Working on the runway!

On June 30th, the spot that will be my runway looked like the pictures below. I've been putting in some hours clearing this small spot in hopes that it will serve as my ultralight runway. After this weekend, I'll post a picture of my progress, but it is substantial. I have only owned this property for about two years and I've been concentrating mostly on building my home. I've discovered that this spot has about a 4 foot elevation difference from one side to the other over about 100 feet. I hope this won't really be a problem because the only solution is a bulldozer.

I stepped off the distance from one end to the other and came up with about 370 feet plus or minus 25 feet. I could possibly gain another 60 feet on one end after removing some trees that would interfere with my wings when taking off.

I have learned that the local radio control (RC) airfield was 568 feet. I have successfully taken off and landed on this field. It has tall grass on either end of the mowed area and from what I can remember, the landing roll was a bit long and I went into the tall grass on the end before I stopped. Keep in mind, the grass on the runway itself is almost like a golf green, short and smooth. I'll have taller grass on my strip so I'll probably stop in a shorter distance. Who knows, might be the right time to get brakes! Somebody suggested that I have two different lengths of grass on my strip, short for takeoff and longer for landing. Sounds like a good idea. Airstrip progress photo coming soon!



The runway looking towards 243 degrees (runway 24). All of the trees you see at the far end will be removed to allow a clear approach to the short field.

The middle of the runway looking towards 243 degrees (runway 24).

The opposite end of the runway looking towards 63 degrees (runway 6).