Not sure what to think of this, but as of January 2020, the NPS was suggesting pilots use Stovepipe Wells instead of Furnace creek, because of the poor condition of the runway at Furnace Creek, and Stovepipe Wells was in better shape. The photos don't look all that bad to me.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2 ... ley-runway

This article in from National Parks Traveler, not an official NPS publication.

N5150Z wrote:....... anyone who has any experience with FAA grant applications would be very helpful right now. If you have this experience and are willing to volunteer some advice that could help steer the park into the right direction in getting grant money, please reach out to me directly......

In my experience, at my local county airport which has taken plenty of FAA money over the years,
the trouble with FAA funding a project is that it comes with strings...
for example FAA oversight over the whole airport afterward.
And the project must be done to their specs & standards...even if that would be overkill.
For example, maybe the runway just needs a crack-seal & slurry coat...
they might want you to do an asphalt overlay.
If all it needs is an overlay, they might wantyou to to dig it up & start from scratch.
(this last is what happened at our airport this last year).
You might think "well, OK, if they're willing to pay for it",
but it can be a slippery slope.
It can also easily result in a lot of unneccesary downtime.
Dunno about state funding but I suspect there'd be some of the same issues.
Better IMHO if NPS funds it themselves, maybe with some help from outfits like RAF.

It is common for NPS to have very specific limits on what can be done with different funds available. Many road projects are actually federal highways projects, and it is not likely that there is a path to use that money for an airport.

Kinda like FAA funding--
they'll spend $3M on a runway major overhaul that isn't really needed yet,
but refuse to fund a $100K pilot lounge.

Bureaucracy is a PITA, but we can't afford to be fussy about where the money comes from, considering that the proposal on the table is to close the strip. Gravel is ok for me, personally, but I'd rather keep it paved because there will be more usage than if it's turned into gravel, and that's good for the park and for keeping the strip going for the long run. The existing pavement is probably 30+ years old, and it's still quite usable by all kinds of aircraft. An overlay should last a few more decades. Then it will be our kids' problem.

CAVU wrote:. . . and there actually is/should be a lot more money for airports there than most folks know, just waiting for release. The State has been diverting fuel taxes to the general fund for 30+ years. https://calpilots.org/calpilots-protects-airports-and-fuel-tax-dollars/

The calpilots letter re: funds diversions is a very good read.

All, the RAF has made a public call to action with bullet points that we suggest you use in your comments. Thank you for your help with this important effort.

You can find it here: https://mailchi.mp/theraf.org/backcount ... ICb4AEz-eA

Managers of Death Valley National Park in California are seeking public input regarding future use of the park’s Stovepipe Wells Village. One of the park’s proposals is to change the Stovepipe Wells airstrip into a dedicated night sky viewing area due to the prohibitive maintenance expense of repaving the runway. This is due to the park's perceived lack of visitation to the strip, combined with a growing interest in attendees in night-sky astronomy. With this change, the airstrip is in danger of closing entirely to light aircraft visitation.

The Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) believes that pilot activity and stargazing can successfully co-exist with minor changes to existing infrastructure, and we are urging members to submit comments to the park in support of both pastimes.

Death Valley National Park is more specifically proposing the following change (the following text was captured from the park’s official Facebook page):

• Night Sky Viewing to Replace Airstrip: night sky viewing events in the park regularly attract over 250 people, and very few people use the airstrip at Stovepipe Wells. The park proposes changing the airstrip into a place where astronomical societies can set up and camp with their large telescopes, while providing an opportunity to experience the park’s spectacular dark skies. The Furnace Creek Airport, 18 miles away, would still be available for small planes.

If the Park Service does not receive at least 400 comments from the pilot community regarding Stovepipe Wells, they will ignore the pilot's input. WE NEED YOU TO COMMENT BEFORE DECEMBER 23.

