Grass strip newbie

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five early

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five early
Looking to build a grass strip on our property for light single engine aircraft. Anyone think 1500' x 75" is too small? We are at 850' msl (MN) and there are no obstacles at either end. Was thinking of using Kentucky 31 Fescue for the turf. Just getting back into GA and would love any tips you all have. Thanks!
 
DYI or contracting it out? Either case make sure you/they put in the appropriate grades and drainage. Last thing you need is big ass puddles of water pooling on your strip.
 
You need to know what airplane you are going to use before you can truly answer if it is too short.

1500' is a little on the short side, but not entirely uncommon for a grass strip. Some singles would do just fine. Others might be tight.
 
azblackbird said:
DYI or contracting it out? Either case make sure you/they put in the appropriate grades and drainage. Last thing you need is big ass puddles of water pooling on your strip.
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We are contracting it out.
 
See if you can find a 1500' strip and go talk to the owner or pilots that use it and watch them take off and land. If you think it is long enough for your airplane, go land and take off from it and see what you think. It would be long enough for me and my Husky so long as there aren't tall trees on the ends. A Cessna 140 on a hot day might have a hard time. Its kinda critical, what if you don't make it off by the end???
 
five early said:
We are contracting it out.
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I have friends with a piper cub, Citabria and I wouldn't mind picking up an archer. Haven't done too much homework on the performance requirements to be honest. We have the ability to extend runway by another 800', but the price doubles.
 
coloradobluesky said:
See if you can find a 1500' strip and go talk to the owner or pilots that use it and watch them take off and land. If you think it is long enough for your airplane, go land and take off from it and see what you think. It would be long enough for me and my Husky so long as there aren't tall trees on the ends. A Cessna 140 on a hot day might have a hard time. Its kinda critical, what if you don't make it off by the end???
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there are no obstacles on either end. great tip though! just found a search engine on aopa. there are quite a few public use strips in MN around 1500'. thanks!
 
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five early said:
I have friends with a piper cub, Citabria and I wouldn't mind picking up an archer. Haven't done too much homework on the performance requirements to be honest. We have the ability to extend runway by another 800', but the price doubles.
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Sounds like way more than enough for the taildraggers, archer should be fine too as long as you're careful if you load it to the gills or it gets super hot out.
 
Build the strip to suit the plane or buy a plane to suit the strip. The things that'll bite you are heavy loads and skinny tires after a rain.
 
As mentioned the Cub and Citabria would be fine. Never flown an Archer but I would think 1500 would feel pretty tight even though it is probably doable most of the time. Can you rough in the 800 feet so it is usable (won't wreck the plane) if for some reason you need it?
 
Yes, the critical question is airplane. My Cardinal will definitely NOT be landing there, and it would be quite tight for a 172, or an Archer. But a Cub or a Citabria should have no trouble.

The extra 800 feet you mentioned would make a huge difference in what airplanes could use the field. 2300 is doable in a 182 under good conditions, and certainly in an Archer or even an Arrow (or a Cardinal), particularly if there are no obstacles at either end.
 
I consider my un-STOLed 182 a decent "back country" plane, but 1500 is a little short for my liking--I typically set 2,000 ft as my minimum for grass (SL w/std cond). Of course if it was my strip, I'd probably pay for the Katmai conversion before I'd spend a bunch of money on another 800 feet.

It really depends on what you're flying and whether you want visitors of the typical GA fleet. 2,300 ft would probably accommodate 90% of the fleet, 2,000 about 75%; 1,500 probably about 30%. Note- I just made those numbers up but if you spent a lot of time you could probably get a real allocation of the breakdown.
 
If you have to get over the 50 foot trees / power lines, that's a lot different than if you only have a 3 foot tall fence.

1500 feet is a lot of runway if there is nothing at the end and you can set down right on the threshold for a landing and only have to get the wheels off the ground when taking off.
 
If there are no obstacles, 1500' should be fine. How much wheels-on-ground space do you need? 1500 is plenty for a 172, even at gross, if there are no obstacles for a bit out. If you have at least another 800' with nothing, and there aren't huge 100' trees at the end of the 800', what you're planning sounds perfect. Keep it mowed and and well drained and you'll have no problems.
 
Well it would depend on your DA as well. Not all Georgia is going to be at sea level. Nowind, grass takeoff at gross on a 172 is going to run just a hair under 1000'. Density altitude at Hartsfield, for example, is 2500 right now. That's going to need 1200' of ground run.
 
Not sure how well the fescue will hold up to the stress. Down here in the southeast, it dies really quickly when exposed to full sunlight and must be watered regularly.
 
