How many acres required for ultralight runway?

Mistake Not...

Mistake Not...

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Mistake Not...
Sitting here daydreaming...

Anyone fly an ultralight off their own property? I'm looking at houses (I rent), and while I'll probably never have a place big enough for a Mooney, I'm thinking it might be doable for an ultralight.

Looks like a different kind of fun that might be just the thing on a warm summer afternoon...
 
You only need 80 feet to takeoff and like 400 to land, so, not that much I would guess...
 
An acre or less. The key is finding a swath of land 50' wide and 500' long, properly aligned with the prevailing winds, lol.


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Hmm, depends on what you mean by an ultralight. If you're thinking of something like an Aerolite, it will get off the ground in less than 200 feet, and you're moving pretty slowly after that. I'm guessing you'd want 1000 feet to be comfortable. A 1000 ft runway that's 50 feet wide is only a little more than an acre, but you're never going to find a piece of property that size. Provided it's flat where you live, I'm thinking 7 to 10 acres is what it's going to take to find 1000 feet of usable runway space.

That's an off the cuff guesstimate, hopefully someone here flies ultralights and can fill us in.

Having said that, one of the funnest things about flying hang gliders, and any type of motorless flying in general, is that it is a cooperative enterprise and there's a social aspect to it. See if there's a group of ultralight pilots in your area, it might be a better deal than going it alone.
 
It's not just the size of the strip, you need clear approaches at both ends. You might be off the ground in 1-300', but another 500' of clear space on each end just to clear a 50' tree on takeoff or landing.
 
Mistake Not... said:
Sitting here daydreaming...

Anyone fly an ultralight off their own property? I'm looking at houses (I rent), and while I'll probably never have a place big enough for a Mooney, I'm thinking it might be doable for an ultralight.

Looks like a different kind of fun that might be just the thing on a warm summer afternoon...
Click to expand...

...not acres...feet!!!
I can get my single seat off the ground in 50 feet...double seat on a cool day, 300 feet...both land inside of 200 feet..no trees/obstructions near.

Now, it is the pure form of flying...it will kill you if not done correctly!!!



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4 1\2 acres. That gives you a 500 foot circle. You'll probably have to buy 6, doubt if anyone is selling circles. You can always land into the wind
 
We have 11 acres, and we have a section we're planning on turning into our runway. We're thinking a Zenith 750 STOL.
 
An acre is roughly 45,000 sq ft (43560 actually). If its 50' wide, then its 900' (871 actually) long. So you could do it on one acre, even less. Trouble is, you cant just buy land in any size. You have to take what you can get.
 
I was thinking about this but not for ultralights when I was shopping for a new homestead. Without buying a huuuuge parcel of 100+ acres it's really hard to find a piece of land suitable for a runway. I didn't say impossible but at least around here there really wasn't much available.
 
Maybe find someone who will sign a long term lease, as mentioned going to be difficult to find a piece that is wide and long enough for an airstrip.
 
Mine is 1000 by 50 feet...trying to bullseye anything less on engine out increases pucker factor...stay in pattern till 1,000...then go fly!!...when you take off in 50 and land in 200...call me...we'll go fly!!!


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A good way to do this is to revert to simple high school math. Let's say you have a 45000sq.ft property. The root of 45000 is 212, which means (if the plot was square), each side was 212ft long. But if you went diagonally, from corner to corner, you'd get a longer run. Pythagoras theorem says that side A square + side B square = Diagonal in square. That means that 212^2 + 212^2 = 90000. Inverse of 90000 is 300ft. So on a square parcel of 45000ft, where each side is 212ft long, the diagonal is 300ft long. That's the max runway you can get.
 
I think the best way is to just get something to measure the straight area that you'd use.

In our case, if we remove one tree we've got a good run.
 
As someone that owned their own strip, I think it's more important to have the right acreage than particularly large acreage. The right 10 acres might work, where as the wrong 80 won't. I'd say 10 acres is minimum though, to get the right property dimensions, to control approaches, and appease neighbors (although you should expect to still freak out the ignorant or knee-jerk neighbors).
 
...footage was not as important as sites seen...after I built mine...flying, never realized how many people lay out naked and how many grow marijane...all done in 50x50 feet!!!


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Thanks, y'all.

I think I've found some friends who might be willing to host the thing until I find something. It's all open pasture, and looks big enough (obviously, I'll have to get better numbers).

Off to the other sub forum for more questions...
 
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