The ultimate man cave: Stunning aircraft hangar in the middle of Utah desert where plane designer lives with his plane...and guns



Ivo Zdarsky, who escaped Communist Czechoslovakia in an aircraft he built himself in 1984, is the only resident of a Utah ghost town so remote the nearest grocery store is 160 miles away.



The 51-year-old lives alone in an airplane hangar in the abandoned town in Utah surrounded by three runways so he can develop his designs for an experimental aircraft.



Mr Zdarsky, who manufactures plane propellers, has named his place Lucin International Airport although the only plane that lands in the town a 180 miles away from of Salt Lake City is his own.

Ivo Zdarsky, pictured inside his home, is the only resident of the abandoned town of in Lucin in the Utah desert

His home, a large room within a steel hangar, is outfitted with a 90-inch flat screen TV, a drum set, a computer and an inflatable hot tub which is flipped upside down and covered with a sheet to use as a sofa, reports the new York Times.



He also has an impressive arsenal of weapons causally left out in plain view around his home including a 308 sniper rifle, a 223 sniper rifle, a shotgun and a Belgium FS2000.



'I use them on the badgers because they dig in my ground. You cannot imagine the damage these badgers do.' Mr Zdarsky told the Times.



Pointing to some ammunition laid out on a homemade table, Mr Zdarsky said : 'That’s what our guys are using in Afghanistan. It’s very effective against badgers. And probably terrorists too.'

He wears camouflage clothing despite being the only resident of Lucin and within miles.



'Because they don’t get dirty. Plus, the badgers don’t see it.' he explains.



His hangar and airstrip are surrounded by an electric fence, with a skull-and-crossbones flag placed at the entrance gate.



Zdarsky now lives in an aircraft hangar where he lives in one large room, outfitted with a 90-inch flat screen TV, a drum set, a computer and a gun collection

The Czechoslovakian found the 400 acres in the Utah desert for the price of $99,000 so he could work on his plane designs

His home split into two areas: one is for his planes and the other is his living area.



'I notice most people have a house which is usually smaller than my room,' Mr. Zdarsky told the Times..



'And inside this house is a bunch of little rooms, called bedroom, living room, whatever. If they want to do something on a computer you have to go in one room, you go to eat in another room.



Zdarsky's girlfriend lives 240 miles away

'And normal people do all this, they have to navigate between all these walls. If I want walls, I can put walls here, but I haven’t found a reason for walling myself in.'

'I have just one room, and I can watch the TV here, watch the computer here, eat here, and it is not claustrophobic.'

There are no windows in the home, but Mr Zdarsky says he can use one of the motorized hinged hangar doors, which can lift 10 feet off the ground.

As an aviation engineering student in Prague, Mr Zdarsky was designing airplane propellers and frustrated with the government that wouldn't allow him to start his own business or voice his opinion.



Having being denied an exit visa, Mr Zdarsky decided to take matters into his own hands and built his own plane; a hang glider with an engine from a car.



On August 1984, he set off at 3am and made good his escape to Vienna where he requested political asylum.



His daring escape made headlines around the world, including one from The Sunday Express World Newsdesk: 'Bat man beats Reds in moon freedom dash' , reports the Times.

Mr Zdarsky was able to sell his plane to a German museum housing escape vehicles and he moved to Los Angeles where he started his company, Ivoprop, producing a propeller he designed, reports the Times.



In 1997, he was looking to move to somewhere close to a runway where he could develop his design for an aircraft that could function as both helicopter and airplane.

And he found his 400 acres in the Utah desert for the price of $99,000.



Lucin in Box Elder County, a former railroad community, was abandoned in the 1930s and is 180 miles from the nearest grocery store in Ogden

'It was a pretty good deal because nobody wanted to live here.' he told the Times.



And it is not hard to imagine why, Lucin in Box Elder County, a former railroad community, was abandoned in the 1930s.



No one has lived there, other then Mr Zdarsky, since a small number of retired railroad workers left in the 1970s.



A true ghost town, it consists of just a pond, the cellar of what was once a small house and some scrubby trees.



The area has some military history and the Utah Test and Training Range is about 50 miles from Mr Zdarsky’s house.

Mr Zdarsky says his home cost $500,000 to build, including $50,000 for the steel for the hangar and $100,000 to set up water and electricity, according to the Times.



Surprisingly, despite being the only resident for miles and miles, Mr Zdarsky says he doesn't get lonely.



'Everyone asks me that. If I get lonely, I can turn on my big TV, or I get in my plane or go see people. Usually it is more the other way, I am in civilization and looking very much forward to escaping here.' he told the Times.



He does have a girlfriend, who he met online, but she lives 240 miles away in Provo.







