The Sturgis, SD RC Air Park. . .

[nesikachad]

. . .isn't quite there yet but we are working on it!!

We've found the land, almost have that part taken care of. An excavation company is going to donate some time/equipment for grading a runway (50'X800') and we've tentatively got a way to get hooked up to city water.

All at no cost so far!! Saaaweeeet.

Now we just have to get the surface paved.

Our goal is to be able to host a USRA giant scale pylon race without the use of the municipal airport. I think 800' of runway will get it done.

The facility will be located just outside of town between Ft Meade and the Full Throttle Saloon on a stretch of BLM land.

Once its all open we'll have a big invite. The Black Hills is a great place during the summer months.

wish us luck,

Cheers.

Chad

[cjcyclesrc]

I've been to the Motorcycle Rally 3 times. The Black Hills are definitely a cool place to visit. I have to stop at Wall Drug every time. After you have read that many signs you have to stop.

[Al Lewis]

I lived there for 6½ years. Loved every miinute of it. Beautiful country with the best hunting and fishing there is!!

[Flyfalcons]

That's awesome, Chad. I used to fly freight into Rapid City and spent the days hanging out around the Black Hills area. Beautiful place.

[Tankd]

Black Hills area is one beautiful spot.. Anything you guys think of, it probably can be done. Spent 13 years there at Ellsworth. Would have retired there, but someone got a wild hair to send me to Tucson in the middle of summer. I started to fly with the Propbusters in Rapid. Now, I'm back home in Texas.
Let us know when the invite is so I can plan a road trip back 'home'.

[RVBlack]

Thats about 3 1/2 hours for me, I should check that out this summer. Whats the elevation there ? It's 4000' here at Alliance, NE.

[nesikachad]

UPDATE:

Well, just got word from my buddy (the guy doing all the leg work) that it's official now. The land is ours. I'm still in Iraq (one week to go!!) so he's been handling all of it.

The runway is a bit shorter than we originally hoped. 500'X75'. Still not too bad I guess. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the weather to clear out. I can't wait for spring!

This brings up a subject. The runway and what to do. 500' of gleaming concrete or asphalt sure sounds sexy but that is a daunting financial undertaking. Hopefully someday we'll get there but what to do in the meantime? Grass is good but there is a lot of maintenance that goes with it and this area has been going through a dry spell lately.

So, what is a low maintenance option that is CHEAP? (tall order I know)





Here's the Long/lats. If you have Google Earth, give it a peek sometime. Prevailing winds are usually out of the West or from the North.

44*24'25.75"N
103*27'52.00"W

The Buffalo Chip Camp Grounds hosts a fly in during the latter part of summer. Since we are just down the road we've got a hand shake agreement not to allow flying at our field during those events just to mitigate the possibility of a frequency overlap. Aside from that we hope to offer year round flying. Our winters do produce some nice days believe it or not!

The scenery here is pretty cool. We have a ridge line to the south with rolling hills and due north is Bear Butte which is a big ol pimple sprouting out of the earth. Kinda neat. Right down the road is a convenience store that has all the daily junk food accommodations for RC flying. Very cool and Sturgis is less than two miles away if you want to go sit down for a nice noon meal.

I really think this club will grow into a great facility. We plan to exploit and plagiarize the Sturgis name to make this place a marquee facility.

fun stuff!

[NCFR "Lucky"]

Sounds awesome Chad. I am planning on coming out for the motorcycle rally. I might have to bring a plane with me. either way, we will definately stop by. Staying at the Buffalo Chip

[nesikachad]

You'll be less than a mile from us then.

Would love to have you come by. Besides I want to see how your going to strap a plane to a bike!! That'd be a pretty cool looking set of saddle bags. . .


Unfortunately right during Rally I'll be back in Baghdad for a two month "sabbatical." I'm just not quite ready to give up 12K a month yet. (Weening myself. . )