Short Field Landing RV-12

[BobTurner]

Always depends on who has the better lawyer, of course, but if you have an easement on the neighbor’s property you can probably force him to remove the trees.

[Berchmans]

FAR 91.119 Begins,

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

Seems to me avoid unnecessary low passes....

[PaulvS]

Is it feasible to relocate your strip further to the north, away from the house and trees? It will depend I guess on how much land is available, and the terms of the easement.

[KRviator]

Originally Posted by Piper J3

About fifteen years ago the neighbor to the east planted pine trees right on the threshold of 27. Nice guy.

Maybe he was sick and tired of inconsiderate pilots blowing dust and dead grass into his yard? Maybe he wanted to stop the prevailing westerly winds you mentioned. Or maybe he doesn't like planes. Either way, sounds like your easement doesn't cover his yard or the trees would have been gone by now.

Originally Posted by Scott Hersha

Go to your hardware store and buy some 6 penny copper nails. In the dark of night, drive these nails into the pine trees on the end of the runway. Use a nail set to bury them below the bark. Use gloves, you know, COVID and all (fingerprints). Next year, you won’t have a problem on that end of the runway.

I dunno what the laws are like over there, but we had someone try a similar stunt down here to improve their ocean views. Council responded by installing shipping containers there with a big sign about how some environmental vandal cut down native trees to improve their view. Could only have been 1 house. This is your airstrip, yes? Granted the trees aren't great, but that looks to be heaps of room for a 12. Even with a moderate downwind component.

The other thing to consider is if you do kill the trees, and do start taking off 09 & landing 27, your treeless neighbour will now have a valid noise complaint and that might work against you. It'll be obvious a pilot killed the trees, add in verifiable noise complaints and you could find the airstrip ordered closed.

Originally Posted by Piper J3

Approach is flown within 50’ of back of house and 10’ above kid’s swing set in the backyard. Runway has 100-year easement through five different property owners. Go figure…

Is the easement for the runway or does it include the approaches too? From what you've said it doesn't sound like it covers the splay.

Mind you, even if it did, if you are flying within 10' of a kids swing set, I hope your insurance is paid up in the event of an accident. Flying within 50' of someone totally unconnected with aviation is not smart, a bit of wind shear, or aircraft problem and you will be in a world of hurt. And flying 3m over a kids swing set you know is there is downright stupid - no matter how long you've been flying out of there.

EDIT: Just found this video of you landing. If I lived there, you would likely already be shut down. That low over private property - when it unconnected with the airfield is bordering on recklessness IMHO. What if one of their kids decides it'll be fun to chuck a stick at you as you pass overhead or other stupid things young kids do.

I sympathise with your predicament, I do. I fly out of a similar strip, short, trees, disliked by the neighbours, but I'd never consider that acceptable.

[luddite42]

You discovered slipping to land? Cub pilots do that too.

[Piper J3]

Originally Posted by luddite42

You discovered slipping to land? Cub pilots do that too.

Correct, I owned a '46 J3-CUB for 23 years. The CUB would really get crooked in the air with full slip and come down like an elevator.

I traded the CUB for the 12 and never looked back. I thought I'd miss the CUB, but to be honest, if someone offered me a ride now I'd probably decline.

Like Paul Newman said... "Why fool around with hamburger when you have steak at home?”

[iwannarv]

Looks like quite a few other T-Hangars on site as well (north side of runway), other pilots/aircraft based there? I'd also question moving the runway to north (of T hangars). But honestly I think your neighbors would still plant more trees at the thresholds just to try to shut down the runway to nuisance, even if it was moved.

I hope you prevail. Too many airstrips get shut down this way.

[terrykohler]

It appears there hasn't been much dialog going on between you or either neighbor. Is this something that started with the previous owner of your property? Rather than assuming that the people on either end are jerks, perhaps it might be worthwhile to sit down and try to work something out. Are there any reasonable options - you might want to ask. It's probably a bit late with the newer home with young kids (if I were him, I'd look at planting a few substantial trees to provide some two way protection for my family).

At a previous home, I had several very large trees adjacent to one of the property lines. A neighbor put in a large pool and found that there was an awful lot of debris coming off my trees. Solution was for him to pay for removal and me for cleanup. Oh yeah, and we got to use his pool.

If the tree guy isn't willing to let you take them down (and you to use a single direction in and out), your best move going forward might be to transition to rotary wing. Unfortunately, many of the airports that I used in the early years of flying are now gone. Saying they were "here first" didn't work, especially when you eventually have civilian targets on both ends of the runway.
I wish you luck, but if you haven't at least held out an olive branch, there really isn't much hope.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP

[Lenny Iszak]

Terry is right! Forget lawyers and killing trees and stressing yourself out over this. Talk to the neighbor and come up with a solution you're both ok with.
That guy can't let the kids out to play cause an airplane might kill them. He's probably just as frustrated as you.
I live in an airpark, love seeing planes around, but wouldn't like people flying over my yard that low.

One thing that you could try is to fly an overhead break to landing. Continuously descending downwind to final turn that keeps you mostly on your property. You do need to have a solid AOA for proper energy management. Airspeed alone won't do it. AOA will let you slow down even more when you are flying by yourself below gross weight. Lose another 5kts and you'll need a lot less runway.

Lenny

Originally Posted by terrykohler

Rather than assuming that the people on either end are jerks, perhaps it might be worthwhile to sit down and try to work something out.

[sailvi767]

Mark a displaced threshold 500 feet from each end. Use it every time and just avoid the conflict. That still leaves you 1700 feet to land or 3 times the required distance for a RV12.
G