Hey Y'All,

I'm planning on building a hangar on my property which would necessarily have to be a few hundred feet from the end of my runway.

I would have to taxi up and down an approximately 300 foot long, 15% (8.5 degree) slope to get to/from the hangar/taxiway.

Does anyone have experience taxiing on such a slope? Is it feasible in a Maule?

Thanks,

Jim

Is this going to be a tar or gravel taxiway? Pulling up the hill with a load the prop might pick up some rocks on gravel. Now if you can get a run at it and have your speed up before you hit the slope you should do fine. Going down, just go real slow and easy on the brakes so you don't nose over. You can always use a four wheeler to tug to and from the hanger only add a few min and having a hanger is worth it.
DENNY

Going up is not going to be a problem. Going down can be uncomfortable, and potentially damaging if you panic on the brakes, with no air over the tail. I use a technique, like power braking, sort of similar to what the train runners use to keep the cars stretched when going down steep grades. Set power to maintain adequate airflow over the tail. and stick back to firmly hold the tail down and use brake to control speed. It just takes practice to get comfortable with.

I just kill the engine, and go slow using the brakes to KEEP going slow. I have lived on pretty good slopes for a while now, (steeper before then now, this is nothing compared to my first place) but have never tried the "giving it power to have airflow over the elevator, while braking" thing, not saying it's counter productive, just have not tried it. OK, it sure SEEMS counter productive, but I have to wonder if the pilots using this technique have tried just killing the engine and going slow? Maybe we should have a downhill taxi off using the two different techniques? You first!

Either program works for me - little wheel in front.

Every time I go to the avionics shop, I have to negotiate a pretty steep but short hill. It's paved, so going up under power isn't difficult, but even in a trike, going down is uncomfortable for me. Just guessing at the slope, based on my fabulous highway department experience when I was in college a hundred years ago, I'd say it's close to 15%.

Cary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4OQLN6N160

My old strip, the green metal building further uphill at about 19 seconds in was my hangar for a lot of years. With the Kitfox and the first S-7 I just slow taxied down dead stick. It for sure was light on the tail but steady consistent braking worked well.With the ultralights I just hammered it and took off before the driveway. It measured out at 16%, the runway was 12 to 14%. I never flew the T-Craft there, flew a Titan Tornado but landed and took off on the road.

It was only 100' or so of down taxiing, 300' would be somewhat tedious but hey you work with what you have and if it means you can fly at home it'll be worth it! At one point, before I got used to it, I considered having a canvas bag full of pea gravel rigged to the grab handles in the rear, but never needed to go that route.

Build a hangar large enough to hold plane + golf cart. Hook it up to tow bar at bottom. Drag it in. leave it connected. Back it back down (or better, make the hangar drive-thru). It will not add any hassle if you leave it connected.

Thank you all. I thought I had notifications to send me an email when there was a reply. I was wrong!

Based on what y'all have said, I'm probably going to pave the taxiway to avoid propeller damage. Glad to read that such a hill is not insurmountable!

courierguy, I feel better after seeing your strip. I was worried about a little curve in mine!

Jim

A few hundred feet in a Maule? Seems like you could just point the nose downhill, give it full power, and be off before you even made it to the runway.

Good point!

"WHERE THERE IS A HILL, THERE IS A WAY" There, I said it.....That popped into my head the other day and I just had to spit out.

Over the last almost 40 years now of flying off this mountain I'm on, I have found that the added complexities of dealing with the slope are largely compensated for, more then really, by the benefits. My favorite is the "less then cruise power throttle setting takeoff". Quiet, and it has to be easier on the engine, do it enough times and you'll resent having to go to WOT when taking off level ground, that seems rather crude in comparison. Think of it as having your very own catapult launch system, with no moving parts! Much shorter landings obviously. At this point, if I had to move I'd go out of my way to find another piece of ground with a similar slope.

Just last night, I got home and on the spur of the moment decided to fly the 10 miles to where they are doing tilt up slab construction on the new CAT dealership project, I have been feeding them aerial pics. The sun was getting real low, and doing a full warmup would have taken too long, so I took off at a prop RPM of 1600, and as I was arriving at the project at 500 AGL, I let it descend 500' as my place is 1,000' above the valley floor, and by that time the engine was warmed enough to go to cruise power. Handy, that.