Airstrip update

Hi folks! 

Some might recall that for a few years now I’ve been hoping to establish my own airstrip. It seemed a bit of a pipe dream for a while, then I went through about a year of approvals process then got sign off for necessary land clearing. It’s kinda a long process and one day I should write it all down to guide others. 

Then trying to line up somebody to do the actually work also turned into a drama. Just before he was due to start work,  my friendly local contractor blew the motor on his dozer and so couldn’t do the job. But luckily he put me onto another local fella, who has turned out to be a really nice bloke. Contracting is a cutthroat game at the best of times, but with the mines all slowed down there are some unscrupulous characters around. 

Anyway,  for the last last couple of days our new friend has been doing magnificent work at the site about a kilometre away along the escarpment from our house. Each  morning, my wife the dog and I have strolled over to take a look at progress ( and the dog has been slinking back and forth intermittently through the day to keep an eye on things. He’s the boss of this country).

And it’s taking shape. It’s gonna be a great strip.  But it really breaks my heart to clear so much beautiful old growth tropical forest. You can clear a couple of hectares in a day, but it takes a thousand years to properly re-establish. We are keeping all the timber pushed aside and piled as ‘habitat’. Our contractor is like us,  a nature lover, and so is being as careful and as sensitive in the clearing as he can be. He told us yesterday about  once stopping his 65 tonne dozer to climb  down and remove a King Brown snake from a log  pile -by hand!- in order to avoid crushing it. 

So we’re hoping the initial clearing will be completed by the end of today. Thereafter we have been told  it needs spraying, rolling and grading.  We will seek further advice on this, because basically it’s just a bush strip ane getting a roller up here could be a challenge.  The grading  should make it useable.  Next I need to get in a windsock, strip markers and a hangar and a a little shade structure for fuel drums.

We are calling it Robin Falls International.  Sounds grand,  eh? 

Alan

So I threw up a drone yesterday to have a poke around and see how the strip's looking. I'll try attach a pic here. The cleared area is 60m width by 750m length so probably sufficient for many RAA and some GA aircraft. It seems huge when I walk it at ground level.

Its gonna be a great bush strip with  basic faciliaties situated in a wonderful part of the country.

looks inviting, just hope nobody tries to land there before it is safe,

looks great..certainly looks like its out in the boonies ?

Looking good, there, NT5224. I love that region around Adelaide River/Pine Creek, and remember camping overnight in our motorhome at Robin Falls back in July 2007 or 2008 (have to check the diary on exact year).

Absolutely stunningly beautiful spot, wasn't crowded either, we virtually had it to ourselves. 

I thought you could've maybe found a WW2 airstrip, and upgraded it?  Bit of a shame so many of those great WW2 airstrips along the Stuart are abandoned, and returning to the jungle.

Looking good, there, NT5224. I love that region around Adelaide River/Pine Creek, and remember camping overnight in our motorhome at Robin Falls back in July 2007 or 2008 (have to check the diary on exact year).

 

Absolutely stunningly beautiful spot, wasn't crowded either, we virtually had it to ourselves. 

 

I thought you could've maybe found a WW2 airstrip, and upgraded it?  Bit of a shame so many of those great WW2 airstrips along the Stuart are abandoned, and returning to the jungle.

 

Thanks  for compliments on our district  onetrack. Although are post code 'Robin Falls' (no post though obviously!) ,   our house is about 30km from the place you camped at ,  -up on top of the escarpment. Flyng is the obvious way to get in.  

Would have loved to have brought a WW2 strip  back to to life. Trouble is, we don't have one on our property. They didnt build them up in the high country.  

Alan

looks inviting, just hope nobody tries to land there before it is safe,

 

Well pointed out @Yenn! My wife and I are about to go overseas for two weeks leaving the as-yet-unfinished strip unserviceable. You'd have to be a complete idiot to attempt to land, because there are huge piles of earth and deep holes easily visible to even a cursory fly-over.

