Private airport or small field for landout?

You definitely want to check the photo date in Google Earth to determine whether the image is even remotely current. The last photo of Moriarty was taken March 26, 2016.

Roy B. wrote on 5/25/2020 6:19 PM:
Ben:
While generally a private airstrip is better than a soft farm field, a good rule is to never set up a final glide to a private airfield that you have not seen recently - even if just from the air. There may be issues with width (especially in corn country), hay bales, mowing equipment, overgrowth, etc and sometimes it has simply vanished or been planted over. I've never been unwelcomed by a private airstrip owner but I have had some last minute surprises that would have been better to avoid.
ROY

And then there was a local paved private strip that had about 40 cars parked on it
one nice spring day. A wedding, I assume, but not an airport again until the party
was over.

--
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

This is an interesting post. Where are you flying from that you seem to be totally alone? I've flown from many operations, all with an active cross country community. In any such operation, there is a vast amount of local experience with the nearby private airports. Most of the laudable ones will have been landed at. The unfriendly farmers will be known.

If you're trying to fly XC all alone in a PW5, I might suggest first of all moving to an operation where there is a good base of active cross country pilots. They will help you out with far more than just knowing which airports and fields are good to land at. If you are already at an active operation, for heaven's sake go talk to the experienced pilots and get the local briefing!

John Cochrane BB

On Monday, May 25, 2020 at 11:52:53 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:
This is an interesting post. Where are you flying from that you seem to be totally alone? I've flown from many operations, all with an active cross country community. In any such operation, there is a vast amount of local experience with the nearby private airports. Most of the laudable ones will have been landed at. The unfriendly farmers will be known.

If you're trying to fly XC all alone in a PW5, I might suggest first of all moving to an operation where there is a good base of active cross country pilots. They will help you out with far more than just knowing which airports and fields are good to land at. If you are already at an active operation, for heaven's sake go talk to the experienced pilots and get the local briefing!

John Cochrane BB

Tbanks.

I learned to fly gliders in Miami FL, where the is effectively no cross country due to the terrain (or lack of it :-)). After I got good enough to stay up thermaling for several hours at a time, I decided it was time to move the glider to a place where I could learn to fly cross country, so I moved it to Atlanta. Unfortunately, the coronavirus hit and all the clubs are effectively closed to me while I'm sheltering-in-place.

From reading soaring books and articles such as Kai Gersten's "Off-Airport Landings", I always just assumed that you could never RELY on local knowledge and that there is a good probability that one day you will need to simply pick a field or private airport, especially on long cross countries, or cross countries where bad weather has caused you to deviate far from the task line.

Ben

On Monday, May 25, 2020 at 5:35:28 PM UTC-4, Charles Ethridge wrote:
Hi all.

I'm a former cfi-i/mei and commercial glider pilot, but I've never gone cross-country in my PW-5 glider. Training up for it though. A question:

If you are in an area where the fields are small, but there are several private airfields around, which should be your priority?

Seems to me that the private airport would be safer, assuming you have enough altitude to overfly it. Also I notice that my (new) Oudie2 shows all the private airstrips around as potential landout spots.

Will you get in trouble (legal or financial) if you have to landout at a private airport (assuming you aren't declaring an emergency, of course)?

Ben


Ben

I am a former Miami boy as well. You may wish to check with a couple operations that are within a reasonable driving distance, assuming you have a trailer. Chilhowee in Benton TN is not too far from Atlanta. Sarah and Jason Arnold run the place and have a PW-5 that is available for rent.They are extremely knowledgeable. Bermuda High in South Carolina comes to mind check with Franklin Burbank, again very knowledgeable and helpful. Carolina Soaring Association in Spartanburg is a club with a strong cross country focus.

A long weekend spent at one of these operations may be what you need to kick off your first cross country efforts.

Bruce

On Mon, 25 May 2020 20:39:35 -0700, markmocho53 wrote:

You definitely want to check the photo date in Google Earth to determine
whether the image is even remotely current. The last photo of Moriarty
was taken March 26, 2016.

Agreed - and sometimes there's no obvious reason why the dates of nearby
places differ as much as they do, though sometimes obvious colour changes
make it clear that they were covered during different flights. This can
be quite obvious with your viewpoint at 5000-10000m (15,000 - 30,000 ft)
above ground level.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

You should not be relying on any prior knowledge of the strip.

Arrange to do some filed landing practice with an instructor in a motor
glider. Fly around, look at fields, learn what to look for and what to
avoid.
Practice some engine idol approaches and then power and fly away.


When yo start your xc career you can expect to land out. You should be
always looking at the general area you are over, when lower more of your
workload capacity will be diverted to this.

When you need to land, pick a field with sufficient time to overfly and
plan
your circuit. Once committed ... you are committed and need to land. Don't

get temped by weal lift in the circuit.

Flying in the UK with our lack of weather, we get pretty adept to field
landings!

Have fun, stay safe.

Just curious - would you really have to explain your decision-making to an insurance adjuster? Could they deny a claim due to a bad choice? I'd think that, as long as you weren't breaking any rules, they'd have to pay the claim.

Just curious - would you really have to explain your decision-making to an insurance adjuster? Could they deny a claim due to a bad choice?

The answer is "No" - we buy insurance in part because we all make mistakes. Although sometimes they hold it against you at renewal time.
ROY

On 5/26/2020 5:19 AM, Charles Ethridge wrote:
On Monday, May 25, 2020 at 11:52:53 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:
This is an interesting post. Where are you flying from that you seem to
be totally alone? I've flown from many operations, all with an active
cross country community. In any such operation, there is a vast amount of
local experience with the nearby private airports. Most of the laudable
ones will have been landed at. The unfriendly farmers will be known.

If you're trying to fly XC all alone in a PW5, I might suggest first of
all moving to an operation where there is a good base of active cross
country pilots. They will help you out with far more than just knowing
which airports and fields are good to land at. If you are already at an
active operation, for heaven's sake go talk to the experienced pilots and
get the local briefing!

John Cochrane BB

Tbanks.

I learned to fly gliders in Miami FL, where the is effectively no cross
country due to the terrain (or lack of it :-)). After I got good enough to
stay up thermaling for several hours at a time, I decided it was time to
move the glider to a place where I could learn to fly cross country, so I
moved it to Atlanta. Unfortunately, the coronavirus hit and all the clubs
are effectively closed to me while I'm sheltering-in-place.

From reading soaring books and articles such as Kai Gersten's "Off-Airport
Landings", I always just assumed that you could never RELY on local
knowledge and that there is a good probability that one day you will need
to simply pick a field or private airport, especially on long cross
countries, or cross countries where bad weather has caused you to deviate
far from the task line.

Ben

Much experience-based sensible advice in this thread already, but - since no
one has yet mentioned "the obvious" - keep in mind that no matter how thorough
one's preparation for XC and off-field landings, Murphy is a powerful guy,
capable of throwing a wrench in the works at any time.

Point being Joe XC Glider Pilot should ALWAYS be prepared to assess, select
and land on a field he's had no chance to pre-review from the ground. (I
imagine you are, but "stuff can happen" on any XC flight and "airfield to
airfield preparation" may not always be in your cards.

Have fun!

Bob W.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com