Turkey Mountain Airport celebrates 20 years of fly-ins

By Sheila Harris sheilaharrisads@gmail.com

With the help of family and friends, 70-plus-year-old Shell Knob resident Judy Reynolds is helping to preserve and promote general aviation.

Since relocating to Shell Knob from the Kansas City area in the late 1990s with her late husband Marshall Reynolds, Judy Reynolds’s name is now familiar to most people in the lake community. A retired 5th grade teacher from the Belton school district, Reynolds now subs for the Shell Knob School, is a hostess at Shell Knob’s Steak Inn and is an avid promoter of Shell Knob Chamber events. 

That’s not all, though. She’s best known, perhaps, as the owner of Turkey Mountain Airport, where she’s been hosting seasonal community fly-ins for the past two decades.

The circumstances leading to her role as airport owner were the result of a curve ball thrown her way by life, one she’s not always been comfortable with. 

“When I married Marshall — who was a pilot — he owned a hangar here that just happened to have a house with it,” Reynolds said. “The house was a plus, so I agreed to move to Shell Knob with him.”

Not long after the couple moved to Turkey Mountain, the entire airport came up for sale. After giving it lots of thought, the Reynoldses went in with a neighboring couple to purchase it. At 3,950 feet in length, it was — and still is — one of the longest grass airstrips in Missouri.

“We didn’t buy the airport as a money-making venture, but as a way of preserving and promoting general aviation,” Reynolds said. “It’s been successful at all three.”

Not long after becoming new co-owners of the airport, Marshall Reynolds suffered a stroke, and he died a couple of years later.

In a state of shock, Judy Reynolds had to decide what to do with her share of the airstrip.

“My neighboring co-owners offered to buy me out, and I almost agreed to it,” she said. “But, I still wanted to promote general aviation. That’s when I had the idea of hosting regular public fly-ins.”

Fly-ins, aviation vernacular for casual social events for pilots, are typically hosted by owners or operators of airports. They offer designated destinations pilots can fly to, meet up with other pilots and discuss topics aviation related, especially their airplanes. Invariably, there’s food involved, often jokingly referred to by pilots as “Hundred Dollar Hamburgers,” since airplane engines are notoriously thirsty.

“My partners weren’t interested in hosting public fly-ins, though,” Reynolds said.

However, with a surprise offer of financial assistance from several pilots who had an interest in supporting her idea, Reynolds said she was able to buy out her neighbors’ half of the airstrip and move forward with her plan.

With the help of family and friends, she hosted her first two fly-ins in 2003.

The response from the aviation community, Reynolds said, was overwhelming. In the years that followed, she was able to increase the frequency of her fly-ins from two in a season to once every month, May through October.

“We’ve had 64 small airplanes here at one time before,” Reynolds said.

As word got out about Reynolds’ MO00-Burger lunches (named after her Turkey Mountain Airport identifier) and signature “Omelet-in-A-Bag” breakfasts, the fly-ins became not just aviation-specific events, but fun gatherings for the community at large. 

On many occasions, the cars in the parking lot outnumber the airplanes parked along the airstrip, where residents who drive in to Reynolds’s fly-ins are treated to an airstrip-side seats where they can watch aircraft fly in and take off.

Although Reynolds has owned Turkey Mountain Airport for upwards of 20 years, now, she is not a pilot herself.

“I tried three different times to take flight lessons, and something always went wrong,” she said. “Once, the flight school closed while I was taking lessons; then, I broke my leg. When I was finally able to tackle it again, my instructor became terminally ill and had to discontinue instruction. At that point, I decided it just wasn’t meant for me to be a pilot myself.”

Reynolds says she could not host the fly-ins without lots of help from family and friends, many who drive down from her old stomping grounds south of Kansas City. The group of ladies who cook up the side dishes and serve the food — Reynolds included — label themselves “Fly-In Floozies,” and have been known to wear aprons to that effect. 

Their male counterparts take on the role of grill-masters and omelet chefs, depending on the season.

In spite of the success of her fly-ins, Reynolds says the maintenance of one of Missouri’s longest airstrips can be overwhelming, especially when it’s time to mow the grass.

“I had a neighbor who used to do the mowing for me,” Reynolds said. “Then, he moved away.”

Reynolds was at a loss, and she made a serious attempt to sell, when her son stepped in with an offer to drive down from the Kansas City area to take over the mowing for her. It’s an offer she didn’t refuse.

“I’m here to stay now,” Reynolds said.

Her decision is a win for general aviation and the community at large.

In 2023, Turkey Mountain Fly-Ins will be hosted the first Saturday of the month, May 6 through Oct. 7. Meals are served in exchange for a donation, at the former golf course club house at 24485 Airport Road (Farm Road 1230).

In addition to aircraft, car and motorcycle enthusiasts are invited to cruise in with their show vehicles. There will be no judging nor awards, other than the admiration of the community.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

2023 Turkey Mountain Fly-In Schedule

May 6: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Burgers and hotdogs

June 3: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., Omelets-in-A-Bag

July 1: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., Pancakes

Aug. 5: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., Omelets-in-A-Bag

Sept. 2: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., BBQ

Oct. 7: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Chili