Narrative:

Finished maintenance on my airplane. Others in pattern so I went flying. While airborne; I heard others on the same frequency at a nearby airport. I decided to fly over there; too. 3 of us in the pattern; one full stop. I made a full stop; too; and decided to have lunch. There were no markings indicating field closed when we arrived. When we got ready to go; there were yellow 'x's at each end. There were persons preparing to fly kites at the airport apparently because the warm weather had made it unsafe to have the event as scheduled on the lake; on the ice. The other pilot spoke with the event coordinator and she told him she would stop the event long enough for him to takeoff. He departed before I arrived back at the airport. I called FSS to determine that there was a NOTAM in place and who had filed it. I got the initials of that person who was the airport manager. While searching for the airport manager for permission to takeoff; I discovered the event coordinator who related the previous takeoff circumstances. She told me it was fine for me to takeoff also and she would stop activities briefly for me as well. I took off from the far end of the airport. An individual on a golf cart was at that end; on the edge of the runway; about 500 feet from the end. I took off left of centerline to give him clearance. As I was passing him I banked slightly toward him to keep him in sight and to regain centerline. I used short field takeoff techniques so I estimate I was more than 100-200 feet above him when I passed. Evidently; I made him nervous because he mentioned on the radio that I had passed over his head. In retrospect; I should have stopped and shut down to coordinate with him. Further; I have been flying for nearly 60 years; including military and airlines and routinely asked permission to use closed airspace or facilities. But after the fact; I am unsure whether this person's permission and actions constituted legal permission.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA-22 pilot reported being unsure about the legality of taking off from a closed airport.

Narrative: Finished maintenance on my airplane. Others in pattern so I went flying. While airborne; I heard others on the same frequency at a nearby airport. I decided to fly over there; too. 3 of us in the pattern; one full stop. I made a full stop; too; and decided to have lunch. There were no markings indicating field closed when we arrived. When we got ready to go; there were yellow 'x's at each end. There were persons preparing to fly kites at the airport apparently because the warm weather had made it unsafe to have the event as scheduled on the lake; on the ice. The other pilot spoke with the event coordinator and she told him she would stop the event long enough for him to takeoff. He departed before I arrived back at the airport. I called FSS to determine that there was a NOTAM in place and who had filed it. I got the initials of that person who was the airport manager. While searching for the airport manager for permission to takeoff; I discovered the event coordinator who related the previous takeoff circumstances. She told me it was fine for me to takeoff also and she would stop activities briefly for me as well. I took off from the far end of the airport. An individual on a golf cart was at that end; on the edge of the runway; about 500 feet from the end. I took off left of centerline to give him clearance. As I was passing him I banked slightly toward him to keep him in sight and to regain centerline. I used short field takeoff techniques so I estimate I was more than 100-200 feet above him when I passed. Evidently; I made him nervous because he mentioned on the radio that I had passed over his head. In retrospect; I should have stopped and shut down to coordinate with him. Further; I have been flying for nearly 60 years; including military and airlines and routinely asked permission to use closed airspace or facilities. But after the fact; I am unsure whether this person's permission and actions constituted legal permission.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.