Frustrations of a Grass Runway...
 

I woke up this morning to a blue sky with a few clouds just minding their own business, checked the wind, not even windy enough to be worth putting the washing on the line... so off I tootled to the local grass strip (Barton). Good day for flying.

"Oh here we go, the optimist" I was greeted with (big smiles) "Have you got your water wings?"

The runway (aka 'Rugby Pitch') was waterlogged. No flying. Aerodrome closed. Probably a good day to dig up worms, but not much else.

Back I jumped in the car, headed for home, and bought a couple of Christmas presents on th eway home instead.

Frustrations of a grass runway...

Ah yes, it's mud covered with a thin green coating :bored:

Should be unnecessary.

There are plenty of grass runways around the country which operate every day of the year. But it takes care, drainage, spiking, reinforcing of the dodgier bits, rolling, clover mix...

And occasionally banning touch-and-goes when the runway is wet.


A lot of work, which needs to be continuous and takes several years to make an impact. But if you want continuous use of a grass runway in the UK, necessary.

G

Out of interest, does this kind of work, and especially digging ditches, affect the use under the 28-day rule, or does it make getting full planning harder?

From what I have read, the local authority prefers runways to be unusable much of the year, which is one reason hard runways are resisted so much even if the # of movements sought isn't increasing.

Not a clue I'm afraid.

Surely however unusable includes "no permission", and why shouldn't you improve your land!

G

I am not sure that it is the grass which is the problem - more what is underneath.
The last ice age is the culprit for the whole of Northern England having an almost impermeable boulder clay sub surface which traps water in a thin layer of grass and topsoil. Further south where the ice didn't reach you still have the natural subsurface of chalk and surface water very quickly dissipates away. Effective draining of a grass runway which is on top of clay would probably be hugely expensive.

I don't think it's that clearcut.

Down my way, for example, we have for example Compton Abbas (top of a chalk hill, regular quagmire), Popham (used to be an utter quagmire until they started re-inforcing and spiking, now useable throughout the year, albeit with an occasional caution and touch-and-go ban), White Waltham (heavily used, slippery but never quite unusable), Redlands (I've sunk a nosewheel to the cowling) or Chilbolton (built by the RAF originally, very well drained, lots of clover permanently useable - albeit with much less use than the others).

So, yes what's underneath should definitely make a difference, but I think that treatment can still make huge differences.

G

I was going to try for Compton Abbas, but didn't fancy washing more of its mud off afterwards.

Whilst I like the airfield and the people, the runway state isn't the best, especially after a long wet period

Can't you lay some sort of "mesh" on grass which makes it usable in wet conditions ? Sure I've seen something advertised in one of the mags - some sort of plastic matting with hexagonal-shaped holes ?

Or perhaps I just need more medication, nurse ?

FF :ok:

I flew into Goodwood Saturday and whilst they do a pretty good job of keeping their runways going, I can't understand the inflexibility shown? As I was taxiing to take off, I called up and offered to pull onto the runway where I was (half way between the tower and the hold) to save the grass at the threshold. There was one other on downwind in the circuit and I stated I was STOL ... but no :rolleyes: I was told to taxy to the hold as usual and take off from the bit of grass that is getting increasingly muddy.

Is there a law or something at a licenced field that says everyone must take off from the same bit of runway and make it more and more muddy? :ugh:

IO540, I see no reason that draining a field with an airstrip on a 28 day rule would affect anything. It is good agricultural practice to have good drainage ... a more usable airstrip is just a fringe benifit :ok:

Clay soils are a bugger to drain, but do have the advantage of being "mole" drainable. This is where a bullet shaped lump of metal is pulled through the clay and a "tube" is formed in the clay itself. With mole drains there is no digging up of the runway required and all that is visible afterwards is slots which can be gently rolled down. Of course they have to be orientated with any natural slope, but as long as the slope isn't 90 degrees to the R/W any slight undulation caused wouldn't be a problem.

The above, and any other drainage methods all have to take account of where you are draining the water too as well!

My strip is relatively dry, but there is a nasty wet area between it and my hangar. It wasn't there last year but we've added a new silage clamp and the natural drainage has been effected by that :mad: ... I'll have to leave it to next summer to do anything about it now though :ugh:

SS

In light of recent 'events' at Barton you would think the often lack of servicibility of the runway(s) could be used as a baraining tool by LAC ?

I have lost count of the ammount of lessons I have lost due to the place being shut at short notice.

Mole draining is excellent value for money although may have to be done every ten years or so,but combined with a rudimentary permanent drainage system would give very good results.
I'm sure there must be high wear resistant,low growth rate,resilient grass species , you could enquire from the Grassland Research bods (if it still exists!)
There are also honeycomb plastic mats that allow the grass to grow through and provide an excellent wear resitant surface in wet conditions.
Unfortunately most of these things require dosh in varying quantities.
Lister:)

How would honeycomb mats affect planning issues?

Presumably they would prevent mole draining?

Much of where I am looking is on clay, so this is interesting.

I would appreciate feedback on honeycomb matting too.

Standing by.

Redhill suffers badly too in the wet weather, although there is the alternative of landing on the taxiway, although it is a little narrow and is rather bannana shaped! However, it does sharpen up your landing techniques - no more adding a few knots for your granny!

C23

I've enquired with a supplier of this material, and I'm awaiting a quote for supply, suitable for a runway 620 ft by 32 ft. It does come with different loading ratings from Car (occasional use) all the way to Articulated Lorries (regular use). So, just to get an idea, getting a quote suitable for "Car (regular use)".

I suppose we could work out a proper loading for it, but the price should hopefully give us a rough idea of what sort of outlay we're talking about.

Hoping to get the quote tomorrow, so I'll post in on here when I get it.

T.

I have recently done the same (enquired about re-inforcement).

The company is www.tenax.co.uk

I calculated on their prices that to do a 600x20m grass runway the cost would be......................




































Are you sitting down?





















































£58,500:eek:

Unless my maths ae incorrect this is based on £195 per 20x2m roll.

I'm sure a 20% discount could be negotiated which would make it a far more acceptable £46,800.....

It would be cheaper to put a lake in and buy a Maule with floats

It's not just grass airfields that suffer this fate. I used to instruct at sandtoft, which like most of north lincolnshire should by rights be either underwater or marsh land! it only takes a reasonable downpour and the runway had two puddles across the full width (a staggering 18m i may add..;) ) about 18 inches deep in places! In fact the new grass taxiway/unlicenced grass (not in pooleys) is usually far more useable!

5000 landings !!
Cheap at half the price, put the instructors on a bonus per landing !! (no don't !) :ugh:
EL

What is the drawback of digging a ditch, say 1ft deep, either side of the runway, and having a pump pumping the water out of the ditch to some location say 100m away?

Regarding reinforcement, the place where this is really needed is in the taxiing areas and the part of the runway where one moves slowly. Most planes can get their nosewheel off the ground pretty fast - in the TB20 I can have the nosewheel off after about 100m, even if it needs another 500m after that before one can climb away.