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The Spirit of the Fatties: A Personal Passion, becomes A Grassroots Flying Movement

The Hoosier Fatties started with a simple love for big tires and bold landings — the kind of flying that feels more like an adventure than a routine. We’re talking hayfields, gravel bars, pasture strips, and backyard runways instead of pavement, paint lines, and pesky ATC.

Growing up in the Midwest, I always figured the Alaskan bush pilots were living the dream — flying low, landing wild, and keeping it real. That kind of freedom-fueled, off-strip flying felt like something that only happened up north — not here in corn and soybean country.

Boy was I was wrong.

Turns out, there’s a whole tribe of pilots across the Lower 48 doing exactly that — just with their own twist. I found the Brush Pilots and the Fat Tire Cowboys, and I binged every video they’d ever posted. I was hooked, and longing for kindred spirits.

Then came the surprise

My buddy Mike — someone I’d known for years — had a fat-tire Champ and was working on his Sport Pilot rating. He introduced me to a little local group called the Nulltown Wingnuts, and suddenly I was surrounded by people doing the kind of flying I’d only dreamed about, I had found my tribe. And it wasn’t just taildraggers — there were powered parachutes (affectionately known as the Bedsheet Mafia), experimental aircraft, ultralights, even tricycle-gear planes — all chasing the same off-pavement, hands-dirty, short-strip spirit.

It began as a humble sticker club, dreaming of t-shirts, and hats to show our passion for these planes, and our brand of flying — with, if I may say so, a pretty awesome graphic to show off. That’s when something unexpected happened: at fly-ins, pilots from all over — flying all kinds of aircraft — started asking for Fatties stickers for their planes, and that sparked a bigger idea. That’s when the idea of Hoosier Fatties became more than just a cool sticker.

Why not build a national group? A group where every state could celebrate its own flavor of fat-tire, off-airport flying? A place where anyone who loves rough landings, soft fields, low-and-slow flying, or just putting stickers on stuff, can belong — whether you’re in a taildragger, a powered parachute, an ultralight or still dreaming about your first set of fat tires. This isn’t just about airplanes — it’s about the friends and experiences you gather with this particular group of folks.

If you’ve ever looked at a hayfield and thought,

“Yeah… I could land there,” You’re one of us!

So, friends, here we are — building a National network of Fatties chapters across the country. A grassroots community of pilots who share the joy of flying low, landing short, and keeping it real. You don’t need mountains to fly like a bush pilot. You just need open skies, a friendly field, and, no matter the size, or aircraft they are on… Just a little bit of that Fatties fire in your tires.