Farm Strip Width?

Tim Allan · Post by **Tim Allan** » Wed May 28, 2008 1:39 am

We are about to create a farm strip - length not a problem but width between standing crops could be. What is a sensible width for a narrow strip? Will be used for micro or VLA. Thanks for any input.

Tim

JonKil · Post by **JonKil** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:41 am

I made mine roughly 6 metres wide, why ?
Well 6 metres was the with of 4 passes with the tractor mounted grass topper and because grass at the sides does not grow too high. If it is barley or some other tall crop then the width needs to be large enough to accommodate the wingspan, especially a low wing aircraft.

Bill McCarthy · Post by **Bill McCarthy** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:34 am

I am making mine one and a half times wingspan. Perhaps you should allow a bit more for tail draggers which may need a bit more to counter tendency to ground loop.

mikehallam · Post by **mikehallam** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:52 am

Used by a DR1050, flex wings and 3 axis microlights. Mine is 550m & is cut in three double passes of a 6 ft wide topper = 36 ft. That's about the minimum with the side 'crop' only being not very tall unfertilized hay. As others above have declared taller crops need real space.

A couple of years ago I flew into Washington strip in the South Downs, Sussex where the width was generous but still got a wing hooked by the maize.

If you have any control of the adjacent growth choose something low.

ivanmanley · Post by **ivanmanley** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:55 am

Mine is electric fenced and less than the wingspan of my T31m. The field is grazed grass, so apart from when it gets a bit long, it wouldn't be too bad if I strayed a bit. I used to take the fence down each time I flew, but soon stopped bothering when I realised that the T31m is so easy to keep straight.

I've flown into other strips that are little more than the average wingspan of most small aeroplanes, so I'd say 5 or 6 metres is about right.

Ivan
________
Honda VFR750F specifications

mikehallam · Post by **mikehallam** » Wed May 28, 2008 4:54 pm

Brave, Ivan,

But 6m~20 ft. My span is 30', so strip @36' wide is a mere 20%. margin. Better with a high wing Rans I agree but we also have a 30' wide Jodel. Fine in the winter but today the hay is lush and grabby should one catch a gust.

Mike.
[BTW when are you coming to visit ? I'd need to send you our bumph]

gasax · Post by **gasax** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:23 am

My old strip was around 30 foot wide. when we operated 2 high wing Pipers this was fine. A couple of years ago however I bought a Zodiac 601 and had to start wideing the strip - it was just too easy to catch a wingtip - generally from this time of year through until September. So the strip ended up being about 40 foot wide - for an aircraft with a 26 ft span. It meant there was just a lot more margin for error. Whilst it is a bit of a nuisance having to cut that much more it is so much better than damage to the aircraft.

Will Greenwood · Post by **Will Greenwood** » Thu May 29, 2008 7:03 pm

Hi Tim, I would go for 20 meters, that's I have at my strip in sussex, same width as the sprayer ! Will help with field margins and not get the tram lines out of shape.

Will.

ivanmanley · Post by **ivanmanley** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:43 am

I'd love to pop in Mike if that was an invitation to me? My email is [email protected]

Cheers, Ivan
________
Volcano vaporizer