Best Airstrips

[Dry_Twotter]

Where are some of the best airstrips/bush strips in Oz? By best, i mean short, sloped, rough, in valleys, on mountains etc. None of this 1500 metre sealed crap!
I know of a private strip perched up on a mountain in SE QLD, known as Mount Brisbane. Looks about 300metres, 10% slope up. C185 Territory!

[airag3]

Most of the really interesting strips are used for spreading super and located in the Great Divide anywhere from Apollo Bay to FNQ , Im a bit of a flat lander but experienced super pilots will tell you 10% would be a gentle slope for most.

[Sunfish]

I think you will find them anywhere and everywhere, after all, its not a game is it?

[iceblock]

Gabbo Island is pretty cool. Just off the coast of SE NSW. Short grass strip the width of the island, with a wicked hump so on approach you can only see half length. Takes a bit of faith to give it full noise fully loaded when half the strip is not visiable. If the margin of error is small you can always use the cliff to gain airspeed!!!

[Bevan666]

One of my personal favorites is Porpunkah, near Bright. Shortish, has a road which crosses over the lower third and nestled in a tight valley at the base of Mount Buffalo.

Scared the crap out of some grey trailers there one day in a bonanza. They stopped at the sign that says 'look for aircraft', looked (at ground level) and then sloooowly crossed the road. They had just past the edge of the strip when I touched down behind them. :eek:

Another good one in Victoria is Tuki (on a hill - great trout) and I've had a look at Snowy and thought that would be a nice place to stop in one day.

Bevan..

[Tiger 77]

Use to fly into an airstrip about 18 months ago in the North Kimberley near Jatz homestead. The runway is half dirt and half water so only amphibians can operate there. The trick is to start on the land and just before you hit the water retract the gear and continue the takeoff roll in the water.

It took quite a few Icus runs to get the hang of it but eventually it became great fun. Unfortunetely our company sold the Ampibious Buffalo so we can no longer operate there. I believe a local operator still takes their 206 there occasionally.

Tiger.

[Reverseflowkeroburna]

While Cradle isn't spectacularly short at around 900m, it does have some very speccie scenery and an elevation of about 3000'. The hills (Cradle at 5000') make for an interesting time on poor weather days.
Snowy Range (roughly midway between EN & HOT) sits at an elevation of 5400'. I can't remember the length, but I do remember how bloody rough it was with it's great tussocks of alpine grass! I also remember getting out of the ole Nevergo and looking down the neighbouring valleys and the morning fogs just beginning to burn off! Doh, no camera again! I can also remember the numerous warnings given to me about the windshear and mountain waves it gets on blustery summer days. Getting out needs a good HF set too if a clearance is needed into the East Sale airspace which starts at 600' AGL. :ok:
There's another nice strip in the shadow of the Mt. Buffalo resort, it might be Porepunkah as previously mentioned, or Mitta Mitta I think. Again, fantastic scenery! :ooh:
None of these would make our good Ag driving friends think twice, but ensuring a safe MEIFR egress from these beautiful ports does require just a small amount of thought. ;)

[G.A. Boy]

Yes Cradle Mountain is very scarey in margional weather. My all time fav is Trefoil Island located off the NW tip of Tassie. The cross strip is only about 250 Metres, however only to be used in extreme wind conditions. ie. 25+ knots.

[compressor stall]

Bradshaw Station (NT) in a 30 knot SE breeze....landing away from the cliff.

[pakeha-boy]

try "sparevohn",.....270 nm west of Anchorage Alaska.....1200ft..military radar base(used to do a mail run tues/thur).......one way in ,one way out....6.0 degree runway slope....try not to rotate to quickly,unless you like tailstrikes!!!

[tinpis]

Bradshaw in the days when the homestead was abandoned and.. erm...closed ..in an AC500

[Time Bomb Ted]

USS Ronald Reagan.

The runway is a bit short but lots of space in the over-run and undershoot if nessesary. They sometimes park the planes a bit close to the strip too so take care during the flare and hold-off not to drift. Otherwise you will be fine. They do put on a great fried hamburger lunch.

