On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 8:35:38 AM UTC-8, Craig Reinholt wrote:
On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 7:52:27 AM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:
True about the silver sage but there are plenty of dirt strips and dirt roads to land in Ely area. The databases we use have landable places every 20-30 miles. Landouts are actually rare as the conditions are strong enough that you fly near 18K under strong cloud streets the whole day. We rest on the weaker days. Also thunderstorms are more common later in July when the monsoon hits. All that said, Ely (and most of the Great Basin) is a great place to fly for those who are comfortable flying in the middle of nowhere...

Ramy

Ramy, The turnpoint databases are quite out of date. I reviewed on Google Earth the strips you are mentioning trying to update the Ely turnpoint file. Almost all were overgrown and would probably have torn up a glider if they landed there. After reviewing every airport and outlanding options on Truckee, Minden, Air Sailing, Montague, Bend, The Great Basin, and Ely files, to create a Lakeview TP file and potentially revamp a couple of other TP files, no one should use any turnpoint database for landing. Some are semi OK (Lakeview & Montague are best). Some were downright dangerous (Minden, TGB). In addition, major airport changes were not listed such as width reductions, lengths, airport frequencies, etc. For Ely, I use a personally created TP file, but with caution because it is a now 1.5 years old.
For private airstrips, sectionals are woefully out of date as well. There are private strips on sectionals that haven't been there for decades. I'd only rely on public use airports and a few of those with skepticism on Sectionals.
Craig Reinholt

Many databases on the turnpoint exchange are outdated. The ones we are using are not the Ely database, nor the Minden database. Those are indeed outdated. Most of us use a combination of more current databases, including the Tehachapi/DDD database which covers the whole great basin and is getting updated continuously.
That said, you can never fully rely on any database. Even a known airport may be closed for repaving. It would be great if we always had an up to date database of every possible landout. That said, it is by far better than the old days with out databases, only sectionals. A local knowledge and experience goes long way.
Damaging the glider on landout is always a possibility.

Ramy

Ramy