But for additional peace of mind, I went out yesterday arvo and pegged down  two big white crosses at touch down points at each end of the strip.

Now you'd have to be a complete idiot and bloody-minded  to attempt to land....

Alan

In case anybody is interested the latest progress update from Robin Falls International. Had old mate along during the week to have another go at it with his 12ft blade to level it. Much improved. 

We are waiting for the first showers -hopefully in the next month or two-  and then old mate brings his roller up for finishing touches. Thereafter grass will shoot up and I’ll go at it myself with the slasher. 

Now have the windsock ready for installation, some tie downs to concrete in, and some hangar designs sketched out.... its gonna be an ongoing project...

But the dog is happy with progress so far.  As boss of this country he’s been following developments carefully and has already  figured out where the Roos assemble at dusk....

Alan

Does this make you the closest to Darwin,? ( furthest north ).

spacesailor 

Does it make me the closest what to Darwin? Sorry don’t  understand the question

Alan

"Does this make you the closest to Darwin,? ( furthest north )"

Is there Anyone between you ( your airfield) and  Darwin.

Just for the info of people touring NT, by RAA aircraft. (not able to land in Darwin, controlled area).

spacesailor 

Space, the closest to Darwin for us lot is MKT.  Anyway, congratulations nt.     750 m will be ok for a Jabiru, and even better for a Rebel , but there will always be some  crosswind on a single strip. But it looks plenty wide. 

I did a strip on the farm here of 550 m and it was ok but it scared me on account of how I was used to much longer strips.  The approach matters a lot. At the farm, I came in over the shearing shed and this was a bad idea. Now I fly to the town strip where  the approaches are bare and much better. 

The main upkeep cost of the farm strip was the glyphosate, which had to be boom-sprayed on yearly. 

Space, the closest to Darwin for us lot is MKT.  Anyway, congratulations nt.     750 m will be ok for a Jabiru, and even better for a Rebel , but there will always be some  crosswind on a single strip. But it looks plenty wide. 

 

I did a strip on the farm here of 550 m and it was ok but it scared me on account of how I was used to much longer strips.  The approach matters a lot. At the farm, I came in over the shearing shed and this was a bad idea. Now I fly to the town strip where  the approaches are bare and much better. 

 

The main upkeep cost of the farm strip was the glyphosate, which had to be boom-sprayed on yearly. 

 

Bruce, less crosswind than you’d think! 

We basically get wind in one direction for eight months of the year and in the opposite direction for the other four months.... a little bit of localised variation because of the escarpment and topography but not much. 

The pic I posted is orientated  for a wet season departure.

But yes,  a long way from Darwin. MKT would be the way to go....

Alan. 

Your hangar would want to be strong with all the cyclones you get up there

Not as many cyclones as you may think.  Darwin had slowly become lax with building standards over 40 or more years that they were caught short with Tracy.

Is that the airport perimeter Alsatian guard dog on duty, ready to bite anyone who appears on the strip, without an ASIC card? 

Is that the airport perimeter Alsatian guard dog on duty, ready to bite anyone who appears on the strip, without an ASIC card? 

 

Exactly. Airstrip security.

Kangeroos without valid ASIC cards beware! 

When I look at your airstrip, all I can think of is the WW2 blokes who built up the Stuart Hwy, and all the airstrips along it, through to Darwin, starting from the South, during 1940 to 1943.

The Stuart Hwy was only called the "North-South Military Road" during the War. If you want to look up any historical references to it, use that description, and plenty of information on it will appear.

The U.S. 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion was the primary airfield construction operator from March 1942. They unloaded in Adelaide and took the 'Ghan North - but the 'Ghan was so slow, the Americans couldn't believe it.

Then, quite a few of the 'Ghan rail trucks broke under the weight of the U.S. Army construction equipment.

So the 808th ended up unloading at Alice Springs and then took off by themselves, just driving their dozers straight through the trees and scrub, and building airstrips as they headed North to Darwin.

