shurlock1

I think the asphalt landing strip is winning also. It seems like that have many years in the club have issues with other members. Hey if the guy was going to have something for the club to benefit everyone why not do it. They don't have to use the strip they can use the grass on the side. I like scale and planes that fly on grass look like something out of a cartoon. Why not move ahead an modernize if they got something for free why not do it. I hear people complain the grass isn't right and someone has to cut the grass with this asphalt concrete rubber or even some kind of astro terf like they use on football fields it would be so much better. Well that's what I think. Hey if the newbie was helping out modernizing the place why not do it.

piper28

Gotta admit, I've only flown off grass myself, but I don't have any real reason to feel that asphalt would be an improvement. Now, that said we have a pretty nice grass runway. I've seen everything from somewhat small electrics up to turbines fly off of it. The only thing that tends to really have a problem are some of the small electrics that just have real small wheels.

I don't know that there's anyone in our club that would be all that excited about the idea of going to asphalt. Besides, with the frost/freeze cycle up here, I'd worry about long term durability.

Bill Vargas

My Feedback: (5)

The paved runway is not so forgiving and props suffer the most,,, taxiing is much easier on paved,,, take offs, you'll need to be a weee bit sharper for the corrections,,, Landings, you'll get the feel after a few touch and goes,,, meaning, knowing how to drag her in or how slow you'll need to be to either grease her in or bounce all the way down

The down side to a paved runway is,,, when you CRASH on pavement. Not much of your baby is left. That nice & shiny engine has just become a paper weight, cylinders break off and cranks get bent .Servo, battery and receiver guts are scattered everywhere and to add insult to injury, people just love to blow away the left over balsa and foam guts with prop wash from their plane,,, which is good for another round of laughter when they nose it over and bust up a prop

You'll gain a LOT MORE RESPECT for a RC plane due to the hole it just left in the pavement.

Everything happens Faster on a paved runway in a nut shell.


BV

Firepower R/C

My Feedback: (10)

I think that you should have both grass and pavement as it only improves the overall appeal and versatility of the field IF done properly. I fly 99.9% off of grass, and like it, but learned to fly R/C on a skinny old country road. Since then I have flown off of pavement 6 or 7 times, and yes, after a few touch and goes the hard runway was always preferred. However if your are an, ahem, lack-luster pilot it will make it very obvious. Also, as previously mentioned, so many variables disappear with a hard surface. Sometimes skidding down the runway on your nose is better than it digging into the grass and cartwheeling.

As for a hard runway's harshness on a plane during crashes, I have one thing to say- stop crashing!!! Heh heh. Seriously though, if we start designing flying fields to be nice to our airplanes in a crash, we are no longer pilots! To me it like building an airplane to survive a crash instead of to fly well. If you know how to control your model, the pavement will be easier on your plane. Just ask a full scale pilot why they have a "soft field" technique that must be used when operating off of grass- basically to keep the rough surface from damaging the aircraft. And they have much bigger wheels!

Just my 1 1/2 cents... no ill will here folks!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Well I flew off paved for 20 years before moving back to Ohio and I miss it.

We wern't able to fly this year until June,, haven't been able to cut grass for 3 weeks since the rain started up again, last weekend it was beutiful and we couldn't fly, A paved runway and a gravel drive and we'd be flying all year just about... If the money was there I'd love paved again

378

My Feedback: (4)

I'm all for a paved runway. They're lower maintenance, facilitate all year all weather flying, and if it's really so bad you can't put a plane down you can always whip out a touring car or something and drift a bit. Also, likely, quite a bit cheaper, given fuel and maintenance costs for mowing.


I'll fly off anything my airplane is happy with though.

Flyin Beagle

My Feedback: (1)

SkyBlue,
Do you have an update on the original issue that started this thread. Were the clubs able to get with the county and settle the issue to everyones satisfaction?

bogbeagle

I never knew that tarmac runways were so cheap.

Can't think why we haven't got one, yet.

skyblue

The installation of the Edison,NJ runway has been killed....RIP....