We landed at Sullivan Lake (09S) yesterday. After a hike around the area, I walked across the threshold to 34 and was surprised to see that someone had placed a series of 9" nails across the threshold. It's unlikely anyone would land that short on the strip, but it's possible and, except for the nails, it would be safe. If you do, though, you run the risk of damage from these nails.

I taxied to the other end for departure and almost ran over one of the nails at the departure threshold for 16. (It hadn't occurred to me someone had booby trapped both ends of the runway.)

Any idea what purpose these nails serve other than to keep my level of alertness high?

Did you get an autograph?

I was waiting for that one...

Actually, they might've been 10".

51E wrote:We landed at Sullivan Lake (09S) yesterday. After a hike around the area, I walked across the threshold to 34 and was surprised to see that someone had placed a series of 9" nails across the threshold. It's unlikely anyone would land that short on the strip, but it's possible and, except for the nails, it would be safe. If you do, though, you run the risk of damage from these nails.

I taxied to the other end for departure and almost ran over one of the nails at the departure threshold for 16. (It hadn't occurred to me someone had booby trapped both ends of the runway.)

Any idea what purpose these nails serve other than to keep my level of alertness high?

I was curious, so I called the airport manager.

1) The airport was closed for the season on Oct 1. He asks that people please respect the closure dates as they have agreements with various departments and violation of these dates both makes it harder for him to keep things open and, depending on the mood of the person you run into on a given day, could result in an administrative action.

2) He's 90% certain what you saw were the mounts for some broken reflectors. Due to the usage arrangement of that particular strip, he's required to keep reflectors at both ends of the airport. He said they do break sometimes, so based on size and reported location he's guessing that what you saw were some broken ones.

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