to land and depart from anywhere except several
specially-designated fields and after a ton of other rigmarole.

But it is highly unlikely you'd ever get that far. First, there are enough
problems in suburbs with noise complaints coming from people who bought
houses built five years ago next to an airport that has been around since
the Wright bros. were still signing pilots' licenses. To get an idea of what
the world is coming to check out www.stopthenoise.org. This is up in Mass.,
which politically is pretty much the same crowd you get around the Beltway.

And the liability? Let's say your engine fails several hundred AGL on
takeoff. If you're really in the 'burbs then odds are good you're coming
down in a populated area. Whatever gets broken, that property owner whose
field you departed from is getting sued. Hopefully it's just somebody's
patio furniture and not something more difficult to replace.

As for the absolute legality of it, most populated areas have zoning boards
that exercise power approaching that of the Soviet Union. There are almost
certainly enough catch-alls in there to ensure that you would, at the very
least, have to spend a small fortune on lawyers in the process.

YMMV. Free advice is often worth every penny you pay for it.

-cwk.