H

humptybump

Well Known Member
I hope to soon establish a new private grass airstrip. One of the requests from the FAA is a "wind indicator". Thankfully Santa had a windsock and frame in his slay this past Christmas.

So, not the question - how high?

FAA says - a rigid supporting structure, maximum of 16 ft height to wind sock
ICAO/CAA says - a 20 ft mast height

I've salvaged a mast that is 25 ft.

Would you cut it down to 20ft or 16 ft or leave it alone ?
 
I just replaced the windsock at the north end of our airport. I use a 12 foot step ladder and am not standing anywhere near the top.

I am guessing that the windsock is about 12' off the ground. Think replacement.

Most likely it needs to be on a frangible coupling in case a plane hits it.
 
Maintenance won't be an issue

I've got the maintenance thing covered. My grandfather had a Martin house and he creating a pivot base. I plan to do the same. The mast is sandwiched between two steel plates which are in the concrete footing. The plates stick up about 2 ft. The mast is pinned between the plates at the bottom and then at about 20 inches. Pull the bottom pin and lean the whole mast over to work on it. My grandfather had a lot of great ideas !
 
I just checked one and the middle is around 7' from the ground.
 
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Leaning toward 20'

Thanks for the real world references ci originally wanted 15-20' but I salvaged a nice heavy duty aluminum mast at 26'. Still, given the comments thus far and the various standards, I'm leaning to cutting it down to 20'. If it turns out too tall for some reason, I can always cut more but I can never add back.
 
It depends ...

For some years I was flying out of a strip with trees on all four sides. We had a tall wind sock that extended about 15 ft above the tree tops. Total height maybe 60 ft or so. You want to be clear of obstacles. Putting the wind sock behind a tree line, buildings, etc. totally defeats the purpose. If you have a flat field and the highest obstacle is the 2 ft wire fence to the neighbour, a shorter mast will do.
 
Away from trees

Im planning to put it about 300ft from the nearest tree line. The locations seems to be is clean air most if not all of the time. The remaining sides are open field for a minimum of 800+ feet each.
 
Mine is on a 6' pole on top of my hangar. Total height from ground is 19'.
If it is to be put on top of a structure, it needs to be high enough that wind currents around the structure itself don't affect it.
 
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