building a landing strip
 

I started laying out a landing strip and wanted some input. I staked it out at 25 ft wide and 250 ft long. It lays along a NE to SW direction. The club that I have been flying at's strip is 500 ft long, but with my trainer it takes me only about 100 ft to take off when the grass is short. Do you think 250 ft will be enough?

RE: building a landing strip
 

You never said how much you need to land . 500 is normal 50 wide if you are good , don't build it to small and have to change it. But if you have the land you can always add on to it.

RE: building a landing strip
 

It stops quick once I touch down. I usualy only use about half of the field to land depending on where I am standing.

RE: building a landing strip
 

well, 25 feet wide is pretty narrow. I know a number of guys who have trouble landing on a strips 60 feet wide. ;) But if you can land on that runway consistently, then you should be able to fly at any club in the country. :D
Dennis-

RE: building a landing strip
 

Our mowed landing area at the club is only about 35ft wide(it's just a small patch of land along a farmers corn field). I am trying to keep the size within reason but also trying to keep the cost down. The area beyond the landing strip is reasonable smooth just tall grass so if I rolled off the strip it really would be no big deal.

RE: building a landing strip
 

If you have the option of picking which direction the runway is laid out, try and get hold of the local weather office and see if you can find out which direction the prevailing winds are and orient your runway accordingly... better chance you'll be landing into the wind!

RE: building a landing strip
 

We flew from an abandon go cart track a few times. The grass was growing over much of the blacktop and as I recall the take off and landing runway area was only about six feet wide but nice and long. I discovered that it worked fine and found that you automatically adjust your landing to the space available.

RE: building a landing strip
 

I doubt our clubs grass strip is much more than 25 feet wide and 250 feet long. A Trainer type landed a bit fast and long will use it all up really quick. But Ive found a trainer landed at the right speed needs only 30 or so feet to stop. We have a barbed wire fence at one end, about 30 feet from the start of the strip and about 50-80 feet from the other end, 15-20 foot trees. My 40 size CAP232 will get off it easily but a fast landing if not right at the end will use it up real quick. Most guys have no trouble though but we have only a few larger scale models, one Patty Wagstaff extra that I know of has to land right at the start of the strip or he goes around.

RE: building a landing strip
 

My club's field is in the middle of a corn field. Watch out for the "corn thermal". Once the corn gets up about 6'+ tall, any breeze is going to create a rolling/looping effect in the air. You will most likely encounter this about 30' from the edge of the corn and about 10' above the corn.

The wind is flowing flat over the top of the corn. It hits the edge of the corn by the runway and the wind drops down to the ground and (depending which way the wind is blowing) will roll up over the top of the corn in a looping type motion. If you hit it, you will literally have no control of the plane if you are doing a normal landing approach. I have found that either a hot approach OR (not really recommended) diving at the field and pulling out below the top of the corn will usually get you through this effect with minimal problems. I lost 2 planes to this - one into the end of our storage building and the other into the end of our circa 1940 steam roller (we use it for rolling our field a couple of times a year).

RE: building a landing strip
 

I would say double those dimensions. Right now with a trainer you would be ok. As you progress you will need more room for bigger and faster models. Best to do the work now. And not have to do it twice.

Mark Shuman

RE: building a landing strip
 

I used to fly at a small strip behind a flood control dam in the foothills above L.A. It was 350 feet by 40 feet (about). The departure end rolled out into a boulder lined flood channel. There was a 30 foot obstacle 150 feet from the approach end. (At first, a telephone line. Replaced by an elevated road way when the developers came in [Anyone intersted in an overpriced home built on a fill out over a flood basin?].)

A couple of guys used to fly 35 percent IMAC planes from it until encroaching development forced the club to impose a size limit, or loose the field.

IMHO, the ability to land a model plane on a 25 foot wide strip in the minimum distance should be a performance goal of all r/c fliers, even the most casual sport fliers.

I currently fly of a road to nowhere I found out in the desert. It is 25 feet wide and the length is virtualy unlimited. The heaviest (almost only) traffic on it is Friday night when the local high school students go to party at the end of it.

RE: building a landing strip
 

I soloed on a the headland of a canefeild thats only 10 feet wide...
25 ft would be awsome... wish i would have that much...

RE: building a landing strip
 

I have built 4 runways in an old field. They are all about 200 feet long, and 25 feet wide. What I did was cut the grass to 1 3/4 inches for the the runways, and 2 3/4 inches for the rest of the fields. I roll the whole thing every time I cut the grass. That really helped flatten it out and make it smooth. (Used to be very rough old cow pasture). This is more than long enough to launch and recover my 2 .40 powered planes. The best part is the hedgerows and the trees at all the edges to make it so that you practice being precise when you line up to land. I made a fair copy of the field for Realflight G2, and you could download it from their website. Just look for Bingo Field. Practice moving the wind around, and change the places that you stand. That's how I practiced. The first picture is what it looked like before I started. The second picture is from about 2 weeks ago. I use painted milk jugs half filled with water so they don't blow around to mark the ends of the runways so I have an easier time lining up on them. Make sure you push them back as far as you can if you use this , I found out the hard way that striking one with the nose gear will rip a firewall right out of the fuselage.........

RE: building a landing strip
 

I'm used to my field which is only 15 feet wide and have no problems landing there. I clearned to land there and I can now land anywhere.

RE: building a landing strip
 

I have the width portion of it whipped pretty good, it's just setting down consistantly in the length that I am working on. When the wind is blowing steady, I have an easier time of it. When it's gusty, I feel a little iffy about it. I have had the wind pick up the plane nearly 3 feet when it is in the flair, and I don't care much for that, but I have survived so far. Really, the hardest part of this field is getting the plane and the gear up and down the hill either to fly it, or pack it up for the day.