TBT:eek:

[justathought]

there is a home land strip about 30 nm se of ramingining nt, it's not really in the tricky strip catagory but taking off up hill in a heavy 210 due to 25kt gusty winds making a down hill take off un advisable is interesting. have been trying to remember its name, can anyone help? if you take off up hill you have to fly between two small hills and over a ridge line where the down draughts hang out. It services just one house and is pretty rough.

[Fliegenmong]

Albatross field at Coomera SE QLD. Surrounded by high trees a rough claypan field, dusty when dry muddy when wet. rotors in winter from the mountains to the west (part of the daily is to check the wheels for gum leaves) Pure stick and rudder adrenaline heaven!!
:E :} :eek:

Also the old sand strip on the Northern end of South Stradbroke Island, had to look out for holes dug by kangaroos looking for water:*

[185skywagon]

I know of a private strip perched up on a mountain in SE QLD, known as Mount Brisbane. Looks about 300metres, 10% slope up. C185 Territory!
Dry,
I believe that only a Husky can get in and out of that strip. The owner also has a C180, but not sure if he can get it in up there.
185.

[The Strez]

Mabuiag and Darnley Islands in the Torres Straits were always fun and games!
Mabuiag was about 400 - 450m, grass (think it's sealed now) with the ocean at either ends.
Darnley, 450 -500m long and 400' drop offs to ocean below at either ends! Rough as guts when the wind was blowing.
Murray, Boigu and Saibai Islands used to be interesting after heavy rain too!

[Kickatinalong]

Cradle Mountain strip is now a parking area for cars DON'T TRY IT.
Kickatinalong:( :uhoh: :eek:

[Soulman]

Probably not half as hard as some of the strips you guys have mentioned, but I thought Shute Harbour was a bit of fun.

Soulman.

[rmcdonal]

Curtis use a private strip in the Blue Mountains for some training, looks like a bit of fun :E .
A couple of the Super strips in the Great Dividing Range look... interesting but I wouldn't even attempt them without the supervision of an Ag pilot (if your going to scare the Shivers out of yourself you may as well have company) :uhoh: .
I found most of the NT strips that I went to (mostly mid region) were long and flat with only roos and ant hills to worry about (and the occasional Chopper).

[Killer Loop]

Justathought,

I think you are talking about Mirrngadja (MGJ), pronounced Mirrinarcher. Not that extreme but fully loaded with wawa's, uphill, on a hot day etc etc....

[Dry_Twotter]

I believe that only a Husky can get in and out of that strip. The owner also has a C180, but not sure if he can get it in up there.
185.
185,
Yes thats right. Its a yellow husky with huge tundra tyres fitted. The same bloke owns a really nice 180, and he told me a while ago he takes that in too. When he flies it back to archerfield, it is not unusual for him to carry out his approach on 10L, with a landing on 04R (hooks it around at the runway intersections)

Also managed to find the sucker on google earth. S 27 05' 35.29" E 152 31' 47.54" Great Resolution. The Strip is 265 meters

[pakeha-boy]

try this one....about 8 years ago in San Diego.....some joker ,on a sunday moning did a "touch and go" on one of the carriers in the bay,in a C152......they managed to chase the buggar down......loacl police helicopter....turns out,he,d just retired from the majors and wanted to go out in style........thats boy has a set of gnads for sure.....mea!!!

[185skywagon]

185,
Yes thats right. Its a yellow husky with huge tundra tyres fitted. The same bloke owns a really nice 180, and he told me a while ago he takes that in too. When he flies it back to archerfield, it is not unusual for him to carry out his approach on 10L, with a landing on 04R (hooks it around at the runway intersections)
Also managed to find the sucker on google earth. S 27 05' 35.29" E 152 31' 47.54" Great Resolution. The Strip is 265 meters

Also found that on Google Earth. You can see the strip from Watts Bridge, I think. At 260M, you would get the 180 and 185 in and out of there. I have run out of flat 200M strips with no obstacles at MTOW in the 185, without any trouble. it would be different when the temps get up in the 40's though.
I'll see if I can get Michael to take a photo of that strip from the ground for us.


