Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By foxmoth
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883603
Personally I am surprised at the title
Strip Flying - all the stuff they never tell you
This is part of the training most LAA coaches will offer and most of these WILL tell you the stuff you need to know, surprised no one has mentioned this!
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883604
foxmoth wrote:Personally I am surprised at the title
Strip Flying - all the stuff they never tell you
This is part of the training most LAA coaches will offer and most of these WILL tell you the stuff you need to know, surprised no one has mentioned this!

Well perhaps I should have called it:

"... all the stuff they never told me"

:pirat:
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883605
Lefty wrote:To me, the key requirements are a complete and thorough knowledge of your aircraft’s performance

On this one I can afford to be less cautious than I usually am.
and how to handle it when flying low and slow

I'm ok on this I think.
the ability to assess the risks and available flight paths when approaching an unknown strip for the first time,

Not generally a problem, although there are a lot of unknown strips I haven't yet approached for the first time!
and lastly the decision making ability to decide whether your approach is going to be successful or not (and the willingness to go around when it isn’t looking good).

Ok here.

I appreciate this and the other responses here. I think my next move is to push my usual limits a bit.

For me any any rate, it's not getting in that I worry about, it's getting out again. Landing is easy, and if I stuff up, I can go around. Taking off brings with it a much greater level of commitment.
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By AndyR
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883607
Landing is easy, and if I stuff up, I can go around.


Not at some strips. Ours for example, requires a decision to be made whilst turning on to a short final. A go around made too late means you’re unable to out climb the rising ground. And if you have a quartering tailwind, landing can be interesting. (It’s a land uphill, take off downhill strip).

One of many things to consider.
Flyin'Dutch', Lockhaven, TopCat and 3 others liked this
#1883609
Just to note:
Over here in Leicester we have what may be the shortest licensed grass runway around at 340m. We also have a positively luxurious one at 418m.
If anyone wants training in soft/short field technique at a licensed aerodrome by experienced instructors in suitable rentable aircraft, you know where to come.
It’s not unusual for examiners to carry out the short field landing part of the test on the 340m runway so we make sure all our students can not only handle the approach but deal with the grass conditions too.
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By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883625
AndyR wrote:
Landing is easy, and if I stuff up, I can go around.


Not at some strips. Ours for example, requires a decision to be made whilst turning on to a short final. A go around made too late means you’re unable to out climb the rising ground. And if you have a quartering tailwind, landing can be interesting. (It’s a land uphill, take off downhill strip).

One of many things to consider.

Fair point. I was generalising - I'm sure there are other edge cases, hence why I started this thread.

Are visitors allowed? I'd be interested to know more.
By TopCat
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883626
TLRippon wrote:If anyone wants training in soft/short field technique at a licensed aerodrome by experienced instructors in suitable rentable aircraft, you know where to come.

Thing is, 'short field' has no meaning except in the context of the aeroplane that's using it. 500m is short for me, but positively luxurious for a Maule.

When I was training, my instructor made me land as short as possible on Goodwood's runway 24 (855m), stop completely, and then take off again. That was a long runway for a Grumman, but the exercise certainly focused the mind.
#1883631
TopCat wrote:
TLRippon wrote:If anyone wants training in soft/short field technique at a licensed aerodrome by experienced instructors in suitable rentable aircraft, you know where to come.

Thing is, 'short field' has no meaning except in the context of the aeroplane that's using it. 500m is short for me, but positively luxurious for a Maule.

When I was training, my instructor made me land as short as possible on Goodwood's runway 24 (855m), stop completely, and then take off again. That was a long runway for a Grumman, but the exercise certainly focused the mind.


Landing is only half the story, getting a non stol aircraft out of a 320m grass field is another story.
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By TheFarmer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883635
And most real farm strips are not advertised on Skydemon unless you are member of the Flying Farmers Association then they can be added to Skydemon but not always the case.


^ correct.

There are airfields, then there are grass airfields, then there are airstrips, then there are farm strips, and at the far end of the scale there are fields you can land in.

I have the FFA overlay on my SkyDemon and I’d agree with you that the vast majority of them are very much farm strips, used relatively infrequently, and you are quite literally landing on someone’s property, with very little prior information available.

The far end of the scale are fields that probably haven’t ever been landed in, but mean you can get as close to your destination as possible. Much of the time you can make a prior visit by car. On the odd occasion this isn’t possible, a low pass or two is critical, not just to see the surface, and to check you’re not about to fly into running livestock, but also to work out what the wind is doing at ground level once it’s passed over nearby obstructions.

I also agree with people above that the aircraft dictates what’s a challenge or not, combined also with pilot competence. A numpty in a Carbon Cub won’t be safe at a 500 metre strip, whereas a skilled/regular Jodel flyer with good speed and height discipline can regularly operate from 350 metres.
Lockhaven, Nick, Flyin'Dutch' and 2 others liked this
#1883638
TopCat wrote:Thing is, 'short field' has no meaning except in the context of the aeroplane that's using it.


And ground condition, wind, density altitude etc etc. But we know what you mean - horses for courses.
As the discussion has already shown, good strip flying sense is much more than simply short field technique (though that is usually part of it).
You can practice short field technique using a couple of traffic cones beside the runway to give yourself whatever distance you want to touch down and stop between. (It's also a good way of stopping yourself judging the circuit by ground features - if you can displace the threshold a few hundred yards).
But then flying into a farm strip of the same length as you just practiced is something else again...
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883641
I didn’t know about the ‘ no farm strips on SD unless a LAA/BMAA member’ rule .

I contacted SD when I got fed up with having to enter our strip as a ‘ user waypoint’ every time I created routes and filed flight plans and asked if it could go in their database / on their charts..

Rob contacted me for some details and the strip duly appeared in the next version .Tim also allowed us to use a SD screenshot in our PPR safety briefing ( duly acknowledged).
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By TheFarmer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1883642
Couldn’t agree more @lobstaboy

Landing/take off distance is a tiny part of it.

How to park (facing away from hedge), etiquette, silent approaches, power line observation, livestock (and what they’ll do if startled), temporary electric fences, ‘Lee-of-wind’ effects, using slopes to your benefit, ‘cross strip tractor wheel ruts’ from adjacent gateways etc are all things to be awake for when arriving at an unfamiliar strip.
Sooty25, Lockhaven, Flyin'Dutch' and 2 others liked this
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