Antique airplanes 'R' us

Carved out of a hillside in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Van Sant Airport is a jewel among East Coast airports. The rustic airport is a county park, so it gets lots of visitors on the weekends. They come to watch the tailwheel aircraft and gliders that call Van Sant home, and to enjoy vintage and antique aircraft as they’re meant to be enjoyed—busy and flying whenever the weather permits.

Bar and Dannie Eisenhauer operate the FBO and know everybody on a first-name basis. Bar Eisenhauer has flown corporate and hopped rides as a barnstormer in the South. These days he helps to nurture aviation and preserve history by offering scenic flights and tailwheel flight training. You can get tailwheel proficient not only in a Piper J–3 Cub, but also in a Cessna 170A, a Citabria, and a Stearman.

“We teach flying the way it started,” said Eisenhauer. “There are enough airports that have 172s with glass cockpits. We’re not here to compete with them.”

Elsewhere on the airport, A&Ps who specialize in antique aircraft work tirelessly on beloved projects. Eisenhauer himself is rebuilding a 1940 Taylorcraft, replacing its original Lycoming 65-horsepower engine with an experimental Rotec 110-horsepower radial engine.

If you want to visit, know a few things before you go. Every weekend “is like an airshow,” said Eisenhauer, and many aircraft don’t have radios. Runway 7 has a 365-foot displaced threshold. There are trees near both ends of the runway, and a slope in the center. The airport is day VFR operations only. Feel free to call the Eisenhauers for a briefing before you decide to fly in.

One final bit of advice from the locals: Saturdays and Sundays, beginning at 11 a.m., Chef Rainier serves burgers, steaks, and fresh-cut fries cooked to order. “Just-passing-through visitors not even particularly interested in planes come back for the food,” said Rebecca Carey, a sport pilot who earned her certificate at Van Sant.

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