GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - Inside the office at the Great Barrington Airport, they covered the walls with old shirts, mementos of students’ first solo flights over the years.

“Back in the olden days, they would tug on the shirt in the direction they wanted you to go or if they needed your attention for something because there were no headphones at the time,” said Joe Solan, the airport manager. “And by signifying cutting the shirt, you don’t need your instructor anymore, so we do that still as a tradition.” 

What You Need To Know

  • The Great Barrington Airport has been a hub for aviation in the southern Berkshires since 1931
  • Hundreds of students have learned how to fly at the airport over the years
  • Today, the airport still has just one runway and can accommodate planes no larger than 10 to 12 seaters
  • More than two dozen students are currently in the airport’s flight school

The airport is a hub for aviation in the southern Berkshires, and it’s been this way since 1931.

“We’ve got about seven to eight airplanes in the flight school, and about 40 to 45 people based here,” said Solan. “Our shop is extremely busy. We have a lot of customers from all over New England. We do pretty much just about everything you can think of.”

Solan and his father Rick oversee day-to-day operations. There’s just one runway, and the private planes using it can’t be any bigger than 10 to 12 seaters.

Because of instrument limitations in both the planes and at the airport, cloudy and rainy days like this one when we visited means no flying.

“The mountain ridge over there, the highest points of it go up to about 1800-1900 feet,” said Solan, pointing to the mountains visible to the east of the runway. “So, you can see it a little bit off to the left there, but typically when that’s in the clouds, we can’t fly because it’s below our minimums.”

Instead, days like Monday are spent in the flight school classroom. Right now, there’s over two dozen students in the program learning how to fly.

“The woman I was doing ground with earlier, she wants to continue on and possibly make this a career,” said Solan. “So even on days like today she’s out here, we’re doing ground, and she’s flying as much as possible.”

Solan said the airport has helped many people, and each one serves as a reminder of what they want the airport’s legacy to be.

“Trying to preserve general aviation is our number one goal,” said Solan. “We like being able to teach the young kids, and this is where careers start.”