On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 08:21:21 -0500 (EST), "" just an average "
Farlang..." wrote in Message-Id:
bm9yaWtv.2c49808e3f2f35f5431910160ea416b5@1076505 681.nulluser.com:

Can anyone tell me what criteria, rules, regulations a person needs to
be allowed to construct a private runway on his or her property.

The FAA and AOPA can provide that information:

www.faa.gov
www.aopa.org

Visit the web sites, and search for pertinent information. Contact
them by phone, and ask questions.

I know there are many factors that are not presently known in this
scenario but I can try to input as much as I know.

My neighbor owns land that is 2600 feet wide. The elevation is about
3000 feet and the hottest temperature is 91 degrees in the summer. The land
is located in Idaho. The prevailing winds position the optimal take off
direction to be directly over my house about 1500 feet from the
property line. I LOVE airplanes! I worked for Boeing (Lazy B) for the last
fifteen years. I worked at Cessna in Witchita before that. I stop to watch
planes take off and land. I LOVE PLANES!!! But what I don't love is buying 500
acres to finally get some peace and quiet and then having some loud
plane buzz my house at will.

I can see how the threat of aircraft might be disturbing to someone
seeking solitude. But if you are located near a highway, the highway
traffic noise will occur NON STOP day and night continuously.
Aircraft noise, on the other hand, is an infrequent, intermittent
occurrence lasting significantly less than a minute in duration. It
the impact won't be nearly as unpleasant as I think you might be
imagining.

The person wanting to put in the runway has
money to build a 3 floor nice house so I expect they will want to be
socialites and invite all their friends to fly in for a barbacue on the weekend.

Landing aircraft are typically operating at low power in a glide, so
half of the operations will be significantly quieter than you may be
anticipating. Take offs are generally full-power, and can be quite
noisy, but of short duration.

Should your worst case scenario (weekend fly-in barbecue) occur, I
think you'd be pleasantly surprised at how painless it might really
be.

I talked to planning and zoning and they don't even know what
prospective planes will be flown there i.e. ultralites or larger planes that
require longer runways. I would like to think it is being fair for me to
expect no planes flying over my land below 500 feet whether taking off, landing
or pattern flying.

Unfortunately, Code of Federal Regulation Title 14: Aeronautics and
Space, PART 91—GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES, § 91.119 exempts
landing and departing aircraft from the 500' minimum proximity to any
person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text....1.3.10.2.5.10

But I suspect that the environmental impact you are
imagining/anticipating is of a vastly larger magnitude than that which
may actually occur. In any given 24-hour period, given the single
owner commuting to/from work or town, there would likely be a total of
about one minute or two of objectionable noise; that's a very small
proportion.

I bought my land and paid for the use of each and every
acre. If by putting in a runway on the edge of my property that means
they are helping themselves to a sort of "easement" flying a hundred feet
or so over my land that doesn't seem at all fair. I may wish to build a barn,
corral animals (which might go crazy) penned up with planes buzzing
over them.

I understand. I would feel the same. But feelings are no substitute
for hard facts.

A thoughtful neighbor would have contacted the land owners who may be
affected before planning the construction of a runway. He would then
have an opportunity to mollify and assuage the fears of those who may
be adversely impacted. Why not give your neighbor an opportunity to
present his side before getting yourself too worked up over the rumor?
Even if your new neighbor doesn't know how to be neighborly, it
doesn't mean you can't enlighten him, and show him how a responsible
and considerate neighbor should behave in a small community.

Can I get some ideas on what is realistic?

Perhaps.

I don't even know what a common length of runway is but a friend of
mine told me using generic table calculations that a fully loaded small
plane on a hot day could very well need a long take off and after lift
off ....
how long a distance til that plane gets to minimal required elevation?

How long is a piece of string; quantifying such parameters requires
knowledge of the type of aircraft, its load, meteorologic conditions,
pilot proficiency, ...

Yesterday I took a flying lesson with a chief piot and he told me a
small plane can lift off after about a thousand feet of runway and
then the maximum climb would be about 500 feet per minute. He thought
for a plane to stay the necessaary elevation over my property the
pilot is required a total of no less than 4000 feet. The runway will
be a dirt strip which also requires more distance.

That estimate seems in the ball park.

any comments would be appreciated

Take courage in hand, and talk to your neighbor. Quit guessing and
imagining what he has planned. Ask him about the type of aircraft he
intends to operate, the frequency of operations, the time of day/night
of intended operations, how he intends to mitigate the noise impact of
his operations on his neighbors, etc. Tell him of your concerns
regarding safety, livestock impact, noise pollution, ... If he proves
unreasonable, retain an attorney; if he is willing to consider your
needs and accept responsibility for minimizing the negative impact his
intended activities may have, it'll probably work out fine.

If you are training to become a pilot, it might make more sense to
build the runway on a part of your 1.5 mile strip of land, so
operational noise impacts both of you less than it might if the runway
were on his parcel. And sharing the expenses involved in constructing
and maintaining the runway will be half. Who knows, he might be
willing to grant you use his airplane in exchange for use of your
runway: win-win.