Here is an example of some of the West Virginia strips out there to be explored on the way from the Graham Field fly-in to the East Tennessee fly-in, early October.

This one is 1250 feet long, has a 135 feet rise from end to end, with a banked 90 degree turn 2/3's into it. But the crazy part is the owner routinely took his Beech Baron in and out of there! Check it out:

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange. ... t-Virginia

patrol guy wrote:
http://www.airfieldinformationexchange. ... t-Virginia

YOWZA !!!

It only looks scary to the trike pilots...



Awesome! It's like an oval track banked turn. Gotta be hell in the downslope crosswinds.

My father, Melvin Grubb, took that photo.

Been there numerous times in a Cub. It is very, very steep - like almost full power to taxi uphill if you land short. The owner, a guy named Swope (RIP) used to fly a Baron in and out all the time. He got too old to manage the Baron so he learned fly a Jet Ranger.

Amazing Dude.

Thanks Mark. That cool about your dad and the photo, and the fact that you are a veteran to it. I understand that Dr Swope has passed away, but he has a son that is an active helicopter pilot.

We have been actively landing on steep slopes, some steeper then that, so the 11 doesn't seem too much hopefully.

We are looking for places to take the super cub boys and girls between our fly -in and one in eastern Tennessee the following week. Do you know of any other "must see" strips in West Virginia??

In between hay crops, this is one place we hit: http://vimeo.com/17314870


And this one was earlier this week at my farm. http://vimeo.com/26701225

Cool strip! To bad its paved!

I like the "P-Factor Berm"!

AKT

I have a video of a runway I landed at in AR. It was a little different too. It is on the chart as Thunder Ridge and is just south of Bull Shoals Lake. It is on AirNav also.

sky bobb, do you have a link to your video? I am always keen on seeing "different" and challenging strips.

Patrol Guy.

Swope was a family friend who was out doing amazing flying and being a great mayor to his town since I was very small. Truly a larger-than-life guy!

Though I grew up flying Super Cubs and gliders in Bluefield, WV, I have not flown much in that neck of the woods in about 30 years. The family Super Cub is out here in Tehachapi living la vida loca in the Great basin / Sierra Nevada / Mojave.

There were some private fields we used to land in in addition to slate dumps in the coal fields (my father has been a commercial/aerial photographer in Bluefield for about 50 years in that neck of the woods and his work included underground coal mines) but it was a long time ago. Not much of southern WV is Ag land; most is densely forested and very rough. Typically, most of the really interesting fields are long gone. Some remaining interesting airports include Pence Springs,WV Welch, WV, New Castle International Gliderport, VA, Hot Springs, VA. I will pick Dad's brain for more. He is at OSH!

Be Safe!