Private airport or small field for landout?

What some of us have been doing here in eastern Colorado is going on 'Adventure Tours'. On non fly days we drive around and scope out the private strips as well as strips we know of that aren't in any aeronautical database. What we've found is that many of the mapped airports and private airports are no longer usable. On the other hand we've found several very nice private strips. When possible we try to contact the owner to see if landing there is okay. The answer usually is 'Anytime!'. We're slowly working up a database of where to land as well as where NOT to land.

Mark
Black Forest Soaring Society

Hi Charles. I fly just west of you guys in sylacauga AL with central Alabama soaring assoc. Welcome to the fun world of low performance xc soaring! I fly a 1-26 which is even lower down the performance polar than your PW.

Before you work on field identification, there is a more important prerequisite imop. That is, take some time and invest in a bunch of pattern tows and get very very good at spot landings. Find out exactly how short you can land straight in and over obstacles. You need to know exactly what you and your ship are capable of. Also learn to identify this distance visually from 1,000ft. For me and my ship, at 1,000 ft I can land in a clearing that is the length of my index finger.

Once you get this down, the world of where you can put your bird down safely really opens up. I don’t real restrict myself anymore to established airstrips. I have found that landing out in property chosen fields has led to way less surprises than heading for a strip that really isn’t there anymore or turns out to be totally unmaintained and over grown.

I have more than 30 off field landings (not airstrips) and knock on wood, have never scratched a thing. But the bigger bonus has been the incredible folks I have met and the adventures that xc has been.

Good luck on your journey. If you need any tips on going far with low performance birds drop me a pm or swing over to sylacauga for a weekend and I would be happy to team fly some with you.
Dan

Charles -

I assume you have all your badges up to an including Silver Altitude and Duration. If not, I'd work on those as they are great training to get you ready for doing the spot landing as Dan suggested.

And XC soaring!

Lou

What’s worked really well for me is to buzz around with my Cub looking at land out options. If you have access to a power airplane go practice“ engine out landings� at possible land out sites.

"Land in the dirt, you won't get hurt" has, so far, worked well for me.

Farmers don't get worked up about crop damage when it's not even an inch high.

With private strips, width can be a deal/glider breaker. I passed up one in the book because the stated width looked a tight squeeze. And I once saw the green (corn) stains on the tips of an 18m self launcher. The owner had the look of a narrow escape on him. The private strips I have used were known to my local club as wide enough for gliders. The owners have been hospitable and happy to talk airplanes. There's the rare one that won't allow aerotow retrieve because of liability considerations.

You can compare the width to power pole spacing.

No matter how hard you study the local fields and airports, the day will likely come when you have to evaluate fields from the air. It's been recommended for aspiring XC pilots to evaluate possible fields from the air and drive over for a look.

I spent 29 years with hang gliders, which have much better "short field" capabilities than sailplanes. After a LOT of outlandings in really questionable fields, I was amazed at he number of other pilots who looked at those same fields from the ground and said, "No Problem!"

Believe me, a field you are walking on looks a LOT bigger than it does from the air.

Ask any newbie Naval Aviator looking down at the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time.

On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 7:44:14 PM UTC-7, George Haeh wrote:
"Land in the dirt, you won't get hurt" has, so far, worked well for me.

Farmers don't get worked up about crop damage when it's not even an inch high.

With private strips, width can be a deal/glider breaker. I passed up one in the book because the stated width looked a tight squeeze. And I once saw the green (corn) stains on the tips of an 18m self launcher. The owner had the look of a narrow escape on him. The private strips I have used were known to my local club as wide enough for gliders. The owners have been hospitable and happy to talk airplanes. There's the rare one that won't allow aerotow retrieve because of liability considerations.

You can compare the width to power pole spacing.

No matter how hard you study the local fields and airports, the day will likely come when you have to evaluate fields from the air. It's been recommended for aspiring XC pilots to evaluate possible fields from the air and drive over for a look.

I fly in the mountains of the west. Very few fields where I fly, but where I grew up in Idaho, I would not want to land those lowed fields. I used to work pea harvest and there would be dirt clods, hard dirt clods that could take your landing gear out and break your back. So "land in the dirt and you won't get hurt" is again, a guideline, not a rule. Lots of plowed fields are well plowed many are not.

"Land in the dirt, you won't get hurt" has, so far, worked well for me.
Snip...

...So "land in the dirt and you won't get hurt" is again, a guideline, not
a rule. Lots of plowed fields are well plowed many are not.

