A Virginal Experience!

timwinters

timwinters

Ejection Handle Pulled
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
13,732
Location
Conway, MO
Display Name
LTD
Home Airfield
KLBO---Lebanon, MO
I was reminded today that, when I did this, it was during one of the million times this year that I was banned from from PoA by people with no sense of humor. <har>

I posted this over on Purple but not here.

On Sunday, June 30th I landed at FLIB Field (my field) for the first time. I've landed about a dozen times since...

And, as soon as the slow-assed wheels of the FAA turn a few revolutions, it will be on the charts.

 
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I swear I read the rutile wrong ... lol
 
Greg Bockelman said:
How long is it?
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Stats:

2200'x60'

South end is 50' lower than north end, thus land on 35, take off on 17 unless strong winds dictate otherwise.

Temporary 600' displaced threshold on 35. The south end required the most grading work, as you can see in the vid, it was lifted about 6' at the south end. Thus this area was a bit rougher and the grass didn't come in as quickly...so I just decided to stay off of it until the grass matures and I run over it a few more times with a preparator to smooth it. There will be a permanent 200' displaced threshold, landing short would make for a very, very bad day.

17 has a permanent 200' displaced threshold. It will be needed for fence clearance, I plan a 4' decorative wood fence along the north properly line at the co. rd.

I have permission to clear the trees north of the railroad tracks (approach 17, departure 35) but haven't done so yet since this the "dead end" of the runway.

As an aside, I couldn't have been any luckier with the weather. I seeded it in mid-April, which is always risky around here because, typically, it can dry out big-time starting mid-July thru mid-sept. Not this year! Ample rain all summer. I plan to drill in another 500# of fescue next weekend...weather permitting.

Oh, and I bought a bad-ass ZTR last year. It cuts 73" @ 13 mph. My best guess is I'm mowing 6 to 8 acres (The runway itself is exactly 3 acres). I mow it in less than two hours!
 
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I landed on a field once to find out I had landed on someones field.!!

The landing field I was looking for was a couple miles over....:oops:
 
timwinters said:
I was reminded today that, when I did this, it was during one of the million times this year that I was banned from from PoA by people with no sense of humor. <har>

I posted this over on Purple but not here.

On Sunday, June 30th I landed at FLIB Field (my field) for the first time. I've landed about a dozen times since...

And, as soon as the slow-assed wheels of the FAA turn a few revolutions, it will be on the charts.

Click to expand...

Bout time. You started in on that what, two,three years ago. That's a lot of foreplay
 
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I busted my turf field cherry in the Mooney last weekend. Don’t plan on doing that again any time soon. Thought I was going to shake the old girl apart.
 
luvflyin said:
Bout time. You started in on that what, two,three years ago. That's a lot of foreplay
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Bought the property on Dec 30, 2017. In '18, cleared trees, built 1000' of road, installed 1500' of UG power, and drilled a well. Started the actual strip in Feb of this year. Here it was in early April, after tilling, rock raking, and laying back down, but before seeding.

B3B33739-738C-4DF3-B232-14DE932B7717.jpeg

I landed/took-off four times yesterday. Twice in the proper direction (land uphill...take-off down) and...

For the first time, twice in the wrong direction (land downhill, take-off up) just to see how do-able it is. 85*F day, density altitude of 3,100' (act elev 1414'), me, full tanks...piece of cake! Down and stopped in 1,200' or less both times, up in 1,000'
 
steingar said:
I busted my turf field cherry in the Mooney last weekend. Don’t plan on doing that again any time soon. Thought I was going to shake the old girl apart.
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I'd far rather play on grass than pavement...no comparison.
 
timwinters said:
Bought the property on Dec 30, 2017. In '18, cleared trees, built 1000' of road, installed 1500' of UG power, and drilled a well. Started the actual strip in Feb of this year. Here it was in early April, after tilling, rock raking, and laying back down, but before seeding.

View attachment 77619

I landed/took-off four times yesterday. Twice in the proper direction (land uphill...take-off down) and...

For the first time, twice in the wrong direction (land downhill, take-off up) just to see how do-able it is. 85*F day, density altitude of 3,100' (act elev 1414'), me, full tanks...piece of cake! Down and stopped in 1,200' or less both times, up in 1,000'
Click to expand...

Why do you want it Charted? Are you thinking of doing business there someday? I googled FLIB to see what it had to say. I always called it ‘F’ing little itty bitty’ but it came up ‘funny little itenerate blip.’ What is the identifier going to be?
 
To use Roman Moronie-speak: Farging Little Itinerant Bastages
 
Mooney rubber biscuit suspension is not very forgiving on rough runways. Also, all that shaking/bouncing isn’t doing the wet wings any favors.
 
luvflyin said:
Why do you want it Charted? Are you thinking of doing business there someday?
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No, no business. I simply think it's an aviator's responsibility to the aviation community to chart a strip. I can't tell you how many times I've looked down and seen what appears to be a really nice grass strip that's not on the chart...then looked at my chart...only to see nothing else for 15...30 miles...and mumble to myself, "f***ing a**hole, put it on the chart in case my fan quits turning!" Across southern Missouri, like many other parts of the country, there are areas where it's solid forest as far as the eye can see. If I was out on the middle of Kansas (perish the thought) where the entire countryside is a grass strip, I might have a different attitude.

