[aus-soaring] Glider launching areas on your airstrip/aerodrome

[Roger Druce]

I was thinking that perhaps there was some useful experience out in the soaring electronic ether as to how other gliding sites have dealt with the matter of resurfacing their glider take off areas.  Is there some experience which some of you may be able share with us?  We have some ideas on what to do but perhaps some sites have taken action and then had time to see how the ideas actually worked out.   At Bacchus Marsh we have finally come to the stage where we have to act to overcome the seriously rough ground at the two most used launch ends.  Over the past decade or so the Pawnees have tended to blast the ground with propeller slipstream harder than the Super Cubs which early on were the only tugs we had.  Moreover the last four winters have been very dry which certainly doesn't help.  And yes it is going to be difficult to rest the affected areas whilst the restoration work proceeds.  Our aim is to achieve smooth well grassed launch areas, probably grass all over but perhaps with a bitumen launch strip inset.   We are aware of the effort at Locksley where the ground has been flattened with a 'land plane' and the area(s) regrassed, and we will revisit there to see again first hand and enquire more closely.   Some sites have put in bitumen take-off strips for glider launching, eg. Benalla, Bathurst, Beverley (?).  This appears to be a good idea at first sight but does it work in the longer term?  How long does it have to be?  What sort of width?  What sort of cost?  Whilst this approach deals with the immediate take-off run, it still leaves one having to restore the grass surrounding the bitumen strip.  So are bitumen take-off strips cost effective or is the money best spent on regrassing all over?   Have people succeeded in regrassing in dry land areas with minimal watering or has it taken significant watering to establish the new grass?  What sort of grasses have been selected?  We have had some advice as to native grasses and exotic grasses which may suit but nevertheless it would be interesting to know what others have used.  Grass selection of course depends on local conditions.  Whilst we are in southern Victoria, nevertheless we are in a low rainfall area at 18" average (450 mm) per year.  As always this is variable.  We don't have an issue with flooding or waterlogging as there are adequate gradients for drainage.  Also we don't have a significant frost problem which can be an issue for some grass types.   I realise I am not necessarily expressing all of the issues all that well, but it is late at night.   It may be that an electronic reply has merit, or perhaps a real time human to human telephone communication may be quicker and more direct.  So I append my telephone number.   Thanks in anticipation Roger Druce Tel:   03 9439 8947 Fax:  03 9431 4175