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

Adirondack Soaring flys out of Saratoga County Airport in Saratoga
Springs, New York with another Soaring Club and a heavy amount
corporate jet traffic in the month of August. We use the same left hand
traffic pattern and are forced to land on the asphalt runway due to an
endangered species of butterfly that lives at the airfield. Things for
the most part work fine.


www.adirondacksoaring.com



Ron Lee wrote:
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

Long Island Soaring Association has been flying out of Brookhaven (HWV)
for almost 20 years. T/O and landing is from the grass adjacent to the
two 4000' paved runways. Power patterns are left for all. When the
grass is on the right, gliders make a 45 degree entry to a right
pattern. When the grass is on the left, gliders make a crosswind
mid-field entry 1000' AGL to a tight left pattern. This eliminates all
traffic pattern conflicts (as long as the power traffic makes a
standard 45 degree entry.

The glider tow planes make a standard power pattern, then land on the
grass with the gliders.

There is also a banner tow operation, with banner pickups on the
inactive runway. The banner planes take off from the active runway,
then come around to pickup from the inactive, and then turn to join the
upwind departure from the active again. This is not a big problem.

The main conflict is with airplanes taxiing to the the active runway.
The gliders and tow planes have to cross the taxiway extension on
approach to the grass runway. One time the tow plane dragged the rope
across a Cessna's wing.