Grass Strip Maintenance and Care?

[wyoranch]

I have to disagree. We have lots of grass strips up here that the FAA and the state has no knowledge of. It can be a zoning issue, but out in the rural areas there is no zoning. A guy just clears, grades out enough clear space, and lands his or her airplane. Not a big deal. Out in WY, I noticed that away from the towns, which is most of the state, some folks just land on the county road and taxi onto their front lawns. The roads are long and straight and you can see coming traffic miles away.

Don't assume that my neighborhood is the same as yours.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

I am a lifer here in WY and I have never seen that. I do know you can access BLM land, and that Montana does allow it in certain circumstances. I am about as remote as a human can be, the smallest ranch nearby, discounting town ( if you can call it that) is in the neighborhood of 15000 acres. Anyone who operates aircraft around me runs them off private strips or the public airports. I have never heard of anyone mentioning using public roadways. Of course my county has three sheriffs and a couple of highway patrolmen and is larger that the state of RI, so it may be just a case of no harm no foul if it does occur. Honestly I can't see why you couldn't do it safely as you are correct the highway outside my spread has a section that is ARROW straight and flat for 16 miles, 4 lanes and baby butt smooth, no power lines anywhere in sight. ( ok now I am going to have to investigate this lol I will keep you advised)
Rick

[WLIU]

I recall that I was out somewhere between Laramie and Cheyenne when I drove past a C-172 in the front yard of a place. I might have been headed up to the Sybille Canyon wildlife facility....

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[martymayes]

I have to disagree. We have lots of grass strips up here that the FAA and the state has no knowledge of.

Same here and when I asked the FSDO they told me my operations were excluded from notification requirements. No form needed. I'm certainly not going to argue with them.

[FlyingRon]

I have to disagree. We have lots of grass strips up here that the FAA and the state has no knowledge of. It
Don't assume that my neighborhood is the same as yours.

It's got nothing whatsoever to do with the "neighborhood" Wes. It's right there in the FARs. 157.3 requires NOTIFICATION to the FAA. You don't have to have their approval, but if you fail to notify them you have busted the regs. This is true everywhere in the United States. The only exceptions are for airports of a specific time-limited purpose.

I can't vouch for your FSDO, but they are clearly wrong. You don't deal with the FDSO on this. It goes to the Airport District Office.

[Bob Dingley]

I've been picking away at clearing a 1475' X 75' piece of land for a driveway access to the rear of my property. I suppose "someone " could operate a plane from it as there are no zoning considerations way out in the county. There are two strips within 5 miles and they are not charted. Who cares.
The EPA cares, for one. The beaver colony at my place have created a good sized pond on the south of my strip...er, driveway and water has found another way to flow to the river. About a thousand feet north, two ditches cross the driveway and head to the river. I can step across them easily. I considered dropping 30 feet of culvert in each one and filling in that part with my tractor.
That is until the EPA filed its Clean Water Rule last June in the federal register and its now included in "The Waters of the US' as "tributaries". Yes, I talked to an Atty that deals in this. I could destroy the beaver dams, but I'm sort of attached to them. I do have other options within 5 miles.

p.s. I meant to say that the ditches are "now included as tributaries."

[Bob Dingley]

The idea of registering my "driveway" has never crossed my mind.

[Byron J. Covey]

I've been picking away at clearing a 1475' X 75' piece of land for a driveway access to the rear of my property. I suppose "someone " could operate a plane from it as there are no zoning considerations way out in the county. There are two strips within 5 miles and they are not charted. Who cares.
The EPA cares, for one. The beaver colony at my place have created a good sized pond on the south of my strip...er, driveway and water has found another way to flow to the river. About a thousand feet north, two ditches cross the driveway and head to the river. I can step across them easily. I considered dropping 30 feet of culvert in each one and filling in that part with my tractor.
That is until the EPA filed its Clean Water Rule last June in the federal register and its now included in "The Waters of the US' as "tributaries". Yes, I talked to an Atty that deals in this. I could destroy the beaver dams, but I'm sort of attached to them. I do have other options within 5 miles.

p.s. I meant to say that the ditches are "now included as tributaries."

The EPA has extrapolated both the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act far beyond scientific reason in response to the whims of the executive branch. (And not just the current administration.) But blame Congress. They are the ones who wrote and passed the original laws as well as the revisions, and delegated / abrogated their responsibility to an executve branch department. Unfortunately, the third branch is too busy implementing its own version of social engineering to protect us from the EPA and Congress.


BJC

[FlyingRon]

The idea of registering my "driveway" has never crossed my mind.

If you want to call it a driveway or a field that's fine. If you call it an airport NOTICE needs to be given.

[C 172 Pilot]

We have 4000'x100'. It takes about 3 hrs to mow with a 6' deck. The grass will depend on location. Our does have a crown. If you do not have clay dirt put down a few layers of gravel. After a few years the grass will grow over it and no one will know its gravel. We have a couple roads here on the 100+ acres that are like this. The runway is mostly clay. Stays green most years all summer.

There are rules and regulations. They are published by the FAA. Depending on how your airfield is classified will depend on the regs you will follow. This has to do with gradient from the side of the runway so many feet out and things like this. Without looking up the actual numbers it has to do with so many feet out you must go up a foot. Meaning you can not have a tree right next to the side of the runway. There are even regs as to the ends of said runway. We just had an FAA inspector here a few months ago. He hit us on a couple area's that I speak of.

We also had a man who flew from his road in front of his house for decades. It was one of those long country roads were you could see for miles. He kept his airplane in his barn. He is gone today, but I believe the airplane is still in the barn.

I also know a man who flies ultralights out of his front yard. He mowed a 700'x40' strip in his front yard and flies from that. No one says a word.

Tony

What kind of plane is in the barn? I'm always looking for that special barn find! (940) 390 3644c

[Jim Clark]

I did the paperwork, got the Prairie Cottage Airport, 8KS8, on the charts, even got a radio license to operate a unicom. Thought everything was fine. I never even thought about zoning until the local county Government got a letter from the Feds asking for information on the number of handicap restrooms and parking spaces available at the County's new airport. Worked out in the end as I begged forgiveness and my neighbors came to the hearing to make sure I got my airport zoning. Cant stress enough the importance of giving rides to your neighbors and gifting them with neat aerial photo blowups of their property.
Handled the handicap restroom and parking areas by putting up a handicap parking sign and including a picture of the 2400 ft hedge row available to relieve ones self, no stairs and you can pull up and park the entire length. Sent it all off over 12 years ago and never heard another word. I hope it got passed around the office and the clerk grinned when he filed it.