Dicy airfield

[Basil]

I've heard of dicy air strips, but this one takes the cake.

 

[JPSmit]

Impressive. As an aside, was having lunch with a colleague the other week and discovered he was both a pilot & restorer of airplanes - he came from South Africa and stuffed his plane (not sure what but he said it is like a piper cub) in the container - I asked, "where do you fly from?" he said "my back yard" - the advantage of 35 acres. OTOH he is just finishing a float plane (somehow more than an ultralight but less than a plane?) - which for the 1000 islands will be awesome.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Dicey? Well, maybe for folks used to paved tower-controlled strips.
Into the mountain, you'd best make dang certain you've calculated your Density Altitude.....or you turn to clear obstacle, lose your lift, and you prang.
I've flown into some strips in the Vaupes and Amazon river jungles....and we had Pucker Factor 10..often.
And that's with an STOL Helio Courier.

One...Cacua strip, couple of minutes from Brazil...nice and level and flat on top....had to take off towards the river....strip dropped and angled 20 degrees left....and now you're downhill (steep) on slick grass with no prop reverse, and you....are...committed. Try to keep it from flying earfly when it crests the drop peak to keep the wheels on the ground to direct the craft until you get up enough airspeed for full rudder control.....

 

[pdplot]

"There are old pilots and bold pilots - but a distinct shortage of old, bold pilots.
At 3-Wing in Bridgeport where I flew, we were verboten to land on a grass strip - paved runway only. Insurance regs. You never know on a grass strip what lies on the ground - rocks, holes, soft mud. Leave that stuff for the bush pilots in AK and some really small planes, taildraggers like Piper Cubs and the like on grass strips at known airports. I once taxiied onto some grass at Westchester County Airport in a Piper Archer and had a guy come running over and ask "How did you get in here?" Seems I could have hit the prop on the ground, necessitating an engine teardown - at my expense. $$$. Lesson learned.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

There was a gal...Jerrie Cobb who supposedly was on the early astronaut team (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerrie_Cobb), who I knew in Colombia.
She landed on a high grass strip with her Britten-Norman Islander. Unfortunately, that part of Colombia had termite mounds. Towers, really. Consistency of well-set concrete.

Ripped the nose gear clean out of the bulkhead, sheared the bolts holding the fixed truck on...right main?
Truck pivoted 90 degrees.

Guys in our group flew out (after the grass was cut and the mounds leveled), patched the nose gear with wood and bolts, she flew it to Lomalinda with no brakes (had ripped the line loos when the truck pivoted).
I spend considerable time in the heat repairing that mess WITH her.

Like I said...BTDT.

 

[pdplot]

Density Altitude. Ah yes. Not much of a problem at sea level, but in the mountains....I remember my student days "You may not know the density altitude but the airplane always does". I once represented a new pilot who put 3 passengers in a Warrior on a hot July day, barely got off the ground, ran out of ground effect and crashed into the Danbury Fair grounds - now a shopping mall. He ignored the weather and of course didn't do a weight & balance & density altitude check. Luckily, all survived with minor injuries. I never considered the Warrior a true 4-passenger plane, especially on a hot summer day.

 

[PAUL161]

Back when we was spraying crops in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Minnesota, we landed in some hairy places at times, loaded the aircraft and flew out of the same strip, most of the time from sunup to sundown. It was fun for a couple years but then went to work for a grain dryer co and had to land in farmers fields, dirt roads etc. From there I flew whatever could get off the ground, including helicopters. I guess I did a few things right, I got an award from the FAA for 50 years of safe flying with no accidents. Lucky I guess. PJ

View attachment 44228

 

[pdplot]

Congratulations. I see crop dusters in Florida and it looks like grueling work. You have to be alert all day long.

 

[DrEntropy]

and we had Pucker Factor 10..often.
And that's with an STOL Helio Courier.

That Pucker Factor is recognized... I had the "privilege" of riding an Otter into Laos sometime in mid '73. Runway was a 30° incline, landed "up" took off "down". Never volunteered for THAT run again.