On Thu, 12 May 2005 01:48:11 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:

The pilot I bought my plane from learned at Marlboro (9B1), and he
demonstrated the STOL characteristics of my plane by landing and taking
off at 9B1. What a blast! Coming in down over those trees on short
final is a thrill.

Yes, when I turned final, my first thought was that this runway couldn't
possibly be long enough to land on.

1659 feet is pretty short for a public-use airport. I've heard that
many Cessna drivers won't land at Hampton NH because it's so short
(about 2500 feet).

I think the narrowest paved runway I've ever landed on was 40 feet
(Sterling MA). I was a student pilot, and it seemed noticably narrower
than the 50 feet I was accustomed to land on.

More grass fields of course are much wider--Hampton's I think is 250
feet. They also tend to be on the short side. In Damian Delgaizo's
bush-flying course in Andover NJ he had me landing and taking off on a
strip that was about 250x500 feet. That was in a Husky, however. I
found that the techniques didn't translate very well to a J-3. If you
try to fly the final with power on and nose high in a Cub, the dang
thang will just keep on flying forever.

The bestest field in the world however is a private field near
Hampton: Sanderson's in Hampton NH. There's an ultra-light fly-in
there every July. East-west, maybe 2000 feet, gentle uphill slope to
the east, then a steep hill on the east end, then 50-ft trees, power
lines, a house, the whole nine yards. When you land to the west, you
necessarily miss the hill altogether, and most of the time I miss half
the runway after that. No landing on the numbers there!


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com