Hey guys I don't post often but when I do it's a question? I'm beginning to look into getting my strip put on the sectional. I'm not too familiar with the pros and cons of doing so. A friend who claims to know everything tells me that it would protect my approaches from any construction in the future. Is this true? I really don't care if it's on a chart or not but the area is quickly turning from farm land to housing and I would like to keep the strip obviously. Is there any way to protect myself from getting shutdown by the city folk moving in? Before I start this venture ,if I decide, can the FAA come in and say you shouldn't be taking off out of there anyhow etc...any experiences or knowledge would be greatly appreciated. I don't wanna open a can of worms if it isn't needed. Thanks in advance. Also it would be private on the chart but anyone is welcome. Just PM me if your near wv,pa,md,va. Happy new year.

Unless you wear a tin foil hat, I really don't see any major down side to having your strip recognized by the FAA.

The upside will only happen if someone decides to install a cell tower right off the end of your runway. The FAA may not stop that, but you're going to have a LOT better time if you have to go to court, with the obvious evidence that your strip is a "real" airport.

MTV

The Faa is more concerned with airspace, so if your not near an airport with instrument approaches it should't be a big deal.

If you live in a area that zoning board has made it prohibitive to give a special exemption that may be more of a problem. Getting permission from the county is going to protect your approaches more then the FAA can. It definitely isn't going to get any easier to put a strip in, with houses getting closer and closer.

Where I live one of the requirements for getting a special exemption is that I have to get an aerial easement from my neighbors whose properties lie on my approach paths up to 250 ft agl. When you fill out the forms for the faa they notify the State, and where I live the state contacts the county.

If you can get it done do it.

Nick

I would pursue this if I was you. In the future, if you get some neighbors that want to bitch about your airstrip to the county (and you probably will, eventually), it should help your case if you you can say that it's an "FAA-approved airport". FAA-recognized would probably be more accurate, but approved sounds a lot more impressive.

A friend and former client with an airstrip on his property had a tussle with a neighbor, who made the claim that my client's airstrip encroached on neighbor's property, and that he was going to cut a ditch across it. He was wrong--he was relying on a bad survey--and ultimately the issue was settled without litigation. But I got his attention when I threatened him with a lawsuit and that I had an obligation to turn over the matter to the feds for prosecution for interfering with an FAA-designated airstrip which appears on federal air charts. It's on the sectional and shows on any FAA-driven airport data base. I also pointed out that if his planned ditch should lead to an accident, because he had been warned, it would be much more serious and could result a finding of gross negligence in any lawsuit as well as a matter in aggravation in any federal prosecution.

As for how to go about getting your airstrip designated and onto a sectional, he did that without my help. I'd be glad to ask him to contact you, if you'll PM me with your email.

Cary