View Single Post
  #2  
Old February 19th 17, 07:50 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bruce Hoult
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 961
Default Proposal to Airport for Soaring Club

On Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 10:05:27 PM UTC+3, S9 wrote:
Hello all,
We have a municipal airport wanting our club to relocate to their airport.. It is a good location and has both a paved runway and an excellent 150' wide grass runway. This location could be a good contest site and closer to the city than our current location. The club is considering making a proposal to the airport board about what the club would need to re-locate. In the meantime we are going to have a couple of weekends at this airport to try it out. BTW the board said they would build hangar and would support contests.

SO, what would you suggest we request in the proposal. Thank you for your comments.


Wow! This is like opposite land, compared to most airports. My club just had to move off the airport it had been on since the 60s (50s?)

How long are the grass and sealed runways?

Is there any provision for a crossing grass runway, even if only 1000 or 1200 ft long and even landing-only? Very useful if you've been away cross country and the wind's come up and from a different direction.

I don't know where you are, but many NZ clubs seem to have a roughly north/south runway (02/20, 34/16 etc) that is used most of the time, and then the WESTERLY VECTOR that is used when the wind comes up and the wave's a pumpin' (slash ridge). Those are the days when the Cessna drivers sit in the clubhouse drinking beer and telling lies while we're having the time of our lives.

How much existing traffic is there? What kind? Training? Warbirds? Parachute? Small airline? Is a towplane flying every 10-15 minutes going to annoy neighbours who don't mind the airport now? Are there many existing users of the grass runway? Can the gliders use an opposite direction circuit than the sealed runway? Is the soaring generally in that direction, or are you likely to often be coming back and crossing the powered circuit at (or below) circuit height? In there any kind of tower or information service there?