Additional details and comment submission form can be found at the following link:

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.c ... tID=107887

The RAF suggests the following talking points for members who wish to comment:

· Pilots support stargazing. This is a very successful combination of compatible pastimes. This has been proven at Havana, Illinois, where fly-in stargazing events draw many campers both by air and car. The Blue Canyon airport at Nyack, in Tahoe National Forest is another perfect example.

* Current facilities at Stovepipe Wells are at about 1/2 mile hike away. The airstrip will see a significant increase in visitation should facilities such as a dedicated camping area, as well as toilets be provided to visitors to the airport.

· At 3,260 x 65 ft and a significant existing visitors area, there is ample room for both activities at Stovepipe.

· Providing for under-wing camping at the airstrip helps disperse usage, and puts no additional strain on the NPS campground.

· Its daylight use by small planes minimizes impact to campers and star gazers.

· This airport has historical value, having been established in 1948.

· Stovepipe Airstrip provides another feasible way to access this special land. For many, driving to Stovepipe Wells represents a huge investment of time, and access by small plane opens up that opportunity.

Thank you in advance for your support of this RAF Call to Action! The RAF will be following up with final comments on our website in the near future.

Questions may be directed to CA State Liaisons Rick Lach: [email protected] and/or Katerina Barilov: [email protected].

Thanks, Katerina and RAF!

Hopefully AOPA will issue a similar call.

Pierre

Comments submitted!

Thanks all.

MW

Just posted. Thanks for the heads up

National Park Service comment site https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=297&projectID=72747&documentID=107887 reports: "The service is unavailable."

Comment site is back up - my comments posted.

Thanks for the alert!

I flew back down to Stovepipe Wells today to inspect the pilot registry book I installed on Nov 29. It was still there and had three pages of entries, with fourteen aircraft visiting. I especially love the comment from the pilot who's been going there thirty-five years!

I met two couples in a 182 from Henderson who enjoyed their visit.







Don't forget this Wednesday, Dec 23rd is the final day to submit comments. One does not have to be a pilot to comment, so your family and friends should all be invited to comment!

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.c ... uK5a2yu0SQ

Pierre

I’m flying down to Furnace Creek tomorrow (Friday March 12). My pal Dave is there with his pickup, 5th wheel and booze. I will land at Stovepipe, see how many entries are in the pilot registry book, and will Pirep conditions of both fields. Will do same for Chicken Strip if I get over there.

I flew down to Furnace Creek (L06) on Saturday and stayed the night. Runway surface is indeed rough, but usable. The two wind socks are difficult to spot and the whatever might have been in the segmented circle is long gone. It takes some searching to find an intact tiedown cable, and the tiedown surface has lots of cracking as well. The pilot registry book doesn’t indicate much usage. The restroom facility is good.

I flew to Stovepipe Wells (L09) this morning and found the runway surface much better than that of Furnace Creek, but still widespread cracking. Another Skywagon arrived after me and there was a V-tail parked there. The pilot registry book shows about 75 entries for the year-to-date. Looks like this field is getting good use. Sure hope it stays open. The Park Service gets the deplorable award for their lack of maintenance of these fields.

Are these airports eligible for California state or FAA grants?

onthegas1 wrote:The pilot registry book shows about 75 entries for the year-to-date.

Woo-hoo!!!

In their notice that proposed to rip out the strip, the Park Service noted that the field got very little use. That's because there was no book nor any other way to measure use. All I did was a put a book there, and "Presto", there is suddenly lots of use! Thank you for the report. I think I'll fly back down there in the next couple of weeks.

Pierre

For those of you who aren't familiar with Stovepipe Wells here are a few recent photos.

Looking southeast at runway, RV park and settlement. Furnace Creek is over the rise and near the far mountains.



Runway and tiedown area condition.



The Pilot Registry! Maybe someone (Pierre?) should remove and safeguard filled pages before they possibly "disappear". Or photo them.

Good news from RAF. NPS is keeping Stovepipe Airport . . .for now. This battle may have been won, but it appears that the war is not over. There was supposed to be a Draft Environmental Assessment published, but I can't find it.

