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Pilot Zone / Made a runway? Need advice, will update if I start one
« on: July 06, 2017, 11:34:23 AM »
OK, here's my only outlet for aviation so we'll get this started here.
I bought 40 Ac in N New Mexico with the intent to build my own personal runway. the land is laid out nicely in an E/W orientation so that I can get 2600' from end to end, and have a runway of 2400' with 100' overrun on each end. The land is mine, there is a cabin on it already, and it's generally flat with no obstructions on either end. New Mexico is pretty aviation friendly, and I'm in unincorporated rural location and the county is silent on private landing strips(there are regs for the two public landing fields in the county). I have a billion questions, but the main focus will be on construction.
The land is what I would call hardscrabble or heavy gravel with small pinion pine, and tough scrub bushes around 1-3' tall. There are no trees, river courses, or other obstructions that I will need to solve, but here's my plan for grading and filling.
1. Use my tractor with a 5 tine grapple drag to pull up the pinion and scrub bushes including much of the surface roots. I can't go deeper than about 5" with the grapple drag because I only have 52HP tractor, and it won't dig any deeper unless I want to do multiple passes(I don't). This will need to be cleared from 2400x25' for the main runway surface. The burnable stuff will be piled to be burned in several segments along the side of the runway. I now have a rough, but clear surface to work with.
2. Use the 3 point landscape rake down the rough to move any rocks, and debris from the center outward in each pass so that I have 25' of gradable base, with rocks and debris to the two edges of the new runway surface.
3. Use a road grader over several passes to take out the dips and bumps, just as if it were a roadbase. Will need several passes I'm sure. Also, will work from edge to center and do about a 3deg crown, moving dirt into the center.
4. Use road grader with a steep blade angle on the edges creating a deep berm at the edge, and move dirt toward the center of the runway. May take several passes to make a nice deep trench on each edge.
5. Tractor with a blade to dump the rocks and debris from the offside edge and dump into the deep berm. Make sure all rocks and debris are below surface.
6. Go back with the grader, and move dirt over the rocks, stabilizing the edges of the runway, while preserving the 5-6deg crown.
7. Final smoothing with grader. Will take at least 5 passes, more likely 7. Lots of grading to make smooth.
8. Roll from edge to center with compacting 3 point roller filled with water.
9. Maintain with grader to repair any water trenches.
If you have actually made a runway, or are maintaining a gravel or even sod runway, I would like to get advice on anything I missed. This goes for anyone who is familiar with making roads, roadbase, race tracks, etc would be helpful.
I bought 40 Ac in N New Mexico with the intent to build my own personal runway. the land is laid out nicely in an E/W orientation so that I can get 2600' from end to end, and have a runway of 2400' with 100' overrun on each end. The land is mine, there is a cabin on it already, and it's generally flat with no obstructions on either end. New Mexico is pretty aviation friendly, and I'm in unincorporated rural location and the county is silent on private landing strips(there are regs for the two public landing fields in the county). I have a billion questions, but the main focus will be on construction.
The land is what I would call hardscrabble or heavy gravel with small pinion pine, and tough scrub bushes around 1-3' tall. There are no trees, river courses, or other obstructions that I will need to solve, but here's my plan for grading and filling.
1. Use my tractor with a 5 tine grapple drag to pull up the pinion and scrub bushes including much of the surface roots. I can't go deeper than about 5" with the grapple drag because I only have 52HP tractor, and it won't dig any deeper unless I want to do multiple passes(I don't). This will need to be cleared from 2400x25' for the main runway surface. The burnable stuff will be piled to be burned in several segments along the side of the runway. I now have a rough, but clear surface to work with.
2. Use the 3 point landscape rake down the rough to move any rocks, and debris from the center outward in each pass so that I have 25' of gradable base, with rocks and debris to the two edges of the new runway surface.
3. Use a road grader over several passes to take out the dips and bumps, just as if it were a roadbase. Will need several passes I'm sure. Also, will work from edge to center and do about a 3deg crown, moving dirt into the center.
4. Use road grader with a steep blade angle on the edges creating a deep berm at the edge, and move dirt toward the center of the runway. May take several passes to make a nice deep trench on each edge.
5. Tractor with a blade to dump the rocks and debris from the offside edge and dump into the deep berm. Make sure all rocks and debris are below surface.
6. Go back with the grader, and move dirt over the rocks, stabilizing the edges of the runway, while preserving the 5-6deg crown.
7. Final smoothing with grader. Will take at least 5 passes, more likely 7. Lots of grading to make smooth.
8. Roll from edge to center with compacting 3 point roller filled with water.
9. Maintain with grader to repair any water trenches.
If you have actually made a runway, or are maintaining a gravel or even sod runway, I would like to get advice on anything I missed. This goes for anyone who is familiar with making roads, roadbase, race tracks, etc would be helpful.