Actually, we're in central NC. Our runway is a mix of grasses but by and large the Bermuda grass is taking over the runway. Of course, my wife is fighting a battle to keep it out of our yard at the same time.
 
five early said:
We have the ability to extend runway by another 800', but the price doubles.
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Is the 1500' going to be centered within 2300' feet then, with 400' kept clear of obstructions on either end? That doesn't sound too bad, and would leave you the option to lengthen the runway in the future if you decided to get a bigger plane.

For now, if you can just keep that 800' clear of rocks, stumps, and big holes, at least you won't have a tragedy if run off the end of the runway.
 
There's also a ton of experimentals and LSAs that are suitable. I have one for sale right now, which will easily make it in and out 1500 ft with just 56 hp. I'm not peddling it to you because the payload is basically nil. But have a look at things like RANS S-6 (with a 912 engine) or RANS S-7, Bearhawks, Zenith CH-750 (that one even has a nosewheel, can easily replace your Archer, although it's slower).
 
five early said:
I have friends with a piper cub, Citabria and I wouldn't mind picking up an archer. Haven't done too much homework on the performance requirements to be honest. We have the ability to extend runway by another 800', but the price doubles.
Click to expand...
Cub and Citabria can do stop and goes in 1,500'.
 
Same with the ones Pete mentioned. I'm in & out of a 1680' strip a couple times a year and even my wife & I in my 145 hp Conti 172 have no problem getting off in warm weather. We were not tankering a lot of extra fuel at the time. I'd go alone into a 1500' runway so long as the ends were clear. Any chance you could grab 1/2 the 800 extra with a first right of refusal on the 2nd 1/2 down the road? Last August a Comanche did not do so well on this same runway on landing, had a car been coming on the road he'd have punched thru the side: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/...dcb5a9c1d-BA4F34AD-ED8A-B73A-FE47D95724801801
 
DFH65 said:
As mentioned the Cub and Citabria would be fine. Never flown an Archer but I would think 1500 would feel pretty tight even though it is probably doable most of the time. Can you rough in the 800 feet so it is usable (won't wreck the plane) if for some reason you need it?
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Yeah not so sure about an Archer
 
Lindberg said:
Cub and Citabria can do stop and goes in 1,500'.
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Those planes are capable of multiple stop and goes in that much runway, depending on pilot skill. This is one of those things where you can spend money on more runway, more plane, or more hours of practice, and any one of those three will make your strip more accessible.
 
This thread went long enough that it's time for me to break out my favourite topical video:

 
If you build an airstrip for your own plane and it and you are capable for the length all is fine. You may have friends that want to fly in you may want a different plane down the road.Plan ahead ,plan for worst case. 1,500 ft is fine until you need 1,550 ft
I have a 2,600ft airstrip in the UP of Mi. and it can be too short for very capable planes flown by less capable pilots.
I have a Cherokee 180, works great.------- Except when it's 90 degrees or after 5 days of rain.
Landing, almost anything can get in there. It getting out that's the issue. Trees on both ends, wet grass, puddles ,grass length, hot humid days ,amount of fuel, passengers, etc. all effect success or failure.
Liability is the concern for others coming in.
I myself would have it built 2,500 ft. or longer and 100 ft wide. Why the 100 ft. wide ? For those days with strong crosswinds, just a bit more wiggle room.
For the grass use something hearty, Kentucky bluegrass may work well in Kentucky but make sure you get something that withstands drought,heat, extreme cold, whatever extreme conditions your area may have. I'm opening a new airstrip in a remote location and we are going to use an MDOT mix like along the roadsides, hearty and no need to babysit it,holds up to the abuse of heavy braking and high use.
Have fun and hope you enjoy cutting grass every 10 to 14 days.
There will be those that criticize the length I suggest and tell you how great of a pilot they are and that anyone needing that length shouldn't be a pilot.
But I would rather have a lot of runway under me when lifting off than having to little,, kind of like you can never have too much fuel------ unless you're on fire:)
If the super pilots want they can start from the center point of the runway.
On my airstrips I want to make sure no one gets hurt or worse.
 
Take lawn killer and make runway numbers in the grass on both ends.
 
I go to a 1500 ft paved runway that has an extra 1000 or so of grass pretty often. It would be scary with a 50 ft obstacle within 500-1000 ft of the end. Using a 150/170/ pa28180 never required use of the grass but I only go in when winds favor the better runway. Might be a fun strip if you had a Cub or something with good short field performance.

Check out 7n8 butter valley on youtube.
 
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