The Facebook link below is to a book by Mike Reed about WW2 in the N.T., and the photographs are very numerous, and mostly very good.

Lots of aircraft photos, airfield photos, troop photos, vehicle and equipment photos.

Despite the 808th being the major constructor of the Stuart Hwy airstrips, I was surprised to see a couple of airstrips being constructed by the Allied Works Council. The AWC usually built the major roads towards Darwin.

The Americans did the majority of the airfield construction, because they had new Caterpillar dozers (D7's and D8's), new LeTourneau Carryalls (towed earth scrapers), new Cat graders, and new road rollers.

The AWC generally utilised a heap of "surplus" Australian Council (or "Road Boards" as they were then known) equipment to carry out their road and airfield construction.

This "surplus" equipment was often obsolete equipment that the Councils no longer wanted to use, such was its age, and the blokes operating this ancient equipment were pretty cheesed off when the Americans all turned up with the latest and greatest in new construction equipment.

But that was common all through WW2, in every operation - us Aussies battled along with old junk, and the Americans rolled up with oodles of fancy new equipment - even icecream-making equipment, and Briggs & Stratton-powered washing machines.

I once was in a gold-mining partnership (during the 1980's) with a bloke by the name of Don Blaxell (he of the Blaxell boat fame - and his sons make Blaxell surfboards) - and Don was allocated to 5 Airfield Construction Sqdn during WW2, and his story-telling of those times, was extremely interesting. Don only just died earlier this year at age 99.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/ourwar.com.au

Further progress on the airstrip. Has had final rolling and surface preparation. All good for landing.

My wife and I spent a couple of hot weekends spot spraying to suppress little suckers which are starting to poke up. We'll switch to boom spraying when we've finished the first pass.

Oh, and the windsocks up. I had a thread on here a few months ago asking about windsocks... Its all coming along nicely and Im expecting to land in the next couple of weeks

Great effort. I'd stick to spot spraying for a while. If you spray the lot you'll still have to come back for the more persistent ones, and you'll eventually get resistance.. Glyphosate is NOT harmless. Nev

Great effort. I'd stick to spot spraying for a while. If you spray the lot you'll still have to come back for the more persistent ones, and you'll eventually get resistance.. Glyphosate is NOT harmless. Nev

Thanks Nev.

Actually its Triclopyr for the suckers, not Glysophate. We're trying to get the roots and plants below ground or they'll just keep throwing up new suckers. Main reason I don't boom spray is its just too expensive with Triclopyr! But Im also a closet greenie and dont want to harm the environment and my woodlands more than i need to. But spot spraying is hard going. Its five hectares and each hectare takes 2-3 hours, two people. Hot sun too.

As well as my aversion to broad scale use of herbicides, we want grasses and forbs to grow back to help bind the surface, so selective spraying is the best (although very labour intensive!) way to go. Triclopyr is selective for broad leafs.

Alan

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Alan. That part of Australia has a rich history. I spent time there with an old mate and we scoured the old railway line for discarded sleepers (all pressed iron or steel to resist termites).

No joy, all the undamaged ones had long since been re-used in stockyards and fences.

Coming home from town, he always took a different route, which totally bamboozled me. Most of the tracks followed old taxiways and airfields.

Just a little update on this.

As I mentioned a while back in a discussion about hangars, we are throwing up an arched shade structure for ours. In addition to the basic fabric roof cover we will put up a steel rear wall and a lockable gate on the front.

In case anybody’s wondering,  putting up one of these with just two people and a dog  beyond the black stump and in blistering temperatures is a bit of a struggle.

Next project will be a little avgas depot with hand pump.

Alan

Looks nice.  Re pump I made up a 12 volt one using the red 'AreoFlow' 97 GPH pump  works a treat off either the aircraft battery or my hangar spare on a trolley.  Cheers

2 hours ago, NT5224 said:

As I mentioned a while back in a discussion about hangars, we are throwing up an arched shade structure for ours.

 

Alan
 

Alan you have some serious hold-downs there!