That 180 is the last one ever made.

[maxgrad]

Used to do a mail run in a 210 into a Humbert River, just west of Yarralin NT. Middle of the strip had been washed out for years. Strip length 239 metres. (I took one of those distance wheel thingies with me and measured it!) Strip was canned shortly after.

[compressor stall]

Humbert River! I remember that one! How is old Snowy and Elsie? Elsie was the only local lady I met who wore perfume! Snowy is also one of the last of the generation that had pride and integrity.

Bullita in the Gregory NP just to the north was also interesting...ask Sheep Guts about that one!

CS

[LewC]

Hoxton Park mightn't sound like it would qualify for this thread however landing across the 16/34 strip increases the factor of difficulty somewhat.I've seen it done once in a C150,using the 27 direction, by an intrepid instructor from Laurie McIver's in the late 70's.On that occasion he was assisted by a 40kt. Westerly but managed to drop it and stop it using only the bitumen at the southern end.

[maxgrad]

Giday CS
Haven't had the pleasure of their company for some time now, As you would now most of my jobs are hit and run these days.

You might be interested to know that Delara strip is now 1000m and sealed!

Although I have never been to PNG I would hazard a guess and say some of their strips would take the prize for being "way out there"

CS..Landing on snow in "interesting conditions" would be somewhat of a challenge too.

[compressor stall]

I heard a rumour of Delara a while back, sad to see the demise of the gravel trap on the taxiway.... :ouch: I am still curious to know if that Dentist's chair is still there!

Yep, snow and ice has its interesting areas, but it's not so much a "strip" rather than the surface conditions or whether there's any crevasses. Runway length is usually not a problem!

[scrambler]

Couple of Nice ones Eastern Bass Straight,
Deal Isl (Curved in a saddle between ridges), Preservation Isl, Waterhouse Isl (240m) to name a few

[Richo]

Got to agree with The Strez, Darnley Island is the the most dificult and bloody intersting airstrip I have ever been into. As strez said 420m great slope with 45 deg + drop off at both ends. 5.1 tone in the Caravan was always intersting for landing, takeoff not such a problem as all the obsticals were a few hundred feet below the end of the runway.

Having said that, I have to tip my hat to the guys that used to go in there before it was sealed. That must have been REAL fun on that Volcanic clay/mud.

Richo

[Stiff Under Carriage]

Darnley (420m and 2% Slope) and Mabuaig (400m) for sure. Though try doing it in a C310. Very interesting. It was STOL equipped though, but still.....:eek:

[Ultralights]

USS Ronald Reagan.
The runway is a bit short but lots of space in the over-run and undershoot if nessesary. They sometimes park the planes a bit close to the strip too so take care during the flare and hold-off not to drift. Otherwise you will be fine. They do put on a great fried hamburger lunch
Ahhh yes, the strip at USS RR. great place to fly, but can get busy when the burgers are on! finding parking can be a bugger!! especailly ona sunny Jan arvo!
http://home.exetel.com.au/pamuva/Other%20stuff/webstuff/KR2.jpg
http://home.exetel.com.au/pamuva/Other%20stuff/webstuff/USS.jpg

[185skywagon]

Ultra,
What sort of beast are you herding around in the pics??
Seems to put in fair rate of Knots.
185.

[Chimbu chuckles]

Aircraft carriers? Looxury....built in 30 kt headwind for starters:ok:

http://www.fototime.com/{78908B49-FC02-4156-82F8-3338DAEEE368}/picture.JPG

:}

[Ultralights]

Ultra,
What sort of beast are you herding around in the pics??
Seems to put in fair rate of Knots.
185.

Ahh Yes, that would be a homebuilt KR2 (VW powered)

[troppo]

which one is that chuck?

[Chimbu chuckles]

Gosis...from memory.