It'll be listed as "land by permission only" but permission is a given when someone has an emergency.

luvflyin said:
I googled FLIB to see what it had to say.
Click to expand...

I'll leave it to the controllers here to answer that question!
 
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timwinters said:
...If I was out on the middle of Kansas (perish the thought) where the entire area is a grass strip, I might have a different attitude...
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My impression after driving across Kansas, instead of clearing trees you'd have to clear cut some wind turbines to make space for an airstrip. They seem to grow a high density of them there...
 
Wow, I'm jealous... Wish I could do what you've done....

Nice strip... Seemed a bit bumpy in the vid.

I once saw a turf company that used old LP tanks (1000 gallon) as rollers.... Behind a tractor.

That'd really smooth it out after a rain....
 
CharlieD3 said:
Wow, I'm jealous... Wish I could do what you've done....

Nice strip... Seemed a bit bumpy in the vid.

I once saw a turf company that used old LP tanks (1000 gallon) as rollers.... Behind a tractor.

That'd really smooth it out after a rain....
Click to expand...

That's what we do at 6Y9.
 
timwinters said:
I landed/took-off four times yesterday. Twice in the proper direction (land uphill...take-off down) and...
For the first time, twice in the wrong direction (land downhill, take-off up) just to see how do-able it is. 85*F day, density altitude of 3,100' (act elev 1414'), me, full tanks...piece of cake! Down and stopped in 1,200' or less both times, up in 1,000'
Click to expand...

Good to see you are exploring. Never know when the time may come that you will need to land in a different direction than what is always considered normal.
 
CharlieD3 said:
Nice strip... Seemed a bit bumpy in the vid..
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Not bumpy at all, smoother than most grass strips I've landed on. Sure, I has some "undulations" but no "thumping bumps" like many strips...Gaston's for example has a couple.

And the roller? I have access to two. One made out of a 500 gal propane tank, one made out of a 12' stick of 36" steel pipe (with 1/2" walls!). Both filled with water. Propane tanks are the best because they don't cut when spinning a 180*...rounded ends.
 
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Looks really nice @timwinters . I hope to be able to do the same one day! That's a bit short for me...if Gastons changes to your land I'll need a lift from the closest longer one. :)
 
timwinters said:
Not bumpy at all, smoother than most grass strips I've landed on. Sure, I has some "undulations" but no "thumping bumps" like many strips...Gaston's for example has a couple.

And the roller? I have access to two. One made out of a 500 gal propane tank, one made out of a 12' stick of 36" steel pipe (with 1/2" walls!). Both filled with water. Propane tanks are the best because they don't cut when spinning a 180*...rounded ends.
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Probably the appearance of bumpiness was attributable to the camera mount... I started on grass and love it...

We had a field near my old home base called Lurch (or Lerch?) field... Dunno whether it was the owner's name or because of the several hills on the runway...

Regardless, I'm still jealous!
 
CharlieD3 said:
Probably the appearance of bumpiness was attributable to the camera mount...
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Camera mount? Har!!! It was my phone sitting on the glareshield. I planned to film the take-off also but, when I released the brakes, the phone fell over backwards. Looked over and said...Ummmm...nope...not f'ing with it!
 
Bill Jennings said:
Damned near looks professional!
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Har!

Professional would have been the last thing on your mind had you seen me during the process. Turned 60 four weeks ago and I'm still doing stupid chit like what is depicted below!! And I climbed the tower manually at least a dozen times before going and getting the ladder as I was fitting up pipes and washers and fitting, etc. :confused::rolleyes:o_O

IMG_20191221_131031572.jpg
 
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NoHeat said:
Nice!

I don't know about Missouri, but in my state you can get free windsocks from the state DOT. And runway markings. Even for private airports. They collect lots of money from fees, and this is how they give back (in a tiny way).
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One of the first things I did was to check into exactly that and, unfortunately, in MO, there is no assistance, period, for private airstrips. And that's true even if they are published for public use. Hell, we're far too redneck for that chit.
 
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timwinters said:
Har!

Professional would have been the last thing on your mind had you seen me during the process. Turned 60 four weeks ago and I'm still doing stupid chit like what is depicted below!! And I climbed the tower manually at least a dozen times before going and getting the ladder. :confused::rolleyes:o_O

View attachment 81174
Click to expand...

Looks like a potential “Hold my beer and watch this moment” to me!

o_O
 
Curious why you made it private instead of public, don’t want visitors? If I ever have the means I would want all types of airplanes to stop in.
 
Grum.Man said:
Curious why you made it private instead of public, don’t want visitors? If I ever have the means I would want all types of airplanes to stop in.
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Insurance / liability / maintaining peace with the neighbors!
 
Zeldman said:
Did you have your wind sock calibrated by an official federal National Wind Sock Calibration Man or did you do it yourself.??
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That function has been delegated to designees, you now must hire a dwe from the faa approved list, they charge between 500 and a 1000 for the first inspection. Some will give you a discount if you pink slip the first inspection. Most have a backlog so it could take a while to get the test scheduled.
 
Nice, but I hate to think how much seed that took. I made a 1700 x 75 and I was absolutely shocked at how much seed I ended up using. Its been a long time now but I think I was somewhere around 50x more than I had originally figured, and I drove back so many times to the local elevator store that I probably put 100 miles on my truck.
 
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