Financially, local private airports in Chester County and surrounding areas have been steadily dropping to lower altitudes in recent years, and now they’re hitting some economic turbulence.

Brandywine Airport northeast of West Chester, for example, is just breaking even while revenues continue to sink, according to a report on Philly.com.

Unrealistic perceptions about the likelihood of crashing is one reason, but chief among the factors pulling it out of the sky is property taxes. Unlike publicly-owned airports like the Chester County G.O. Carlson Airport, Brandywine pays $60,000 per year for the land it sits on.

Because of such financial constraints, the nation is losing a community airport nearly every month, and there are 20 percent fewer pilots in the air than 10 years ago, the article stated.

“Running an airport is a lifestyle,” Bucks County Airport Authority Chairman John Mininger said in the report. “If the interest isn’t there, [owners] may sell.”

And Brandywine’s 60-year-old manager John Kassab, pictured above flying over Chester County, is upset by the trend.

“He remembers an era when flying was romanticized. Today, he said, aviation expenses and time burdens have subdued that.”

Brandywine breaks even by renting out its 75 hangars and orchestrating 60,000 flights a year; its total annual contribution to the economy is $9.4 million.

Read more about the plight of local airports and the real probability of plane crashes on Philly.com here.

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Top image courtesy of Philly.com