[Time Bomb Ted]

What about Tindal Air Force Base.

Main runway is Bluddy short but my god it is the widest one I've ever landed on...

:ooh:

[disco_air]

Dry_Twotter

The best strips are the ones you cant even stand up on :}

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/photos/0/6/7/0616760.jpg

Tiger 77

Yes I remember that strip dearly. Some pilots came to grief when landing, having the gear still out when they reached the water (or vice versa)

The amphibious buffalo was the right a/c for the job though

...Disco aka Wet_Twotter

[disco_air]

None of this 1500m sealed crap!

Actually, Dry_Twotter I was reading a university study on pilots and it was found that the kind of strips you flew into was directly proportional to the quality of women you socialised with :}

Would you rather;

overgrown, short, unserviced, remote, obstacles, uneven surface, u/s after a bit of rain, no go at night, no clearance required

or

smooth surface, regularly inspected and serviced, lit, lots of alternates available, can get in in most weather conditions, plenty of length available, clearance required, mown grass on clearways :p

...Disco aka Wet_Twotter

P.S or even;

very wet surface, salty, requires a little chop, some obstacles, often shared with other users, be prepared to dive in occasionally

Refer previous picture :}

[Dry_Twotter]

Actually, Dry_Twotter I was reading a university study on pilots and it was found that the kind of strips you flew into was directly proportional to the quality of women you socialised with :}
Would you rather;
overgrown, short, unserviced, remote, obstacles, uneven surface, u/s after a bit of rain, no go at night, no clearance required
or
smooth surface, regularly inspected and serviced, lit, lots of alternates available, can get in in most weather conditions, plenty of length available, clearance required, mown grass on clearways :p
...Disco aka Wet_Twotter
P.S or even;
very wet surface, salty, requires a little chop, some obstacles, often shared with other users, be prepared to dive in occasionally
Refer previous picture :}
Refer to the following
1500m sealed strips;
-High maintenance
-Boring
-Ugly
-Expensive
-Large dimensions
-Usually require huge approach speeds resulting in an uncomfortable collision, bounce, or go around
Bush Strips;
-Exciting
-Skill required to master
-Low maintenance
-Not everything and everyone can land on them
-Enjoy being landed on (trust me, i asked them)
Dry_Twotter
The best strips are the ones you cant even stand up on:}
Please Disco, for the sake of PPrune and Global Aviation in general, NEVER EVER POST A PICTURE OF A 100 SERIES TWOTTER ON PPRUNE AGAIN, ESPECIALLY ONE WITH BANANAS
PT6A-27, or none at all.

[disco_air]

-Usually require huge approach speeds resulting in an uncomfortable collision, bounce, or go around

Say no more on your social life :}

...Disco

[jon s gull]

Formation water landing ?
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4958/dsc12713id.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Viagra]

Forgot the name of the strip (Ononge?), its about 30 mins North of Port Moresby on the way to Woitape.
Being on the ridgeline gives fantastic views, but opens you up to the swirling winds in the valley
-(usually a 15kt tailwind/downdraft just after you're airborne in a busted -200 twotter with a density altitude of 8000ft and a load full of goilalas and other wildlife).
Note the slight dogleg halfway up - and this was one of the tame ones..
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f339/gts35c/8087aac8.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f339/gts35c/8087aac8.jpg
photobucket only allows 512kb. ill try to make it a little bigger/clearer (?)

[Chimbu chuckles]

I think you will find they are 300 series Twotters...but part of the mod for use on floats is a '100' style nose cone:ok:

[Lodown]

Used to love landing on Fraser Is. at low tide. Nothing difficult about the procedure, but the 50 mile final approach at low altitude was wonderful.

Chimbu, is that a pic of an airstrip or an accident site?

[drshmoo]

The best strips are the 18/36 arrangement, very lightly thatched :}

[disco_air]

Why thankyou Chimbu chuckles!

I didnt know they were 300 series, which was one thing i was missing in my arguments against the young Dry_Twotter back on Messmate.

