Setting up a strip ...
 

I have finally found a local farmer who is willing to let me set up a strip on some of his land. It'll mean taking a fence down and a spot of tree pruning, but he's completely OK about all of that. There's even an exisiting building adjacent to the land going spare which is big enough to hanger the aircraft. Great stuff, so far so good.

If I stay under the movement limits (and how many is that, BTW?), is there anything else I need to do in terms of notifying anyone about anything ?

Any strip owners/operators care to share their experience and info please ?

Cheers,

FF :ok:

As everyone else will tell you, you can operate up to 28 days per year with no problems and as many as you like if no-one is counting. There's no 'movement' limit as far as I know.

Just set up my strip this year too.
Buy a cheap tractor & topper mower, or get the farmer to do it for you... will need cutting weekly or twice weekly in the summer... If livestock is going to be anywhere near it then fence both sides with a single strand of electrified wire.
PUT A WINDSOCK UP..... very important.
This is mine when I cut if first for the preliminary alignment.... the red lines is where the strip is now...... 500 metres level and no restricted airspace & 50 metres from my back door !...wonderful
http://www.cairns.flyer.co.uk/ruskey.jpg

I've been working on a local farmer to see if I might use one of his fields that is too depleted for crops.
I'd recommend that you have a serious think about letting everyone within a wide swathe of the flightpath know just how "increadibly quiet" your plane is compared to tractors / mopeds / helicopters etc. Either you ignore them and hope they don't find the urge to kick-off or you make a pre-emptive "PR" strike. I dragged mine round to the farm and ran it, having first adjusted the slow running down to just over 500 rpm.:E

"Wow! That's so quiet that it won't frighten the sheep"


An aerial photo might also help.

"Wow! We didn't hear you go past here, yesterday"

I would be inclined to keep a low profile until you are established because if you don't you might get loads of unwelcome 'friends' just dropping in.

That will prejudice local good relations.

Arc

I am keeping half an eye on exactly the same thing, but I would want 700m+.

Money would not be a problem (within a reasonable budget, on the scale of agricultural land costs) since I am primarily after security from property sharks closing the local airfield, and weekend/weekday-accessible hangarage in the form of a shed of some sort.

I reckon that setting up covertly first, with low usage (say once a week) for a few months, might be a good idea. Obviously a field which doesn't have houses near is preferable; even in the most densely populated UK countryside there are loads of such fields.

The #1 problem I see is how does one zero in on one. It's easy to just fly around, with a GPS and marking waypoints over interesting sites. There is a vast number of suitable sites which have the requires attributes

- orientation to prevailing winds
- flatness
- road access (somewhere to park a car, and enough access for a trailer if there is a major issue that prevents it being flown out)
- lack of houses on the approach
- a barn nearby
- who owns the field beyond this one (if same person, OK, but if somebody else then he might deliberately plant some trees at the end of your strip...)

but how does one contact the owner? Presumably one can get the title details from the Land Reg, but that will work only if the land has been sold since the 1970s. A lot of farmland has not changed ownership for much longer than that.

This could be a very long slow process.

Windsock
 

I really would counter against putting up a windsock for the first few years.

It does seem to attract light aircraft as a light does bugs.

Stk

New strip
 

FF
I'd use the place very occasionally at first.
If you must have a windsock only have it put it up when you intend to visit, preferable manage without !
Don't base the aeroplane there from day 1.
If you have friends with stripping interests make sure they understand your situation and their obligations not to upset your apple-cart.
No circuits. In and out avoiding habitation.
Pick a breezy day for the first time in.
Do a bit of detective work in the local pub, someone has always noticed something, there may be valuable info/backfeed to be had.
Best of luck.
PS the above based on experience of helping set up several "new" strips.
TTH

Still available (through Amazon, if not the PFA) is Country Flying by Geoffrey Farr. It's not the Compleat Stripper but does have some useful practical advice, in addition to all the wisdom you'll get here about Nimbys and legal issues.

I want to do this kind of thing too. I'm aiming for it in the near future. My plan is just to have paddocks in the fields (for horses) and an access road in the middle which is conveniently 12m x 600m, tarmac.

I'm going to do it ASAP. and keep the usage down for a long time. Remember if you have something in place and used 'a bit' then after 10yrs you have right to planning permission via default.

I'm aiming for somewhere rural i really want it to work. It brings the convenience of light aircraft to a whole new level when you can walk outside the house and hop into the plane!

Some top advice guys, thanks.

If anyone has anything else to add, please keep it coming!

FF :ok:

FWIW - I ordered this through Amazon a few months ago, after a previous recommendation here. Unfortunately after many weeks they stated that they were unable to source it.

Google "Country Flying by Geoffrey Farr". Two UK aviation suppliers have it listed.

Is this going to work commercially? - if you're going to host lots of horses won't you need to be conveniently near lots of town-dwelling horse owners to pay the livery fees?

Yeah! It will :yuk: Half an hour from town is fine and plenty far enough to be "in the sticks" as far as a strip is concerned. Horsey people will happily travel that far for reasonably priced livery. However, they might get twitchy about the idea of a landing strip running through "their" paddocks! In reality it's a non issue, my wife's horses are in the paddock at the end of my strip and are fine as long as they know I'm coming. This does require a LOW AND CLOSE circuit at about 200' so they can "literally" watch you come around. Just appear, and hers go scatty, but they actually watch if they see/hear me coming, it's quite funny to see them looking as I turn finals! However, try convincing prospective horsey people that! It might work if you're cheap enough I suppose :D They will want to move well away, so the paddocks will need to be a couple of hundred yards long so they can move to the far end.
Lots of good advice so far, so I can't add much other than to say search for anything strip related ... lot's said before! One other thing, do not be too defensive if you get a complaint. Better to eat humble pie, go and visit the moaner and explain (in a nice way) what you are doing, that they won't suddenly have a vew Gatwick opening and that if they'd like a flight/photo of their house? then that would be no problem. Works wonders!

SS

Well, one day I was doing a PFL, and as I put on full power at 500' I realised that I was over the stables where some of my family go riding. So I caused an enquiry to be made about whether aeroplanes doing that sort of thing bothered the horses. "No," came back the answer.

There can be one 'fly in the ointment'. The planners will give you permission based on the previous level of movements. You have to prove how many takeoffs and landings you have made. Then they work out the average and give you that level of movements.

So if you can 'prove' an average of 300 per year they will give you one movement per day. This cannot be carried forward if you don't use it. This can restrict whether you can have a friend or two over as the NIMBYs will be counting movements and will report any infringement.

We have three horses and are close to Benson, as well Chiltern Microlights. The horses take very little notice, though they were a bit spooked by the Tornado in full re-heat at about 1,500' one day. Helicopters at less than 200' are a bit of a surprise as there is little noise in advance, and then it's loud, and there's the key; they hate loud noises close up with no warning, but if they hear the sound build gradually then they will be fine. An approach into a stiff breeze might thus be more of a problem than them getting plenty of warning because they are downwind of your approach.

I think the low overfly is a good plan, but I'm less sure about the prospective tenants being OK with it. You may have to do some demos, and bear in mind that some horses are naturally more spooky than others. Thoroughbreds can be very edgy, while a good Irish cob might not even bother.

FF, good luck to you, I hope it all works out.

Can I ask .. how did you find your field and then approach the farmer?! Was it a cold-call, a friend of a friend, a chance encounter in the pub ... or?

Slip