Anyone flown into Wolf Ridge Airport (33NR)

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mikegreen

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mike g.
I can tell you that guy has a lot of balls but little flying skills
 
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No kidding....not sure what necessitated the rather abrupt maneuvers on short final.
 
WAYY to fast. The fact that he was able to balloon like that and he didn't go around.....sigh. The nightmare of small strip operators....
 
Glad to see I wasn't the only one that cringed at that landing.

Am I the only one who thinks someone is going to slam into the rock face sooner or later?
 
:yikes:
The show-offy but not-very-smooth landing is nothing unusual, but that airport...!? Probably a piece of cake... unless there's any wind at all. :rolleyes2:
 
mikegreen said:
Yeah - yeesh! I'm thinking of heading into here and getting picked up via car -
http://www.mtnair.org/first_time_pilots.html

regards,

Mike
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Mike that looks like a difficult landing for a experienced pilot. It has a rolling runway and I would imagine if there is any wind you will get some weird turbulence not to mention how close it is to the rocks. I know nothing about your skill level but I think that is something you should evaluate very carefully before flying in there.

Consider it carefully.
I would not fly in there.
 
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I think Mt Air is relatively easier than Wolf Ridge... but after looking at Mt Air's stats and comments on the forums - I think I'll head to AVL and get picked up after a 25 min car ride....

I have about 140hrs and never any mountain flying... so probably not a good choice solo for me!

Good advice.. for sure, denny...

-Mike
 
Some of these developments make me scratch my head. Just because you can blast a runway out of the rocks doesn't mean its a great idea to do so.
 
Prolly don't get much of a crosswind from the left.
 
gismo said:
Prolly don't get much of a crosswind from the left.
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No, you get a downdraft. Maybe not so bad, increases your tire friction on the runway so you dont get blown off the cliff on the other side of this donkey path.
 
Interesting. That's a terrible place for a runway - If you have winds in the area from pretty much anywhere south of the runway and/or sun high in the southeastern sky, there'll be downdrafts all over the place near the runway.
 
bbchien said:
WAYY to fast. The fact that he was able to balloon like that and he didn't go around.....sigh. The nightmare of small strip operators....
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Not to mention, he used damn near the entire 3500 foot runway to land a 182. Note the up elevator near the end, which appears to be accompanied by heavy braking.

I also see that Airnav lists the runway as being 75 feet wide. There's no way. Compare it to the wingspan of the airplane - I'd call it 45 feet, maybe 50. Google Maps satellite photo backs that up, too.
 
weilke said:
No, you get a downdraft. Maybe not so bad, increases your tire friction on the runway so you dont get blown off the cliff on the other side of this donkey path.
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A nice, steady wave rolling off that ledge might not be so bad,... a predictable drop coming over the threshold, maybe... but gusty wind could make the last 50 feet before you touch down veeerry interesting. Likewise if the wind was gusting the other way, as the air piles up against the ledge.

This place reminds me of an airport I have landed at a few times- Ocean Springs, MS. There's a similar effect from very tall trees all along the east side of 18/36... quite a bit farther away from the runway, but when the wind's out of the east it can be problematic.

Maybe at 33NR, you're so close to that wall of rock that any air coming over the top is flowing over the runway, and you're like a surfer shooting a tube. :D
But at any rate, it's so doggone close- not much wiggle room at all. I guess it's just a place to fly into/out of when the wind is calm.
 
I'm probably the most ham-fisted pilot on the board, and I've landed with trees just off to the side. Just as bad if you hit a tree as if you hit cumulogranite. Yeah, squirrely winds, but still well doable, especially at 3500 ft.

The one with an occlusion on one side, sheer drop on the other, and 2900 feet of asphalt in between. I might pass, or at the very least be well ready for the go-around. I had enough trouble with the Winwood strip last time out, and it isn't as occluded. Looks like fun, though.
 
What is so funny about this is the fact that the idea that 'a resort needs a runway' was there before. Some ski place up in Maine, a couple of resorts in Pennsylvania, a condo development in northern Minnesota etc. Over the 30 years or so that these places existed, the number of pilots who either fly out for a weekend or buy property has gone done steadily. Some places have torn up the runway and turned it into golf-greens as it just didnt see any use.

Now this cow-path of a runway will only appeal to a select few crazy enough to station an aircraft there or rely on it for weekend transportation to the resort. Can you imagine loading up your Cirrus with your family on a sunday afternoot with a 20kt wind day from ANY direction and take off over the cliff ?

If they sell any lots to pilots, there will be a brisk business for a local limo service to pick up folks at the Asheville airport.
 
