Which way do you turn for your run-up?

Which airplane best represents where you do your run-up?

  • Red airplane

    Votes: 22 25.6%

  • Blue airplane

    Votes: 45 52.3%

  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 19 22.1%
  • Total voters
    86
Ryanb said:
Aircooled engine running at run-up power while stationary on the ground, should use any winds to help keep the engine as cool as possible.
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I have heard a garden hose will help with this and with the added bonus of easier starts. Not sure if true but what harm could it do right?
 
Acrodustertoo said:
I have heard a garden hose will help with this and with the added bonus of easier starts. Not sure if true but what harm could it do right?
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It is true, works well. Just make sure the engine is good and hot and the water is ice cold.

Not sure if the question 6PC asked was BS, assuming it is, but what the heck!
 
Everskyward said:
You don't need precise positioning in the runup area as long as you are not blasting or blocking anyone else. ;)
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I was just remarking on how silly it is to play by a rule someone put on a question that says, essentially, "Don't really tell me how you do it, tell me which of these two it must be..." haha.

Neither one. Or, Depends. :)
 
I turn as closely into the wind as possible and try to leave enough room for others to get by if they opt to...
 
I turn to do the least damage to parked aircraft.
Except at one airport, where I turn to **** off old man Kennedy.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Red line, but I generally pull further back down the run-up area so that other aircraft can pull in behind me when it's busy. I also angle the tail to the the prop wash goes out over the grass instead of directly behind me.
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yeahthat.gif
 
Doesn't everyone just find an open hangar and get real close, tail-in?
I thought hangar owners liked having the free sweep-job.
 
Whatever the locals are doing. At RHV, the red line is what everyone does. The unwritten rule is to pull forward enough to pass the planes doing a runup, turn left and swing around until you're pointed at the tower (which happens to be in a convenient place for this). Run-up, then call tower as you pull forward and into line for the runway. It also puts you the same direction as taxi-backs and allows you to check final for traffic (which is somewhat important here despite the tower to ensure that you can cross the parallel runways in time, as there are no taxiways for the western runway). It works well, as it keeps folks basically correctly lined up and mostly into the wind. You'll occasionally get bigger aircraft run up at the opposite end of the area, though still pointing at the tower.

At PAO, another one of my home airports, blue is closer to the truth, though PAO has the advantage of marked runup T's with taxi lines. Getting it wrong would mean ignoring the ground markings. When it's busy, ground often tells you which T it wants you to run up at. At MRY, HAF, and APC, it tends to blue. MRY's run-up is so large, you could run up a 777 in it and still fit me and all my best friends. HAF and APC have run-ups at a right angle to the one in the picture, so blue just works better.

If I'm at an unfamiliar airport and I'm alone...who cares? I tend toward blue just 'cause it's shorter to taxi, though the way the planes are pointed in the diagram is highly unoptimal in any case. If I'm not alone, I'll take a clue from the other pilots. If I'm first, I'll just make sure that whatever I pick uses the space efficiently enough to allow a maximum number of planes to run up. And that I not block anyone heading for the runway, if possible.

I picked red, since RHV is home for me, but I could have legitimately picked any.
 
What we need to solve this problem is a metal engine runway wind alignment calculator with applicable FAR's printed on back, but not AIM info available exclusively from Sportys for $99.99 and endorsed by the Kings.
 
Getonit said:
What we need to solve this problem is a metal engine runway wind alignment calculator with applicable FAR's printed on back, but not AIM info available exclusively from Sportys for $99.99 and endorsed by the Kings.
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Don't give Sporty's any ideas!
 
I think I've decided I'm doing donuts the next time I go out to the run up area, this thread has inspired me.
 
Next time I see somebody painting colored lines in the runup area I'm just waiting until I get to the next airport to do my runup.
 
Blue plane, keeping my tail as close to the edge of the pavement as possible when doing the run up.
 
So you can see incoming and not blow air and gravel on the other airplanes. If its really blowing, into the wind...
 
I just do it on the runway, because once you take the runway, it's yours to do what you want. I usually startup, taxi to the end of the runway, announce to "any traffic in the area, I have taken the active", then adjust my seat, set the trim, adjust the mirrors, tighten the seat belts, program the GPS, read the manual on how to program the GPS, program the GPS correctly, then do my runup. If I didn't do a walkaround this week, I'll do that too. You get a great view of all kinds of airplanes doing go-arounds over you. Be warned, if it's a towered airport, turn down your radios so you don't have to listen to the controllers complaining. :)
 
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Who has that much room? Point into the wind as best possible and watch the prop blast.
My home airport has designated run up area before blocking the hold line.
 
Everskyward said:
We have a 10 knot maximum tailwind component limitation for start in the C-680. And it's not as if it's small enough to move around by hand.
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I know the guy who fried an engine on the 680 that prompted Pratt to implement that limitation.

Early in the 680 years there was no such limit.
 
Give me NEITHER. I typically follow the BLUE line but I can spin the thing around tighter than you show it.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Removed the highly offensive image with detail on par with a child's crayon drawing.
I apologize. That was truly shocking.

Here is a photo of a butterfly on a unicorn. Everyone can put their eye bleach away.

unicorn-and-butterfly-kiss-butterflies-26941051-500-375.jpg
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Still to phallic... you should have gone with this Dick pic...

4_richard-nixon.jpg
 
If your run-up is long enough for the engine to get hot you are doing it wrong.
 
+ Blue

I don't see why you would want to head the opposite direction; even briefly. Another airplane comes into the area and will surely become confused with your intentions. With the given situation, I would align myself into the wind closest far right to the hold short line as to free the taxi way line for other traffic that do not feel the need for a run-up.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Removed the highly offensive image with detail on par with a child's crayon drawing.
I apologize. That was truly shocking.
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OMG! When did we have to start worrying about offending 5 year-olds here? Even flightaware and flight radar24 don't worry about offending 5 year-olds!
c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.png

I guess it's now Puritans of America.
 
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Neither the red nor blue lines for me. My airport has only yellow lines. I wouldn't know what else to do.
 
Wow, usually a blue line path for me. However if there is any xw component I have always used the wind to help pivot the tail downwind. Not so important in low winds in a nosewheel airplane, but try pivoting the tail in a small tw airplane in 25knot winds, it will much more happily start with the wind and have always used that to assist in the turn for a runup or taxiback.
 
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