Ha! Take that! They have bananas and PT6A-27!

and drshmoo, have you tried the parallel runway operations? :rolleyes:

...Wet_Twotter

a.k.a Disco

[Chimbu chuckles]

Chimbu, is that a pic of an airstrip or an accident site?

I always found it, and many more like it, to be the former...evidence suggests some found it, and many more like it, to be the latter:E

[Wombat35]

How about Jensen Bay International ! Located in the Cape Wessel Islands.

Pic is of the Boys clearing the strip so that we could take off again.

http://www.legrope.com.au/personal/images/6_Jensen_Bay.jpg

[Like This - Do That]

Wombat

Good one ..... throw a couple of dozen airsick diggers in the back who all scream in terror at your antics and ya laughin!

[halfhardt-6]

Ah Jensen Bay, found a nice rock in middle of the strip which reduced the alredy crappy strip to about 400m useable( the rock was as big as my car).
Also, Cannon Hill near Oenpelli, N.T is perhaps the most picturesque in the wet. This is where they wedged the Citation into during the second Crocodile Dundee film. Me thinks he was very light and had a gravel kit.

[Wombat35]

Ahh the Airsick Grunt, reminds me of a funny story...

Doing low level surveillance in the Bou with a Grunt out the side door and the Eng on the ramp.... all is going well for the first hour or two and then I hear AWWW :mad: :mad: :mad: over the intercom, after the panic of, did we hit a bird, is an engine on fire subsided, turns out the grunt had spewed out the side door into the air stream which had then circled around the tail and completely sprayed the Eng.... A good det that one!

I used to love the flight plan of between, 270 and 090 deg and 50-500miles. Air traffic would always come back and say you can't do that how can we supply traffic, well it was at night and we were below 500AGL how much traffic was there going to be? :E

No lights and we could fly right over someone at 250AGL and they wouldn't be able to find us (Your could see all the torches), hear us, yep sure but the sound was so loud you couldn’t get a good direction, ahh the good old days! :ok:

[Tiger 77]

Thanks Wombat35, great photo of a superior aircraft. The old Caribou could get into any of the strips mentioned in this thread and looks really sexy! (almost as sexy as the Buffalo).


Tiger

[disco_air]

Haha including the 'very wet ones' Tiger 77, with the ampibious Buffalo!

Such a versatile aircraft

..Disco (Wet_Twotter)

[dr_doLiTTle]

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e277/bobby1955/PNGstyle.jpg

[rmcdonal]

In my books thats a winner.:ok:

[Capt Fathom]

He's airborne in half the strip....they made it too long! :E

[Zulu_One]

Use to fly into an airstrip about 18 months ago in the North Kimberley near Jatz homestead. The runway is half dirt and half water so only amphibians can operate there. The trick is to start on the land and just before you hit the water retract the gear and continue the takeoff roll in the water.
Tiger.
I believe a local operator still takes their 206 there occasionally.
This is true, however your amphibian requirement is flawed, we do operate stationair 6 transfers and we find it beneficial to leave the gear down, since the alternative usually upsets the boss and replacements are getting scarce ...
So we're fitting buffalo tyres on and trying it this way instead (http://cubdriver749er.com/media/water_assisted.wmv) (500kb wmv):ok:
Takeoffs and landing at Jatz Cracka homestead both proved a challenging predicament initially and almost grounded/drowned the operation before it started, until we considered going the opposite way which represented a more successful outcome. So what happened to the buffalo ?
Anyway lands over-rated ... like the dhc5 :E
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e294/zulu_one/T6_1sm.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e294/zulu_one/T6_team7sm.jpg

Z1

[Richo]

Halfhardt-6

The Citation was at Borallba (spelling) which is about 15nm south of JAB. Same aircraft and driver went into the side of a hill in NQLD about a year later.

Dr Dlittle - Un bef%&#leavable.

YOU WIN

[halfhardt-6]

Thanks Richo,

Those cousins of ours must have told me one "big mob fib"then!

