Flying Site Assistance
Coordinators
- Joe Beshar
Coordinator, Eastern Region, Districts I–VI 198 Merritt Dr. Oradell, NJ 07649 Tel.: (201) 261-1281 Fax: (201) 261-0223 E-mail: [email protected]
- Wes De Cou
Coordinator, Western Region, Districts VII–XI Voice: (480) 460-9466 Cell: (480) 296-9515 Fax: (480) 460-9434 202 W. Desert Flower Ln. Phoenix, AZ 85045 E-mail: [email protected]
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
Hello, Dolly! At the 2004 AMA Homecoming in Muncie, Indiana, I spent some time speaking to Dolly Wischer, a devoted AMA supporter.
During my conversation with Dolly, she mentioned that it is becoming difficult to obtain fur materials. If you have an excess or worn-out fur coat or pieces of fur you no longer need, please consider donating them to Dolly for this worthwhile project. To donate, contact Jay Mealy at AMA Headquarters: E-mail: [email protected]; Tel.: (765) 287-1256, ext. 270. Jay will make arrangements for the donation.
I am often asked about the use of geotextile fabric (the woven product made by Amoco) and its application as a base for constructing a field runway. One of the best ways to illustrate the method is by sharing an actual successful experience.
The Blount County Modelers Association (BCMA) of Knoxville, Tennessee, used this material in building its runway. Paul McAdams, the club president, outlined their experience; the photos display views during the application and additional photos can be seen on the club's website: www.bcmarc.com.
BCMA flies from a runway built on reclaimed land at the Alcoa City/Blount County landfill in eastern Tennessee. Because the field is on a landfill dome of clay, they had not had much success in getting a grass runway to grow.
As a club, they were deciding between sodding the entire runway or having a blacktop runway put down. Blacktop was cost prohibitive and there was the possibility that the sod would die.
One club member mentioned a club in South Florida that had used a woven-material mat that came in rolls and was laid down with five-inch staples. This idea seemed to be the best fit for BCMA. They might have to move to another part of the landfill within the next five years and could take the mat up and move it with them.
Two club members—Craig Teffeteller and Bill Webb—were instrumental in getting the runway project started. They found another club in South Florida that had put a mat down, and from there Craig found a dealer in Nashville, Tennessee—Midwest Construction Products, Tel.: (615) 227-5422—that could supply the material at a reasonable cost.
The material, made by Amoco, is a woven product used in road construction as an underlayment. There are different grades of the product; any club considering this should purchase the best grade it can afford.
Materials and costs:
- 1 roll Amoco 2006 (taxiways): 12.5 x 360 ft — $320
- 3 rolls Amoco 2019 (main runway): 15 x 300 ft — $550 each
- 8,000 staples (boxes of 1,000) — $35 per box
- Total cost of the project: $2,370
Installation overview:
- Ground preparation: shave the grass as close as possible with a lawnmower.
- Lay taxiways in 25-foot lengths.
- Lay the main runway over the ends of the taxiways: place the first roll so one edge overlaps the taxiways and staple the three outside edges with 6 x 1-inch staples driven into the clay. Place the second roll overlapping the first roll’s inside seam by four inches and staple; repeat for the third roll.
- Because the staples had to be driven into hard-packed clay, they wetted the ground first to soften it. Rubber mallets were used to pound the staples in.
The installation took approximately three days over the course of a week with 15 people.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
