Runway Length

[Stephen Gale]

Hi all,

Im new to the forum and larger models so please forgive me if this is the wrong area. I'm in the process of restoring an old Pitts special airframe with 72" span and AUW approx 22lbs with full fuel and smoke tanks.I would value any thoughts from you experienced flyers as to if landing this on our strip is likely to be problematic.

Our strip is 230' long and 60' wide with nice long undercarriage grabbing grass at each end should you come in short or overrun , it is located on a hill top so unobstructed but exposed so frequently windy and normally a little across the strip.To give a feel for my flying abilities I have my A test and could get my B if I took it, I have a 1.9m span Edge that I can get in and out without issue but its light and floaty so can basically harrier it in, my plane control is at the level where I can fly passable rolling circles, slow rolls, knife edge, sideslip landings etc so while no genius on the sticks I have some level of control.

Sorry if this is a little long but wanted to put as much relevant information is as I could think of.

Cheers

Steve

[IAN TURNEY-WHITE]

Steve , my experience is that you learn to cope with each site , at my original club , we had the end of a full size airstrip and soon accepted the limited length .
I flew third scale models there , weighing up to 30 lbs .
To keep things safe we had a telephone in our club house ( an old caravan ! ) connected to a phone in the control tower for the full size aircraft .
For visiting aircraft we would often get a call " could we land please " we became experts at quick curving approaches and landings , so much so we didn't think any thing about it , it just became part of the flying there
Start off when the weather is favorable and have a helper/spotter , don't worry about going around again , 90% of your landing is the correct approach .
Flying on a smaller site does wonders for the accuracy of your landings .
Some of my favorite sites are the smaller ones , often with tree,s and slopes where you have to be careful and aware .
A good habit is to stretch your vision down from your model to the ground , rather than just focusing on your model .
Good luck , best regards Ian Turney-White

[Stephen Gale]

Ian,

Thanks for that, all good advise, when she's ready for her maiden I will pick a light ish wind day from the west, that will remove the rota we frequently get from the trees to the north of our runway and as our runway is down hill from west to east ill be landing into the wind and up the hill, puts everything in my favour. we need to be vigilant as there is frequently GA traffic in the valley below us.

Im sure all will be fine, just gotta hope she handles well after takeoff before worrying about landing, ill do lots of go-arounds as part of the maiden if all goes well.

cheers


Steve