Minden Airstrip Review

Frank, I believe those are coded better in the Truckee database. We usually do as you suggested and mark the more questionable ones with L. Please review the Truckee database and let me know if otherwise.
As for Flanigan dry lake, it is landable during most summers unless it was a real wet year. It is also a short aero retrieve from Airsailing.

Ramy

On Friday, September 20, 2013 2:28:38 PM UTC-7, wrote:
As part of my new 12-step crash recovery program, I have taken a sacred vow to never go to a new soaring site without a thorough Google Earth review of all airports/airstrips in the published site waypoint database. When I find that airports in the database aren't there anymore (and there are always some - think Lincoln Station at Moriarty) - I manually modify my personal waypoint database so that I don't try to fly to a non-existent airport (again).



I have completed my preliminary review of the current Minden waypoint database, and although I only found a few missing/abandoned airstrips, I found that a LOT of them are problematic - usually due to a runway that is nominally much too narrow for an 18 (or even a 15) meter glider. I say 'nominally' because such an airstrip might be more than adequate if the surrounding sagebrush or other vegetation is low enough - but that's hard to tell from the GE imagery.



I have placed photo sets (usually 2 but sometimes 3 photos) of each problem airstrip, along with a Word document containing captioned versions of the photo sets on my Google drive at



https://drive.google.com/folderview?...sha ring#list



Each photo set contains an overview shot showing the airstrip's orientation and distance from Minden, along with a closeup of the airstrip itself, with the runway width shown via the GE 'ruler' tool. Some sets have a third photo showing a nearby alternate (usually a real airport with decent runway widthh)



If anyone has additional information about any of these airstrips (or any new ones discovered that aren't in the database yet), please post it here so all Minden-bound pilots can benefit. If someone wants to copy these files over to the Minden Soaring Club site, that's fine by me too.



Hopefully the contest organizers will consider modifications to the database as appropriate ;-).



One last note. One of the airstrips in the database is 'Black Rock City' which turns out to be the site of the annual 'Burning Man' festival. The airstrip itself is nowhere to be found (or at least I couldn't see it), but the GE image was coincidentally taken during the festival period when the city was actually there (in theory, everything is carted away at the end of the festival) - neat!



Regards,



Frank (TA)

I'm afraid my fingerprints are on the Minden data base. Names like Flying Mouse, Flying-M and Norvino were confusing and didn't clearly show the location. So, old JJ made them Hilton, Topaz and Beckworth.
Contest are regularly held at 3 locations around Reno and each have their own turnpoints. While other data bases may contain good info about landable spots, REMEMBER you must only use the turnpoints listed in the Minden data base when flying a contest at Minden. A few years back, a contestant claimed a turnpoint from Truckee when flying the Minden regionals................didn't have a good outcome.
Cheers,
JJ

Good point JJ. Ideally we should have just one database for the whole Great Basin which will have all the turnpoints for all locations and contests. One single source of truth. But I think most of the "airstrips" in Frank's list should be removed from the Minden database. Is there really a strip in "Baily Ranch" which I believe is below Mt Rose? I never seen any.

Ramy

On Sunday, September 22, 2013 8:16:58 AM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
Good point JJ. Ideally we should have just one database for the whole Great Basin which will have all the turnpoints for all locations and contests. One single source of truth. But I think most of the "airstrips" in Frank's list should be removed from the Minden database. Is there really a strip in "Baily Ranch" which I believe is below Mt Rose? I never seen any.



Ramy

I tried to get Air Sailing, Truckee and Minden to adopt a single turnpoint list a few years back and found that trying to get glider pilots to agree on anything was like herding cats!
JJ

All these turnpoint databases...

In my Streak I use United States.cup file for my turnpoints. I see that I
also have moriarty_ASC.cup, morirt1b.cup, and moriarC.cup. It seems that
every time there's a contest at Moriarty, a new turn point file appears.
I've tried using multiple TP files and find that the lat/long positions are
not always the same, displaying multiple closely spaced turn points of the
same name, so you can't reliably choose from the map.

It would appear, then, that, should I go to one of the soaring sites in NV,
I should only use the local turn point file used by the local pilots.


"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, September 22, 2013 8:16:58 AM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
Good point JJ. Ideally we should have just one database for the whole
Great Basin which will have all the turnpoints for all locations and
contests. One single source of truth. But I think most of the "airstrips"
in Frank's list should be removed from the Minden database. Is there
really a strip in "Baily Ranch" which I believe is below Mt Rose? I never
seen any.



Ramy

I tried to get Air Sailing, Truckee and Minden to adopt a single turnpoint
list a few years back and found that trying to get glider pilots to agree on
anything was like herding cats!
JJ

On Sunday, September 22, 2013 8:16:58 AM UTC-7, Ramy wrote:
Good point JJ. Ideally we should have just one database for the whole Great Basin which will have all the turnpoints for all locations and contests. One single source of truth. But I think most of the "airstrips" in Frank's list should be removed from the Minden database. Is there really a strip in "Baily Ranch" which I believe is below Mt Rose? I never seen any.



Ramy

Ramy,

There is, it can be seen if you are close enough (usually this happens on your retrieve from Carson ). Look he

https://maps.google.com/?ll=39.28199...14076&t=h&z=16

It's grass in the middle of grass (the farmers there grow turf primarily I think. I haven't walked it but it looks landable from the air. I don't know why you would go there rather than Carson though. Even a 1-26 could fall off Incline and hit Carson.

I believe Ramy has a copy of my SW database which was built from Tehachapi, California City, Warner Springs, Tonopah, Ely, Avenal, Hollister and Minden databases. It has been added to and subtracted from over the years. Many people have helped update it, and VFRMap, AirNav and even Google Earth has been useful.
Approximate scope: Jacumba to Burns - Idaho Falls and Santa Barbara to Hanksville - Estrella. Yet to add the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys N of the Hollister - Merced line, associated coastal ranges and Sierra foothills.
Perhaps competition pilots wouldn't want to sort through 900-plus waypoints. That many waypoints with longish names won't fit in old computers either.

I lent my beach cruiser bike to my best friend so she would have something to ride around at Burning Man two years ago. The process of exorcising that horrible playa dust from the bike put a stop to any ideas I may have had about ever taking any mechanical device of my own into that environment again. It was a nightmare - and it's just a single-speed coaster-brake bike.