KEVBERT

Thanks. Jury's are not always predictable. I wonder if they would find for the survivors after an accident? The difference between your example is that this individual closed 300 feet of runway and planted large trees just to inhibit aircraft.

I will try to make friends with this older but clear thinking person and try to bring him back into aviation.

flyer

My suspicion is that the non-flying landowner will likely prevail in a court challenge in this case. It's his property, and his right to grow trees on it if he so chooses. Unless there's some easement or deed restriction in place already, I can't see how he could be prohibited from using his property as he sees fit. Why would anyone be required to let others use their property as an airstrip? Does that suck for the pilots using this strip? Yeah, it sure does, and I can entirely appreciate the problems that might cause. I just can't (personally) see many ways to prevent his actions legally.

However, I do wonder if an "adverse possession" type of law (if existing in that state) might allow for continued use of this portion of property. Although I'm not well versed in the specifics of this law, I know Colorado has an adverse possession statute that has resulted in some newsworthy court cases in the past few years. In essence, it appears that a property can be claimed by someone who has used it without contest by its legal owner under certain circumstances over a specific period of time (again, I'm not totally familiar with this issue, but there was a case making the media rounds here a couple of years ago... in that instance I believe an owner of an adjacent property had been utilizing a portion of the neighbor's property for some number of years, and this use had not been contested by the property's owner. As a result of this action, the neighbor was able to claim possession of this portion of the property in court when they wanted to use it later). You'll need a real estate attorney to sort out that kind of stuff though, and I'm clearly not qualified to give advice on this subject!

Alternatively, you could use this tool:

http://youtu.be/OW2UvW6xLP8

Interesting idea, however, would the fact that he planted trees along what is the end of the runway constitute the neighbor contesting the use of the property and negate the argument?

soaringhiggy wrote:Interesting idea, however, would the fact that he planted trees along what is the end of the runway constitute the neighbor contesting the use of the property and negate the argument?

Good point...........

When I lived in Fla, lawyers would argue that anyone with a pool had to have multiple forms of locks and what seemed like a 24 hour human guard protecting the area so some dumb kid didn't crawl over 6 fences only to drown in said pool... I believe the lawyers called the pool an ( attractive nuisance).. And it seems they won money for the drowned kids parents 99 % of the time too..

If it can be proven this neighbor purposefully planted those trees to cause harm then he would be held liable.. IMHO.

Hello Flyer,

I think you are going to have to rely on your negotiation skills to have these trees removed. There is nothing to prohibit your neighbor from constructing a five story structure or plant trees within 10 feet of the property line. Since your airstrip is private, these trees cannot be condemned or removed as an obstruction like at a public airport.

My neighbor let me remove one 70 foot pine tree from his property that was located on short final for my runway. I fell, limbed and cut the tree into rounds for firewood for him. There are still three cottonwood trees/"80 foot weeds" that make landings and takeoffs difficult. The negotiation continues, so I plan to offer him hunting rights aka: whitetail deer on my runway.



James

Clear Creek, Idaho
Note: There is an airplane in this picture & it depicts the future site of my 400 foot zip-line "what could go wrong"?

James agreed. Anyone remember this one? Less chance at negotiations on this than a couple trees. Advance work could provide an ounce of prevention with the neighbors and is the best lesson from this for the rest of us. A good relationship, an unbuilt second story and an uplanted tree is worth a lot. An empty one.

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dirtstrip wrote:James agreed. Anyone remember this one? Less chance at negotiations on this than a couple trees. Advance work could provide an ounce of prevention with the neighbors and is the best lesson from this for the rest of us. A good relationship, an unbuilt second story and an uplanted tree is worth a lot. An empty one.

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Is a video of the take off available? IMHO the landing is nothing compared to the take off.

Here she be, commentary and all. Originally posted by Whee in January. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11609&hilit=win+luscombe+drawing

I would try that take off.....


Altho I would make ALOT more noise then that guy did...

Stol wrote:I would try that take off.....


Altho I would make ALOT more noise then that guy did...

You'd probably be climbing before you got to the cones Ben.