Can gliders and powered aircraft co-exist using the same runway?

You might want to check AOPA also. If local procedures have changed,
they may not be reflected there. We had a recent power visitor that
was briefed on local procedures, then proceeded to do what was on the
AOPA web site. Enlightening to all concerned.

A couple glider operations have lost their access to the parallel grass
in recent years.

Frank Whiteley

Nyal Williams wrote:
Simply put, there are no standards. I have flown at
sites where the patterns are the same, and at sites
where they are on opposite sides of the runway. There
are those who will insist that opposing each other
on the base leg is suicidal because transient traffic
will not understand, will do unexpected avoidance maneuvers,
and throw everything into a scramble.

At 04:54 13 January 2007, Bt wrote:
They can exist on the same runway.. but it would depend
on the volume of
traffic of each type.
With a student doing touch and goes in the pattern,
it would be difficult to
'stage and launch' a glider without a good ground crew
that can push the
glider with the pilot already strapped in and ready
for launch.

A large area near the threshold for staging and being
able to 'launch at an
angle to the runway and onto the runway' would work
best. Also an area to
land and then have the glider 'roll clear' to the side
would also work best.
Runway side lights tend to cause a problem for this.

I would suggest opposite patterns so you can see each
other on downwind and
base.

At our airport we are lucky to have parallel paved
runways, one for glider
and one for power.
Multiple glider operations does cause congestion on
the glider runway, we do
have a cleared infield and no runway lights on the
'glider runway' so that
landing gliders can roll clear, or if the runway is
blocked by a landing
glider, the next glider in the landing sequence can
land on the infield, if
not long or short.
BT, CFIG

'Ron Lee' wrote in message
...
Can anyone identify an airport where gliders and powered
aircraft use
the same runway? Do they use opposite traffic patterns?
Any other
operational issues?

Ron Lee