Looking for some suggestions besides Asphalt and Concrete for our new Pit Area here at my local club. Keep in mind this club is in Arizona. We do have a nice new paved runway. Our next task is the pit area.

My vote is for "Grass" as long as you have a good program in place to avoid gas spills.


It keeps the dust down and the grass can be cut to varying heights to provide pathways to the runway and a barrier to prevent planes from rolling into the pit area.


Compared to other types of ground cover, it's easy to maintain, doesn't create a high heat area and
can be altered or re arranged easily.

GeoTextile matting.

Originally Posted by Sukhoikid

Looking for some suggestions besides Asphalt and Concrete for our new Pit Area here at my local club. Keep in mind this club is in Arizona. We do have a nice new paved runway. Our next task is the pit area.

We need to see if we can find a bunch of old convair belts like Roger did at Lineville. They were roughly 1" thick rubber locking with pins. Dimensions were 36"x50' if I remember.

Maybe one of the local factories or mines has some?

Geo Textile shrinks way too much and tears way too easily.

We could maybe have someone do a cost analysis for what it would take per month for grass to happen but I doubt the club could support it. And then there's the critters associated with grass in Tucson. We'd have to do pest control on top of the water bill.

Artificial turf is popular in your area, while a high ticket item for new product, there are companies who re-sell used turf from sportsfeilds that are pennies on the dollar. Sometimes even craigslist has ads for used turf

Originally Posted by Show871

Artificial turf is popular in your area, while a high ticket item for new product, there are companies who re-sell used turf from sportsfeilds that are pennies on the dollar. Sometimes even craigslist has ads for used turf

Very solid idea.


No matter what we do I believe we do need to implement a fuel catch can system. The one used at the field I just got back from in San Diego worked well. It was just a handful of small plastic coffee cans that you tossed under your vent line or pointed your muffler line toward (glow)

Originally Posted by Show871

Artificial turf is popular in your area, while a high ticket item for new product, there are companies who re-sell used turf from sportsfeilds that are pennies on the dollar. Sometimes even craigslist has ads for used turf

I was thinking about artificial turf....I need to look into how much it cost to maintain it and how well it would hold up to AZ weather conditions and fuel...You know we will always have someone spill gas on it....

It would be nice to use a combination of asphalt and turf

Originally Posted by Show871

Artificial turf is popular in your area, while a high ticket item for new product, there are companies who re-sell used turf from sportsfeilds that are pennies on the dollar. Sometimes even craigslist has ads for used turf

This is the Artificial Turf that Show871 helped
us put down At the LoveAir Field in Northern Colorado . It has been down about 12-15 Years
and still looks good. .
Hope this helps.
Van

That artificial turf looks great and if it holds up that well, that would be a great solution.


At my home field, we have a specific spot where you are required to refuel if you don't have a fuel recovery capability in your fueling system. The fueling spot is a 4ft X 4ft area covered with square cement tiles.


The grounds keeping crew will make you feel lower than "Pond Scum" if they catch you violating the fueling rules.

That does not sound like a fun atmosphere to fly

It's a great place to fly and lot's of fun as long as your not dumping fuel on the ground.

Originally Posted by Marvan Maxwell

This is the Artificial Turf that Show871 helped
us put down At the LoveAir Field in Northern Colorado . It has been down about 12-15 Years
and still looks good. .
Hope this helps.
Van

The timing of this thread ties into a conversation our club just has this week. Our local Parks & Rec will be replacing the turf at a local sports park. We have contacted them in regards to the material being removed and have finally got a green light from them. We are concerned though because it is "field turf" which is the heavy duty, sand and rubber filled material. It may be far to heavy for us to deal with and be manageable.


Can you tell me if this material in the pics is the basic roll out astro turf, or more similar to what I've mentioned? Any issues you ran into when installing it?


Thanks,
Scott

Originally Posted by sthudson

The timing of this thread ties into a conversation our club just has this week. Our local Parks & Rec will be replacing the turf at a local sports park. We have contacted them in regards to the material being removed and have finally got a green light from them. We are concerned though because it is "field turf" which is the heavy duty, sand and rubber filled material. It may be far to heavy for us to deal with and be manageable.


Can you tell me if this material in the pics is the basic roll out astro turf, or more similar to what I've mentioned? Any issues you ran into when installing it?


Thanks,
Scott

Hi Scott,
I will have to redirect you to Show871. He is the one that put it in at the LoveAir Field .
He is also in the Landscaping Business and can tell you the difference in the two products.
And he is a Good Guy !!!

Thanks
Van

Originally Posted by Marvan Maxwell

This is the Artificial Turf that Show871 helped
us put down At the LoveAir Field in Northern Colorado . It has been down about 12-15 Years
and still looks good. .
Hope this helps.
Van

So an update on our pit situation. We found a place that is willing to sell it for basically 50 cents a square foot. We hope to do something very similar to the photos above...but it still needs to pass through the pit committee.... Hopefully we will see progress soon...it would be nice to see some color is the desert!

Originally Posted by Sukhoikid

So an update on our pit situation. We found a place that is willing to sell it for basically 50 cents a square foot. We hope to do something very similar to the photos above...but it still needs to pass through the pit committee.... Hopefully we will see progress soon...it would be nice to see some color is the desert!

This needs to get pushed through for sure.