Inexplicable decision ?

[Steve Colman]

I'm very fortunate in that my club has excellent facilities that most others would dream about. However, a decision taken earlier today has left me lost for words.

 

We have been gifted 6 rolls of artificial grass of 25m x 2m. The idea was to use this to cover an area of stoney ground at the end of the "semi-grass" strips at the club to produce a strip suitable for landing gliders and other belly landers that would minimise damage to the models. So I produced a couple of mock up suggestions as shown in the pics 1 and 2. No2 would have meant cutting 2 of the rolls.

 

First off, out of 40 club members, only 7, including me, bothered to turn up to discuss the ideas. Option one was discarded by the other 6 as being too narrow at 6m. Then, they discarded option 2 because, according to them, it would be "very difficult" to cut 2 rolls in half.

 

Thus, the wonderful solution they came up with is shown in Foto3. A rectangle of 12m x 25m that will serve as practically useless for the job it was intended to do. I can only consider it a travesty and a complete waste of a free resource that would have added to the club and benefited most of it's members. However, the one heli guy in the club is quite happy.

 

What do you think? Am I wrong in my opinion? What would your club have done if given the same amount of free material?     

 

   

Edited May 14, 2023 by Steve Colman

[paul devereux]

Option 3 gives pilots a bit more leeway if they have misjudged the distance out they are landing. I presume 25m will provide enough friction to bring the models to a stop?

[J D 8]

          Cutting artificial grass is easy, the type used on a garden patio can be cut with a Stanly knife.

        I was also gifted an unwanted roll of the heavy duty stuff from the local football club when they renewed the pitch [ it was SH from a big club and full of sand [ very heavy ]  Us farmers like to put it in gateways.  I also thought cutting would be a problem but a sharp kitchen knife did the job with ease.  [ done when roll laid out. ]

  Have some left and thinking of laying it out somewhere for home flying.   

                                                        Cheers, John.

  

[Steve Colman]

1 hour ago, paul devereux said:

Option 3 gives pilots a bit more leeway if they have misjudged the distance out they are landing. I presume 25m will provide enough friction to bring the models to a stop?

Many of the pilots at the club are relative newcomers and can't manage to land within 50m of a designated spot at times. For them, landing on a 25m stretch will be virtually impossible. Thus, they will be more likely to land on the rough grass as is the case now along with the associated higher risk of damage to the model which the artificial stuff was meant to lessen.

[Steve Colman]

1 hour ago, J D 8 said:

          Cutting artificial grass is easy, the type used on a garden patio can be cut with a Stanly knife.

        I was also gifted an unwanted roll of the heavy duty stuff from the local football club when they renewed the pitch [ it was SH from a big club and full of sand [ very heavy ]  Us farmers like to put it in gateways.  I also thought cutting would be a problem but a sharp kitchen knife did the job with ease.  [ done when roll laid out. ]

  Have some left and thinking of laying it out somewhere for home flying.   

                                                        Cheers, John.

  

Thanks, one of the arguments put forward against the 37.5 x 8 proposal was that it would be difficult to cut two of the rolls.

[Outrunner]

50m X 6m looks like a runway shape, 12m X 25m looks like a helipad. 37.5m X 8m is daft.

Good luck with whatever is decided.

[Steve Colman]

11 minutes ago, Outrunner said:

50m X 6m looks like a runway shape, 12m X 25m looks like a helipad. 37.5m X 8m is daft.

Good luck with whatever is decided.

They decided to go for option 3, 12m x 25m. The one guy who flies helis at the club was not unhappy!

[Martin Dance 1]

Should have gone foroption 1. That would sharpen up a lot of members landings! Our strip is only that width and about 90metres long.Most have no issues with the strip. It looks like  your short runway is 150 by10m, sheer luxury.

[leccyflyer]

My local club field has a single runway about 55m x 12m, so your 50m x 6m option looks the most favourable to me, in terms of a usable runway. The chosen option of 12mx25m doesn't seem to offer very much at all - too short to be of very much use except for small models.

 

Thinking outside of the box, as the club has been gifted this material would a further option be to have a whip round, buy the same amount again and have a 50m x 12m runway?

Edited May 14, 2023 by leccyflyer

[Steve Colman]

1 hour ago, Martin Dance 1 said:

Should have gone foroption 1. That would sharpen up a lot of members landings! Our strip is only that width and about 90metres long.Most have no issues with the strip. It looks like  your short runway is 150 by10m, sheer luxury.

No 1 was my prefered option and would have been best at avoiding damage to models and be of sufficient length foe even our more inexperienced flyers to land on.

The short runway is 160m x 11mm so you're very close. 

[Steve Colman]

1 hour ago, leccyflyer said:

My local club field has a single runway about 55m x 12m, so your 50m x 6m option looks the most favourable to me, in terms of a usable runway. The chosen option of 12mx25m doesn't seem to offer very much at all - too short to be of very much use except for small models.

 

Thinking outside of the box, as the club has been gifted this material would a further option be to have a whip round, buy the same amount again and have a 50m x 12m runway?

My choice was the 50x6 option as it was the most favourable as a practical runway. The disenters argued that 6m wasn't wide enough, my view was that if they couldn't land on a 6m wide strip they need to get more practice or look for another hobby. I agree that the 12x25 option offers virtually nothing apart from serving small foamie shockie/3D type models and helis. The original premise was to provide a runway for F5J type gliders and motor gliders in general which, has simply been ignored and for the life of me I don't know why.

 

I was offering to help with preparing the ground and laying the grass but now I don't think I'll bother. However, when it's completed I might surround it with flowers, put a table and chairs in the middle and have a picnic with a friend who feels the same way as me.

[paul devereux]

4 minutes ago, Steve Colman said:

My choice was the 50x6 option as it was the most favourable as a practical runway. The disenters argued that 6m wasn't wide enough, my view was that if they couldn't land on a 6m wide strip they need to get more practice or look for another hobby. I agree that the 12x25 option offers virtually nothing apart from serving small foamie shockie/3D type models and helis. The original premise was to provide a runway for F5J type gliders and motor gliders in general which, has simply been ignored and for the life of me I don't know why.

 

I was offering to help with preparing the ground and laying the grass but now I don't think I'll bother. However, when it's completed I might surround it with flowers, put a table and chairs in the middle and have a picnic with a friend who feels the same way as me.

50x 6 is the most logical and useful, but it went to a vote and it was outvoted 6:1. Just bide your time and suggest it gets changed when it is tried and found less than ideal.