Spruce Creek: Where Everybody Owns an Airplane



A few miles south of Daytona Beach lies Spruce Creek, one of the most unique residential communities in the world. Known as a residential airpark — or fly-in community — Spruce Creek has 5,000 residents, 1,300 homes, and 700 hangars that share a unique life in the private-gated village. Instead of a garage, most houses in Spruce Creek have an attached hangar, and the driveway leads directly to a 4,000-by-150-foot runway with GPS approach. There's an 18-hole golf course, several flying clubs, rental aircraft, and flight training, as well as 24-hour patrolled security. For those whose lives revolve around airplanes, Spruce Creek is a paradise. Its most famous resident was actor John Travolta, who was eventually driven out of the park by residents who complained of the tremendous noise generated by Travolta’s Boeing 707. In addition, the 250,000-pound airline was simply too big for Spruce Creek’s runway. Most of the residents of the tightly knit community are professional pilots, while others are doctors, lawyers, and land speculators. The talk is almost exclusively about aircraft, and every week the “Saturday Morning Gaggle” gather beside the runway, take off in groups of three, and fly to one of the local airports for breakfast.