Is farm strip flying good for you ?
 

Not half ! With the acquisition of a STOL a/c, I began using farm strips about five or six years ago.

With displaced thresholds, obstructed approaches, occasional soft ground and very often, a first time absence of visual cues, it can feature a high work load. Guessing the wind - in the absence of a windsock or, not seeing one tucked away behind a barn - can be a bit of a gamble.

The net gain is, that using these farm strips hones and sharpens your piloting skills to quite a remarkable extent.

A copy of Lockyer's Farm Strip Guide contains details of most of the farm strips in Britain and is essential reading.

I still use conventional aerodromes with tarmac strips and various aids to landing and navigation but, they are on the whole undemanding in terms of the challenges posed.

For farm strip use, a STOL a/c is useful but, not strictly necessary. Most strips that I've been into, will happily accomodate a four or six seater single or twin. Just make sure that in most cases you land on the numbers !

Very true! I used to love strip flying in the Chippy - flying around the trees and farms houses on the approach (which is sometimes curved for noise abatement), assessing wind, gradient, and surface, and the discipline of having to land right at the start of the strip as they are not usually generous in length! And on t/o tightish turn-outs as soon as the wheels lift off, again dodging around houses etc to avoid direct over-flying.

Certainly sharpens your skills! And is great fun!

I remember flying into the Moth Rally in Woburn Deer park. The strip was officially classified as 'difficult', but it was a piece of pi55 compared to the farm strips me and the Chippy were used to.

You fly to one's with numbers eh??? :)

The trickiest part is often finding them. I flew out one for about 10 years.

best bit was being able fly to any kind of approach you wanted, not having to wait behind others on the ground or fly behind the chap killing 2 birds with 1 stone by combining his nav with his circuits
(It was solely used by the owner of a/c)

to judge the wind we used the time old method of chucking a handful of grass in the air and hope by the time we came back it was still more or less coming for the same place.

but it was 600m long so there was enough room to play with if you did end up landing with a slight tail wind.

Some of the best flying you will ever get. Certainly sharpens all senses. Like SSD I used to operate the Chipmunk from some very tight fields and strips, being very aware of the field, and the aircraft limitations.

Recently been taking the Cub into a 300', 12 foot wide strip, the farmer cut it too neat, trees either end, with all manner of varying winds etc.

Also, actually in slight error, got the Cub into a 200' long grass strip. Gave myself a small fright as the fence came at me very fast. Took off, in a howling crosswind, on the longer grass strip that ran at angles to this one.

However, the caveat. As with everything, experience and knowledge of type, and conditions, dictate having a good, or bad day:)

Well, where the numbers should be !

Yes, good point. I missed that bit out. Finding the strip is certainly a major part of the exercise that can be something of a lottery. For anyone wanting to move up a notch with their nav skills, 'Finding-The-Strip' can be demanding!

There can be other unscheduled benefits. Arriving at a Somerset strip one day we were invited to lunch with a shooting party that had had a good day and on leaving, presented with a pair of pheasants.

Maxred

200' crikey ! You must have used a shoe horn.

Based at one, I once mentioned on here making approaches on Regional Pressure cos the sheep & rabbits won't give me QFE, "RPS is a forecast!!" Blah blah blah. Great fun & learned a lot in the 6 yrs I've been doing it.

Strips ? Who needs strips

If we all remember to wear loafers and what could go wrong.;) (joke from the other side)

Been based on a strip for years and regularly visit others. If you are thinking for taking up striping remember that you can start on easy strips with almost any GA aircraft and move slowly to shorter harder ones.

Rod1

The Owner had built up a group of friends with farm strips. I can remember flying with him once to a new strip and it took about 20 mins flying about to find it and even on finals neither of us were 100% sure it was the right field, we just hoped the Land Rover at the far end was our host waiting for us! :) (days before sat nav/moving maps)

If you can't find anywhere smaller, yes.

I've got moving map GPS and I still can't find them ! I make sure always that I've got plenty of fuel.

A big yes.

Just convinced my local farmer to allow me to land in one of his better fields, 300m, approaching over 50ft trees, curved approach to avoid buildings, soft patches, chasing the sheep, crosswind, all in a Cub and the first ever aircraft to land there, great fun.

Maxred, 200ft or 200m ?

If you're flying to one without a windsock, it makes sense to have a GPS with you, and ensure it's showing ground speed before you commence your approach. Compare it to your IAS and you'll soon know if you have a tailwind, although this can (and often did, in my experience) change in the last couple of hundred feet, so be ready to go around.

Absolutely!

95% of all takeoffs and landings I do are not at an airport, nor paved runway. I keep both my planes on my own "farm" strip, and nearly all of my flying is to others, or to lakes.

The skills development from "off airport" operations is excellent. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago, when asked by the owner to take his 182 amphibian into a 300 metre mountain pass grass runway in Norway. I did walk the runway first, and being satisfied, got the plane in and out with lots of room to spare.

The "farm" strip will generally teach the pilot the need to use exactly the intended portion of the runway, not let the plane float and drift all over the runway. Another benefit will be that for taildragger pilots, narrow grass runways provide better cues for drifting from the centerline, so you're less likely to loose perspective, and get into a groundloop. It's when you land your taildragger on a 200 foot wide paved runway it seems to go bad, as there is little incentive to keep it right in the middle. Her at home, I have seven feet from a wing tip float ot a runway marker on each side. I haven't hit one yet!

CK, it was Strathaven, with X-Ray Alpha watching. We came overhead, wind 25knots, across the main, and I thought, let's give the short a go. From the air we thought it was longer, and of course no plate.

A foot over the fence, plonked it down, and thought to myself, Christ this is shorter than it looked. Stopped about 30 feet from top fence. Now, slight uphill, with the wind right down the runway. Slowed us down.....

Hence the take off from the main, despite the crosswind. Got it down, but don't think we would have got it out on that runway. Not bragging about this, I made a mistake, and got away with it. Hence knowing all limitations in small strip operating.

Above the Clouds, 220mts fence to fence........Ouch

My favourite flying is taking a 180hp 172 with a STOL kit into strips. Accurate speed control on landing is essential, you do not want to be floating. It's incredibly satisfying just finding half of the places, then to do a good landing is the icing on the cake. There is absolutely nothing like landing in the middle of nowhere (but with a pub nearby) on a spring/summer day; the smell of new mown grass and a hot engine. Unbeatable. It's why I got into flying powered in the first place. I think it's a quintessentially British thing to do.

Mind you, it's not the getting in but the getting out that you have to watch out for...:).

Well, those that enjoy interesting runways can consider EBNE Neerpelt - shortish, cross to prevailing winds, and a pine wood on the south side. Quite reasonable grass, though, owner/operator is a farmer.

However DO respect the PPR - there is really good reason for it - or you should be interested to view our national interceptor F16's from very close AND the associated invoice...

The best type of fun flying...
http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...bs-nearby.html

Cheers
Damien

Not half too!


Although I learned on tarmac, nearly all my flying is from grass now.


And good though Lockyears guide is, there are lots of farms strips not in it!