On May 4, 9:47*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:
We are having trouble at our airport. *Our airport, here in Oregon,
USA, is owned by The Port of Hood River, and is federally funded.
It’s a small, uncontrolled airport and on a busy day, probably has
about a dozen non glider flights. *We generally fly our gliders on the
windy days, and have the airport all to ourselves. *The Port thinks
it's against FARs and/or unsafe to use cars to move the gliders up and
down the taxiways and off of the runway. *They want us to use the tow
plane to move the gliders around the airport, and they also are
telling us that no persons are allowed past the hold lines, wing
runners included! *These procedures were written by a person at the
Port that isn't even a pilot! *We have had no problems with any of the
other planes or pilots, but the Port is trying to make it impossible
for us to operate by coming up with a bunch of ridicules rules. They
keep talking about an FAA Obstruction Free Zone that is 400ft from the
centerline of the runway, where no gliders can be, which disallows us
from staging and parking the gliders next to the take off ends of the
runway.

What I am looking for is a list of public airports where gliders and
power traffic coexist, and descriptions of how the gliders are staged
and moved around. *I also think it’s time to get the AOPA involved.
All help is greatly appreciated.

Gary Boggswww.nwskysports.com

Gary,

I fly with a club based in Hartford, Wisconsin (non-towered,
municipal). We operate rather harmoniously with the powered folks. We
have dedicated grass directly alongside the hardtop runway and share
the other all-grass runway. Our traffic patterns are opposite that of
what powered aircraft use. On the shared grass runway, we taxi and
stage just off of and along the edge of the runway. I think I have
only seen one or two go-rounds by power in the last couple of seasons.
Most of us taxi off to the side of the runway during rollout when we
land. However, occasionally a newer pilot will land and stop in the
middle of the runway. That's about the only situation where we may
"get in the way". On the other hand, there are actually more times
that power does something to get in our way rather than the other way
around. There are a few powered aircraft (older vintage aircraft or
ultralights) that fly without radio communications. Either they just
don't announce or they're not even listening at all. We have to stay
on our toes, so our operation can't afford to get "relaxed" as far as
safety and procedure. All in all, the sailplane and power pilots are
all one community at our field. An excellent place to fly!