Heh. There's a difference between plowed(-only) and plowed-n-disked. This
"Duh!" moment was driven home to me on short final when - approaching a
plowed-only field - I belatedly realized the plowed-n-disked one adjacent,
with its (barely visible) furrows slightly catty-corner to the minimal breeze,
was the considerably better one. Moments later the plowed-only field had its
biggest-yet clod standing atop it...the new King of Clods!

Good thing I was flying a 1-26...torn fabric is a lot easier to fix than
broken gear, fuselage or (youch) coccyx!

Bob - never seen Elvis - W.

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Jonathan St. Cloud wrote on 5/28/2020 5:40 AM:
On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 7:44:14 PM UTC-7, George Haeh wrote:
"Land in the dirt, you won't get hurt" has, so far, worked well for me.

Farmers don't get worked up about crop damage when it's not even an inch high.

With private strips, width can be a deal/glider breaker. I passed up one in the book because the stated width looked a tight squeeze. And I once saw the green (corn) stains on the tips of an 18m self launcher. The owner had the look of a narrow escape on him. The private strips I have used were known to my local club as wide enough for gliders. The owners have been hospitable and happy to talk airplanes. There's the rare one that won't allow aerotow retrieve because of liability considerations.

You can compare the width to power pole spacing.

No matter how hard you study the local fields and airports, the day will likely come when you have to evaluate fields from the air. It's been recommended for aspiring XC pilots to evaluate possible fields from the air and drive over for a look.

I fly in the mountains of the west. Very few fields where I fly, but where I grew up in Idaho, I would not want to land those lowed fields. I used to work pea harvest and there would be dirt clods, hard dirt clods that could take your landing gear out and break your back. So "land in the dirt and you won't get hurt" is again, a guideline, not a rule. Lots of plowed fields are well plowed many are not.

"You don't get hurt in the dirt" is best applied in eastern Washington State,
where the dirt is more like face powder and sand, and plowing doesn't produce the
kinds of clumps/clods you see in Kansas and other places with "real" dirt and lots
more moisture. It's also a pretty good mantra in much of Idaho and eastern Oregon.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

On Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 10:24:25 AM UTC-7, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Jonathan St. Cloud wrote on 5/28/2020 5:40 AM:
On Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 7:44:14 PM UTC-7, George Haeh wrote:
"Land in the dirt, you won't get hurt" has, so far, worked well for me..

Farmers don't get worked up about crop damage when it's not even an inch high.

With private strips, width can be a deal/glider breaker. I passed up one in the book because the stated width looked a tight squeeze. And I once saw the green (corn) stains on the tips of an 18m self launcher. The owner had the look of a narrow escape on him. The private strips I have used were known to my local club as wide enough for gliders. The owners have been hospitable and happy to talk airplanes. There's the rare one that won't allow aerotow retrieve because of liability considerations.

You can compare the width to power pole spacing.

No matter how hard you study the local fields and airports, the day will likely come when you have to evaluate fields from the air. It's been recommended for aspiring XC pilots to evaluate possible fields from the air and drive over for a look.

I fly in the mountains of the west. Very few fields where I fly, but where I grew up in Idaho, I would not want to land those lowed fields. I used to work pea harvest and there would be dirt clods, hard dirt clods that could take your landing gear out and break your back. So "land in the dirt and you won't get hurt" is again, a guideline, not a rule. Lots of plowed fields are well plowed many are not.

"You don't get hurt in the dirt" is best applied in eastern Washington State,
where the dirt is more like face powder and sand, and plowing doesn't produce the
kinds of clumps/clods you see in Kansas and other places with "real" dirt and lots
more moisture. It's also a pretty good mantra in much of Idaho and eastern Oregon.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

No, I think applies virtually anywhere. A plowed field will be free of any large rocks (they damage farm equipment), is fairly uniform for proper irrigation, won't have deep drainage ditches, barbed wire fences, chunks of discarded metal, bushes, irrigation pipes, etc. Next on the list is a field with a low crop and dirt is visible between the crop rows. A much worse option is a pasture where all of the above is a possibility if not a likelihood.

I once landed on what turned out to be an abandoned air stip south of Air Sailing in an ASW19. While in the pattern I could see that the air strip was narrow with high berms on both sides. I didn't think my wings would clear the berms so I landed on one of the berms (which turned out to be the case).. It worked out ok, but it was an eye-opener on how deceiving these strips are at altitude.

Tom