Runway help needed!
 

Greeting!
I've been tasked with finding info on various types of Runways for our club.
I'm not sure just what we'll end up doing. Right now it's all grass.
We are in northern New England, So we get lots of snow and frost heaving of the ground in winter.
Therefore, how deep do we have to dig the runway bed and what material(s) should we put in it ?
We have suggestions of Road Paving, Stone dust, Clay, Rubber sheeting, sheet metal, and even plywood for a surface. Some of these could be picked up when not in use and/or for winter.
Does anyone have experience using any of these?
<Pavement is obvious, but is out of our budget unless we get a serious donation, We are not a big club, and we'd rather throw a picnic/funfly than anything else>

We are looking at a minimal strip for takeoff only and land on the existing grass runway <the new one will be parallel to the grass one>

Why did I get the task? I've got the Jet ! :)

Ramjet

Runway help needed!
 

Ramjet,

I fly off of a rock dust (dg) field quite frequently. There is a great deal of drag on highly loaded wheels (most jets). I don't recomend that way to go.
The East Bay club that flies at Livermore, CA has a rubber mat runway. It works great as long as the seams run the same direction as the runway. Looks like a good way to go and I was told it is much cheaper than asphalt.
I remember during Nam the military had a roll out plastic runway. I don't know if it is still available, but it would take C-130s, so I guess it would work for model jets and such.

Good luck,

rcdoug

runways
 

Morning Ramjet

We plan to lengthen the asphalt runway this fall.

http://ca.geocities.com/rrcf01/

Cheers
Don Dow
Barrhaven (Ottawa) Canada

Nice Field
 

Don, looks good.
How tough is it to keep the Pavement from buckling in the winter?
Sorry it took me so long to reply, Im working overtime now...
Too bad you are so far away, I'd like to try flying off that.

RCDoug, I'll try to get in touch with the East Bay club, sounds like a possibility.
Too bad about the rock dust, it's relatively cheap.

Keep the ideas coming folks, I'll take all the help I can get!

Ramjet