I was up after work at my home strip this evening. 1000' with 50' trees on the low end, 1% grade. Currently building a low power full size Bearhawk to fly off it. Make your aircraft as silent as you can, don't overfly neighbors' houses, and keep home strip use to a minimum for happy neighbors. Some might like aerial photos of their place, but you don't want to give them an idea that you might be snooping so be careful with that.

I also plan my arrival so that I can pretty much glide in at very low power settings. Being on a good slope with descending terrain I never need or use full power for takeoff. Once away a bit, I " go to throttle up."

One guy I knew with a little backyard strip used to put on a neighborhood BBQ every year, to stay on the neighbors' good side. Also made it a point to offer rides to neighbors, and more importantly to neighbor's kids and grandkids. It's a lot easier to put up with that bothersome airplane noise when it's a friend rather than an asshole.

Last summer we had a neighbor party at my airport. We invited all the neighbors, cooked a bunch of food and cleaned up the hangar, set up chairs and tables, then it rained like crazy. we had 30 or so neighbors show up, entertained them with RC and control line model airplanes in the rain. Lots of kids and seniors, we plan to do it again this year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and they will all get airplane rides and enjoy a skydiving exhibition by my brother and I. I am fortunate to have very nice neighbors.

In your area there are a couple of PVT strips, I think the closest being 3NY9, 1800' strip in Colden. (Also Gowanda, High Acres, Hedge Hop) You could probably ask any of these guys for information in your area.

When I was young my dad had close to a 1500' strip behind the barn that I mowed every week. (If you have a NY sectional from 1980-ish it was Agri-Valley)
He flew in and out of it with a 172, then a Lark Commander, and then after a long time with nothing rebuilt a Musketeer, which was great since by then I was old enough to get my license. The first 800 feet were relatively flat, and the last 700' rolled right down hill to a ditch at the edge of a swamp. With silos's at the other end we landed to the south and took off to the north. No option. But, with the runway rolling downhill made it seem like a 2500' runway, even on grass. So use your grade to your advantage.

pb

On a thread-drift note, if you ever fly into Fairbank Farms (NY89), I'd love to see some photos. It's been on a list of airports to visit since it has a Grass Strip next to a Tarmac Strip, with an angled Water strip that leads right up to a hangar. Overall just looks like such an ideal layout.

pb