Twas a good strip anyway. Very pretty.

[Dry_Twotter]

Hey Tiger77, i managed to snap a photo of your amphibious buffalo taking off from jatz cracker homestead airstrip. Sorry about the photo quality, my camera isn't the best.


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i90/buffalo99/BuffaloFloats60.jpg

[Tiger 77]

Dry twotter, that particular aircraft was only used for about 5 months during the wet season with the floats fitted, and at the time Jatz airstrip was about 80% water so it had no trouble getting in and out of the strip.

During the dry we used the amphibian buffalo into Jatz. It had extra wheels attached to the floats. I'll try to find a photo.

I'm still trying to bring Buffalo's back to the Kimberley as they were always a great freight / charter machine. The new aboriginal community of Port Kaloombiru has an airstrip of only 250m so none of the current aircraft in the area can operate into it.

Cheers

Tiger.

[Two_dogs]

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e277/bobby1955/PNGstyle.jpg
Getting out of here would be pretty easy, but how the **** do you get IN?
Uphill landing, positive flare and full power to the parking area?? Is it as steep as the photo looks, or is there some illusion.

Two Dogs

[Going Nowhere]

Is it just me or do the floats on that Buffalo look really uneven? :ooh:

[Ultralights]

those floats on the Buffalo look like there made by Photoshop.

[Chimbu chuckles]

Two Dogs this picture turned up a year or so back doing the rounds...none of us ex PNG pilots recognise the strip and it's either Irian Jaya or South America...it's very likely a MAF 206 judging by the colour scheme....and my guess is Irian Jaya.

I suspect there is a LITTLE bit of lense induced distortion but that is most obvious around the little flat bit half way down....I don't think that is as flat as it looks....in fact it looks almost un-negotiable without a prop or tail srike:ouch:

REALLY steep strips are however common...15-20% slopes are very common in PNG and Irian Jaya...there are strips in Irian Jaya that would not be allowed in PNG, and in PNG we always had a pretty broad mind about what constituted possible.

Another common feature in PNG and Irian Jaya is landing around corners...20 odd degree heading change in 400 m...and sometimes a combination of both steep and around corners:ok:

The technique for steep airstrips revolved around carrying enough extra speed into the roundout/flare to get the nose up high enough to 'land normally' and then apply LOTS of power as the wheels touched to get up to the parking bay...if the aircraft stopped before the top it may well be impossibe to get there at all...especially with a full load in the back.

It is also essential to 'look high' all the way down final approach into a steep strip...if it starts looking 'normal' you are below the strip and will land in the trees short of the strip...more than one new pilot has done this. In essence you are making a normal 3 degree approach, slightly fast and thus you look incredibly high on approach. There were also strips where the touchdown zone was a 3-5% downslope before a 12-15% upslope on the last 2/3rds of the strip...then you must look low all the way. 3-5% cross slopes were not unusual too...in fact combinations of ALL the above characteristics were not uncommon at one airstrip...they were the really challenging ones.

It should not be underestimated just how much fun this is...when I was doing this for a living NOTHING else came close for pure fun and pleasure..I would rather do this than have sex...by a rather large margin:ok:

Mix in rain (most afternoons or early mornings) or strong tailwinds which were the norm from just before midday on sunny days (anabatic winds), windsheer from elevated thresholds (sometimes you went from 2000'AGL to touchdown in a few seconds) and you can see why boredom was never an issue...unlike these days doing longhaul:sad:

[disco_air]

Photoshop?? Thats giving a little too much credit! Try ol' Paint cut&paste :}

Tiger, I met the base pilot out at this new community you speak of. Friendly fellow....

http://www.myfoto.com.au/Photo/sdhbeveridge/h/Preview/Neil2.jpg

...Disco (Wet_Twotter)

[drshmoo]

Niel!!!


Hey Man dat be crazy ol Niel

[disco_air]

Dan man be crazy but he a damn good pyylet!

KNX wannabes make sure u are in Neils good books, you'll go far.