Circular Runway

The tests, it seems, were done on a GM test track with a two-mile
diameter. As the article pointed out, the size of the runway plus the
mind-boggling expense of tunnels to a terminal inside the circle made
the whole thing a non-starter.

On 3 Apr 2004 11:33:43 -0800, (Rick Durden)
wrote:

Funny how aviation ideas just keep recycling. The circular runway was
reported on in an article in Popular Science in the early 1960s as the
airport of the future, banked turn and all.

Never amounted to much. Thank goodness, if you have ever taken off or
landed on a runway with a curve in it, the idea of using one regularly
is not terribly attractive...plus, given the difference in aircraft
speeds the banking cannot eliminate sideloads on the landing gear
which could make for some interesting gear collapses.

All the best,
Rick

jsmith wrote in message ...
Good article in the recent issue of AIR & SPACE.
A USN pilot got the idea for a circular runway after experiencing an
engine failure and landing on a country road.
He proposed the Navy test the idea. He was killed in an accident, but
someone carried the ball got the testing approved.
The tests were satisfactorily completed with Navy jet fighters at
Goodyear's test track.
A 10,000 foot banked oval works at low and high speeds.
Taladega?
Daytona?
(What are the other Super Speedways?)

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

CD

Many years ago (1920-1930) in a land far away. Bar stories told about
aircraft operating in SA. They would land in a jungle clearing and
when ready forTO would put a stake in the center of the clearing and
tie a rope to it. They then ran the rope out to bird and looped it
around the strut (or something). Pilot held the end of the rope so it
wouldn't come loose and started to accelerate in a circle.
As he got enough speed to lift off he would let go the rope and fly
away.

If not a true story made a good one to tell at the bar.

This not a one April story.

Anyone else heard this story and can confirm it????

Big John
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:18:52 -0500, Cub Driver
wrote:


Circular (or at least 360-degree) airfields were common at one time.
You put a stake in the center with a windsock on top. The aircraft
landing simply landed into the wind, wherever it was coming from.

Wu Chia Ba airport in Kunming used this arrangement before the
Americans arrived toward the end of 1941.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: -- put Cubdriver in subject line!

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

If not a true story made a good one to tell at the bar

Sounds like DC Comics to me!

Not Scorchy Smith or Smilin' Jack, though. They were too realistic.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

Seaplane drivers can accelerate in a circle in order to get out of a small
lake. No rope to a central point is used.

Circular airfields were built to accomodate airships and blimps.
Lakehurst, NJ, where the Hindenberg disaster occured, still has a circular
field. You can see it from normal scheduled airliners traveling from DCA
to BOS as you approach the JFK VOR if you are sitting on the right of the
plane next to a window.



"Big John" wrote in message
news
CD

Many years ago (1920-1930) in a land far away. Bar stories told about
aircraft operating in SA. They would land in a jungle clearing and
when ready forTO would put a stake in the center of the clearing and
tie a rope to it. They then ran the rope out to bird and looped it
around the strut (or something). Pilot held the end of the rope so it
wouldn't come loose and started to accelerate in a circle.
As he got enough speed to lift off he would let go the rope and fly
away.

If not a true story made a good one to tell at the bar.

This not a one April story.

Anyone else heard this story and can confirm it????

Big John
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:18:52 -0500, Cub Driver
wrote:


Circular (or at least 360-degree) airfields were common at one time.
You put a stake in the center with a windsock on top. The aircraft
landing simply landed into the wind, wherever it was coming from.

Wu Chia Ba airport in Kunming used this arrangement before the
Americans arrived toward the end of 1941.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: -- put Cubdriver in subject line!

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

"William W. Plummer" writes:

Circular airfields were built to accomodate airships and blimps.
Lakehurst, NJ, where the Hindenberg disaster occured, still has a circular
field. You can see it from normal scheduled airliners traveling from DCA
to BOS as you approach the JFK VOR if you are sitting on the right of the
plane next to a window.

For those of us who avoid the "airline experience"...
http://mapper.acme.com/?lat=40.03651...ht=2&do t=Yes
Is that it?

--kyler

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On 02 Apr 2004 14:48:42 GMT, (Hjk40) wrote in
Message-Id: :

I actually remember reading about the circular runway in the early 1960's

For security reasons, subterranean runways/airports were proposed
during WW-II. Perhaps the time has come to consider that proposal
again.

Wow, think of the windshear.

Paul (who got 20 knots of it descending below an edge of a
forest last week)

For security reasons, subterranean runways/airports were proposed
during WW-II. Perhaps the time has come to consider that proposal
again.

Switzerland in the 1970s (and probably before and since) had
underground hangars built into the mountainside. However, the planes
taxied out of them and onto the highway, which became the runway.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! blog www.vivabush.org

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
"William W. Plummer" writes:

Circular airfields were built to accomodate airships and blimps.
Lakehurst, NJ, where the Hindenberg disaster occured, still has a
circular
field. You can see it from normal scheduled airliners traveling from
DCA
to BOS as you approach the JFK VOR if you are sitting on the right of the
plane next to a window.

For those of us who avoid the "airline experience"...

http://mapper.acme.com/?lat=40.03651...ht=2&do t=Yes
Is that it?

Yes! Now, for extra points, what are the converging lines. If I remember
correctly there are 3 or 4 sets of 4 lines.

Cub Driver wrote:

For security reasons, subterranean runways/airports were proposed
during WW-II. Perhaps the time has come to consider that proposal
again.

Switzerland in the 1970s (and probably before and since) had
underground hangars built into the mountainside. However, the planes
taxied out of them and onto the highway, which became the runway.

I dunno about that. There isn't a straight stretch of road or highway
in all the mountainous areas of Switzerland, it seems to me. And I've
been on 'em, on those Postal Bus routes. It'd be a mighty short-field
technique taking off from one of those roads!

They do have air bases in CH which have regular-old runways.

Rob

"Rob Perkins" wrote in message
...
I dunno about that. There isn't a straight stretch of road or highway
in all the mountainous areas of Switzerland, it seems to me. And I've
been on 'em, on those Postal Bus routes. It'd be a mighty short-field
technique taking off from one of those roads!

Dan is exactly correct. Air & Space Magazine ran a feature about it a few
years ago. The highways used for runways are straight enough, and they have
a removable divider between the lane directions so that the aircraft have
use of the full width of the pavement.

Perhaps they do use short-field techniques, but they do have air bases in
mountain-sides and they do use the highway for the runway.

Pete