Very nicely done video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z4UuKktP6c. I'll buy a couple of his t-shirts.

It is the time of year to start planning a visit to this unique fly-in destination. Keep watching the weather forecast. It is usually great from late September to Mid December. Be sure to sign the pilot registry. I truly believe placing that registry was instrumental in saving this strip. Keep it up guys.

Pierre

As some of you know, my business travel plane is a Cirrus SR22, so I frequent the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association forum. I posted about Stovepipe Wells over there too and just today, a Cirrus pilot from the San Francisco Bay Area said that based on the thread, he wants to plan a flight there. I thought I'd copy and paste my reply into this forum. While we have different aircraft over here on BCP and tend to fly a little differently, I still thought some of this info might be useful for anyone who rarely gets over to the east side of the Sierra.

It’s a very cool flight from the Bay area. One easy, fun route is to make your way toward Mammoth airport. V230 between the Friant VOR and NIKOL intersection pretty well defines the lower elevation pass that exists.

From Mammoth, if it’s near lunch time, stop at Bishop airport for the best Thai food this side of Bangkok. No kidding. I took someone who lived in Thailand for a couple of years there and she backed that statement up. The lady who leases the space and runs the restaurant is from Thailand and has a story about how she wound up in Bishop. Otherwise, stop on the way back. Take it to go if you’re not hungry.

Here is a neat thing to explore for. I won’t post the coordinates, so you’ll have to do a little investigating. See if you can find and fly over Coyote Flat airstrip. It’s a long-abandoned USAF high elevation landing strip high in the Sierra Nevada near Bishop. It’s been on my list of places to land with my bush plane. Maybe this fall before the snow flies.

From Bishop, you have choices. One is to head for the pass where the White Mountains end and the Inyo Mountains begin. Deep Springs Lake shows up on the sectional. Read up on the unique and highly selective admissions Deep Springs College located there and give it a look-see as you pass.

Then head for Racetrack Playa. If you get down low and slow (go ahead and use those full flaps for something other than landing!) you can get some good photos. If you don’t know about this highly unusual feature, read up on it ahead of time.

If you don’t mind losing altitude that you’ll have to gain again, prior to Racetrack, go down low into the Saline Valley, an endorheic basin that will make you think you’ve flown to Mars. Find and fly over the Chicken Strip next to the Saline Warm Springs remote camping area/oasis. Be aware that pants are optional at this spot, and the naked people are generally not the ones we want to see naked. Think old German dudes.

After Racetrack, overfly the Ubehebe crater. More great photo ops. Then the big descent to Stovepipe Wells. Consider flying an extended pattern that takes you over the extensive sand dunes east of the field.

Once you’ve tied down and signed the register, if you have folding ebikes or are fit and have regular bikes, riding up to Mosaic Canyon is a short but strenuous ride to the trailhead for an easy hike into an interesting canyon.

Patronize the store and/or restaurant and mention that you flew into the airport. I think a lot of the local help doesn’t realize it exists!

On the return trip, you could fly more directly West to Lone Pine, try to pick out Mt. Whitney from the sawtooths, recognize the Alabama Hills as the backdrop for many classic Westerns, then cruise low up the Owens Valley. Take a good look at the Manzanar National Historic site of the Japanese WWII internment camp. 36.72779444027448, -118.14825438188927.

I just read a beautiful book that is part personal memoir, and part history and loving documentary of the Owens Valley. If you read Miracle Country before your trip, it’ll make you want to visit Bishop, fly low over Swall Meadows, and hope to bump into Kendra or Pops on the street in Bishop.

You can complete the trip the way you started, through the Mammoth pass, or skip Manzanar and head south to stay lower and return via Tehachapi.

One could add much more to the itinerary, turning it into an overnight at Stovepipe, and flying over more of the cool Death Valley features like Devil’s Golf Course, and the Barker Ranch, where the Charles Manson gang was captured.

Hope this at least whets the appetite and you create your own fall adventure to Stovepipe Wells!

Pierre