Artificial Turf Runway

I was quoted F 15 flight time at $10k an hour. That would be exclusive
of acquisition cost.

On Friday, March 23, 2012 11:41:10 AM UTC-5, tomcatvf51 wrote:
US Air Force Academy has installed an artificial turf landing area for
glider ops.

The way I read it, it's a natural Turf runway, replacing the natural high desert grass. That's totally different than an artificial turf runway!

So it's fundamentally the same as a football field. Sounds like a good idea, since the natural grasses in that part of the world aren't the softest. I would think the protection from rocks, etc would help the maintenance load on the new DGs a lot. These gliders aren't just flown once a week - they get used A LOT!

And probably a lot cheaper than a paved runway, which would have been the Army's approach... ;^)

Go Falcons!

Kirk
66
USAFA '74

On Mar 24, 9:03*am, "kirk.stant" wrote:
On Friday, March 23, 2012 11:41:10 AM UTC-5, tomcatvf51 wrote:
US Air Force Academy has installed an artificial turf landing area for
glider ops.

The way I read it, it's a natural Turf runway, replacing the natural high desert grass. *That's totally different than an artificial turf runway!

So it's fundamentally the same as a football field. *Sounds like a good idea, since the natural grasses in that part of the world aren't the softest. *I would think the protection from rocks, etc would help the maintenance load on the new DGs a lot. These gliders aren't just flown once a week - they get used A LOT!

And probably a lot cheaper than a paved runway, which would have been the Army's approach... ;^)

Go Falcons!

Kirk
66
USAFA '74

Grass is good!

On Mar 24, 8:43*am, Mike C wrote:
On Mar 24, 9:03*am, "kirk.stant" wrote:

On Friday, March 23, 2012 11:41:10 AM UTC-5, tomcatvf51 wrote:
US Air Force Academy has installed an artificial turf landing area for
glider ops.

The way I read it, it's a natural Turf runway, replacing the natural high desert grass. *That's totally different than an artificial turf runway!

So it's fundamentally the same as a football field. *Sounds like a good idea, since the natural grasses in that part of the world aren't the softest. *I would think the protection from rocks, etc would help the maintenance load on the new DGs a lot. These gliders aren't just flown once a week - they get used A LOT!

And probably a lot cheaper than a paved runway, which would have been the Army's approach... ;^)

Go Falcons!

Kirk
66
USAFA '74

Grass is good!

Doesn't matter what the surface is like for the most part and we all
know what a good landings and it's not just one you walk away from.
Even at $20k per trailer that's $220k for 11, what do they need
trailers for?

Originally Posted by

On Mar 23, 2:23*pm, Mike C wrote:
On Mar 23, 10:41*am, tomcatvf51


A *colossal *waste of taxpayer money. *But, if you don't spend it this
year you will not get the funding next year.

Mike



Even with the expensive landing area and 19 brand new DG 1000 gliders,
it is probably the least expensive and most cost-effective flight
training the Air Force does by a huge margin.

I wonder what the Air Force Academy spends on their football team and
training facilities in comparison

Steve Rathbun

I understand that the football team will be playing on asphalt this year. Go Falcons.

Walt

Originally Posted by Mark Jardini[_2_]

I was quoted F 15 flight time at $10k an hour. That would be exclusive
of acquisition cost.

Okay, I'll take two minutes of F15 flight time please. (hope that's exclusive of taxi time)

Walt

Even at $20k per trailer that's $220k for 11, what do they need
trailers for?

Perhaps the per unit price includes a maintenance contract?
Wouldn't the trailers be useful for taking the ships to contests or on "show the flag" type of tours?

I just was at Chris Klix' shop today at Pacific Aerosport in Arlington
WA. He had two of the DG 1000's there setting them up for the Academy.
Beautiful birds. He told me there would ultimately be #19 in all. That
brings the price down to an understandable per copy.

At 00:17 25 March 2012, C-FFKQ 42 wrote:
Even at $20k per trailer that's $220k for 11, what do they need
trailers for?

Perhaps the per unit price includes a maintenance contract?
Wouldn't the trailers be useful for taking the ships to contests or on
"show the flag" type of tours?


The USAF can really save $$ by flight training with gliders, then
transitioning to computer games, since a fair number of their pilots are
flying drones out of trailers.

Ah, for the good old days when men were men, aircraft came with
afterburners, and planes were built after their pilots were born (not
before their fathers were born). (In 1985, I thought my T-38s were ancient,
since they were built in the 60's. Still flying!)

On Saturday, March 24, 2012 6:17:20 PM UTC-6, C-FFKQ (42) wrote:
Even at $20k per trailer that's $220k for 11, what do they need
trailers for?

Perhaps the per unit price includes a maintenance contract?
Wouldn't the trailers be useful for taking the ships to contests or on "show the flag" type of tours?

There have been some cadets flying in Willcox, AZ, recently. Five of the new DG are for acro. At least one was in Tucson for the IAC?/SSA sanctioned Tequila Cup Aerobatics competition in November 2011. Results appear to be behind a members only firewall. Not clear if it was really an IAC contest as SSA got a last minute sanction request. Another camp soon in Littlefield, TX, I believe. They do travel some apart from competitions.

Frank Whiteley