On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 10:43:27 AM UTC-4, 6PK wrote:
On Monday, May 25, 2020 at 2:35:28 PM UTC-7, Charles Ethridge wrote:
Hi all.

I'm a former cfi-i/mei and commercial glider pilot, but I've never gone cross-country in my PW-5 glider. Training up for it though. A question:

If you are in an area where the fields are small, but there are several private airfields around, which should be your priority?

Seems to me that the private airport would be safer, assuming you have enough altitude to overfly it. Also I notice that my (new) Oudie2 shows all the private airstrips around as potential landout spots.

Will you get in trouble (legal or financial) if you have to landout at a private airport (assuming you aren't declaring an emergency, of course)?

Ben

No substitute for setting foot on any possible landing area (open fields or private airports) first prior to considering it safe other than PUBLISHED PUBLIC airports...period

Amen to that! A good example is Estancia Municipal in NM, just a hop and a skip south of Moriarty. It was always advertised as landable for gliders by the locals. On a day with not so good weather (hard to imagine but they do exist in NM!), I took a drive down there to see it from the ground. I am glad I did! The runway is narrow and there is a berm on one side. A =15m ship may be ok but a 20+m with low wings like mine may be in trouble.

Uli
'AS'

P.S.: the 'The Old Mill' restaurant on Rt.41 in Estancia has excellent Mexican food, which made the trip even worth more! :-)