OffCenter said:
Oh yeah?
http://www.privatejetscharter.net/airports/north-carolina/mars-hill/wolf-ridge-airport/ap45692/
What sort of crazy f--- would fly a jet into that airport! Yet, it apparently happens.
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It doesn't happen.


Those outfits just download the FAA airport database and automatically create those sites without any human intervention.

Arthur,ND 1A2 is a bumpy strip of grass used by the couple of farmers that spray their own fields.

According to these guys
http://www.stratosjets.com/jet-charter-airports/NORTH-DAKOTA/ARTHUR-ND

...you can operate into there with 'any size jet' :lol:.

All those sites are a lame attempt to game google into referring people looking for air-charter to your charter brokerage.
 
jkgoblue said:
Not to mention his lack of flap use...
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Huh... I noticed that he didn't use any on takeoff (I normally don't from a paved 3500ft strip in a 182 either) but I was so preoccupied with the continuously-almost-losing-it landing that I didn't notice he did a no-flap landing too.

I would NOT ride along with that guy...
 
Sorry to revive an old thread, but does anyone know the story on this strip? Airnav lists it as closed indefinitely. It's seems that rediculous YouTube landing prosted previously in this thread was the first and last operation into this field. The terrain and lack of buffer certainly increases the pucker factor of this strip. Curious what happened...
 
In a ratio of 'dynamite spent' vs. 'landings', that airport probably takes first place.
 
Brad Z said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but does anyone know the story on this strip? Airnav lists it as closed indefinitely. It's seems that rediculous YouTube landing prosted previously in this thread was the first and last operation into this field. The terrain and lack of buffer certainly increases the pucker factor of this strip. Curious what happened...
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Wow that's a shame. It only opened less than 3 years ago.
 
I ended up driving to the cabin instead that weekend... I drove by the "air strip" and WOW, no way I'd land on it. For many reasons it is a horrible idea.
 
mikegreen said:
I ended up driving to the cabin instead that weekend... I drove by the "air strip" and WOW, no way I'd land on it. For many reasons it is a horrible idea.
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I just looked at it on Google Earth with Terrain Layering on. Wow.

I can understand your reservations. The runway is at 4,548 MSL. Winds whipping over the mountain must do quite a number.

...and is that a sheer dropoff on the northside?

Seems like someone didn't quite think it through. I would hate to try to insure that airstrip.
 
I was just up there last weekend and "drove" up to the airstrip. The access road is rutted and the runway itself is littered with rocks from fist to engine-block size that have fallen form the excavated "cliff". The north edge of the pavement at the midpoint is collapsing into the adjacent ravine. The approach to 08 involves a carnival ride left hander, since the extended approach intersects nasty terrain a couple of hundred yards before the threshold. They moved an enormous amount of rock to build the place and probably sunk millions into construction. It's pretty clear that the one landing was likely only made to validate it for legal or contractual reasons before it went belly-up. I have a couple of pics if anyone is curious.
 
Saluki Dave;1214724....... It's pretty clear that the one landing was likely only made to validate it for legal or contractual reasons before it went belly-up. I have a couple of pics if anyone is curious.[/QUOTE said:
:needpics::needpics:
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Found this posted in the Bearhawk groups forum:

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:55 am Post subject: Wolf Ridge airport landing
Wolf Ridge is at Bald Mountain in Madison County North Carolina about 25 miles north of Asheville. Mountain Air is a couple ridges over.It is not much better.Wolf ridge is at 4500 ft.They just carved out a runway on the side of the mountain with no consideration for wind or altitude.They spent over two million and it sold a while back for $100,000.00.Rocks are a problem on the runway.
 
jkgoblue said:
They just carved out a runway on the side of the mountain with no consideration for wind or altitude.They spent over two million and it sold a while back for $100,000.00.Rocks are a problem on the runway.
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..

Spent 2 mil and got 100 grand... Sounds like something the guv would do on a daily basis..:mad2::mad2::redface:
 
jkgoblue said:
Found this posted in the Bearhawk groups forum:

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:55 am Post subject: Wolf Ridge airport landing
Wolf Ridge is at Bald Mountain in Madison County North Carolina about 25 miles north of Asheville. Mountain Air is a couple ridges over.It is not much better.Wolf ridge is at 4500 ft.They just carved out a runway on the side of the mountain with no consideration for wind or altitude.They spent over two million and it sold a while back for $100,000.00.Rocks are a problem on the runway.
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Except mountain air has been around forever and gets used all the time.
 
I know this is an old topic but I am interested in it.
 
Oh no...I fly past it all the time....just thought I'd see if anyone could give details as why it close other than whats on the abandon airfield website.
I took this photo yesterday. I did see someone as well that there was only one landing then it closed.
I'd land there in a Maule or even the 185 I fly.wolf.jpg
 
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