Private airport or small field for landout?

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