Gravel Runway Tips?

[YWGGuy]

Hey guys,

Other than not doing a runup in a bunch of gravel, what other procedures do you guys use to cause as little damage to the airplanes as you can?

[ettw]

1 ) If you need reverse, do so at speed and get rid of it below 60 or so. If I really needed alot of reverse I would keep the nose up (King Air 200) as long as I could then as I eased the nose down I would roll off the reverse.
2 ) Park into wind or downhill.
3 ) On shut down kill the engines before feathering (if thats applicable)
4 ) Sweep in front of the props and below
5 ) On start, I would ease the power lever towards beta as the prop came out of feather and would leave it there, observing the area below and in front
6 ) Minimum power to get moving
7 ) Keep er rolling
8 ) Easy on the power up. I would generally use 200 feet getting to take off power if there was little or no wind.

Thats all I can think of for now. Of course I don't know what you're flying so some of this may not be applicable.

Cheers,

ETTW

[into the blue]

Just one more thing I can add is leaving the flaps up as long as possible before takeoff and raising them as soon as possible after touchdown, if you are flying a low-wing twin, in order to prevent stones flying right into that thin sheet metal.

[ahramin]

The most important thing is keep it rolling. You have to something pretty stupid to rock the props at 15 knots, but it's practically impossible to avoid picking up rocks once you have stopped in the wrong place. Most beginners just don't realize the difference a little airspeed makes.

[sheephunter]

Have to agree with the others that while you are taxiing in be planning where you can stop and then get going again using minimal power and not blow gravel all over the other aircraft and baggage.

[TeePeeCreeper]

All the above, and allow her to keep on moving forward as you kill the engine/feather the prop(s).

[Big Pistons Forever]

+ 1 to everything above and I will add a few additional things


Talk to everyone. Many gravel strips have known soft/rough areas, prefered parking spots etc etc. For some reason almost every gravel runway seems to have the ramp at one end. Within reason and subject to safety and traffic, take a downwind landing which will lead to a rollout right to the ramp, over an into wind landing requiring a turn and a lenghly backtrack. If you have to roll out and then backtrack and there is a crosswind make your turn for the backtrck into the wind. Stay in the middle of the runway the edges can often be soft.

Finally, plan ahead and make every effort to avoid stopping. The ideal situation is the aircraft starts moving slowly as soon as the engine stabilizes after the start and the taxi and takeoff are done in one continuous motion.

[Tiger Moth]

Get her in ground effect on the way out, keep er there until you actually have enough speed to fly. Easier on the props if you get her up right away.

[Meatservo]

I know this sounds kind of dumb, but if there is a slope to the ramp area, park so the plane is facing downhill. Takes less power to get moving. There are a lot of ramp surfaces in the north with a slight grade.

I've also wondered, if you're flying a machine that has blade latches, like some "A" model Caravans, whether it might be easier on the prop to stop the plane in Beta (not reverse though), and start it while on the latches, then it saves all the fuss of going in and out of feather. Usually planes with this feature other than the caravan have the props pretty far away from the ground in any case. Just a thought.

[ahramin]

If you have blade latches by all means use them. Much safer for the prop. Just go real easy taking it off the latches.

[Liquid Charlie]

For soft runways -- lead with the inside engine a little in the turn - this will keep the inside wheel from augering-in and sinking to the axle - opposite to what you normally do --

[hamstandard]

Consider the cloud of dust that you are kicking up while taxiing. Have been in big turboprops and jets on gravel and it is not helpful to suck in a bunch of dust on the turnaround at the end of a runway after backtracking, so on the turnaround at the threshold, turn in such a way, if possible so that the wind is taking the dustcloud away from where you are going.

Some facilities operated by well off companies(such as mines) have water trucks that can water the runways on request. Have seen that done at a couple of places.

[185_guy]

Land and take-off into wind. The 30 seconds you save by not backtracking or the extra minute of air time it takes to turn the airplane towards your destination is no excuse for taking a 10 kt tailwind, (and then missing taxiways, using reverse and making the airplane disappear into a cloud of dust and rocks pinging off the prop) and destroying a propeller or the leading edge of wings/stabs from rock dents. Your touchdown/roatation speed should be as slow as safely able in the circumstances.
Try to hold the nosewheel off as much as safely able,(if you are unfortunate enough to have one!!) don't stop moving until you're parked, park into wind or downhill (depending on the situation) and be conscious of other a/c when you park, start-up and are taxiing so that you do not send dust/rocks towards them directly.
Ask questions to the experienced people you work with and learn from others.

If you are flying from gravel, it most likely means you are in the wilderness someplace so after a short ground time of having an open airplane door, the inside of the windscreen will be full of flies. Get a piece of hose (garden hose works well)about 4 feet long. Once airborne stick about 6" out your window and use the other end to vacuum out the flies.

[ettw]

The tube works well on these little buggers. This is on Coats Island Nunavut at SE of Southhampton Island.



Cheers,

ETTW

[Gumby]

Often If in a soft spot and while still using a low power setting, I find pulling the control column back and forth a few times smoothly allows me to "rock myself" out of a most situations dry or wet. It helps to get the thing rolling, sometimes while using the lowest power setting.

Also, think ahead of where your going to park, and if you need to turn around to backtrack/reposition, will you blast the passengers who just exited your airplane, or those who are about to get on? Good Luck.

[Youngback]

I leave it in feather when I start. Very little suction and the wind tends to blow debris away from the props. On a single like the Caravan, get the nosewheel off the ground as soon as possible. In some spots, I get the nose off the ground before I give it max power. The vortex off the prop can suck a fair amount of stuff up off the ground. Even in beta while parked there will be a little vortex.

Rocking the controls can get you moving with a lot less power than would be otherwise required.

On a twin like the King Air, when you are rolling off to the ramp, you want to keep moving with no more than idle power but be very careful about making any turns at too high of a speed. Rocks can pinch out from your nosewheel and deflect into the prop on the outside of the turn and make some big and expensive dents to file out.

Obviously, if it's muddy, ask if it is worth it to get in there in the first place. If there is any rocks in the mud, it will come off your tires and straight into your prop(s) which can end up costing more in damage than the charter is worth. I found at one point a speed at which the mud would just start to come off the tires and at that point I made sure I was at full power (on takeoff) to make the prop blast blow the mud/rocks back. You could see it coming forward and then blowing away from the disk. If I was landing, you had to be at minimum power and stop as soon as possible. In the worst cases, I had to shut down the engine on the landing roll and wait for the strip to dry up. With experience, you will see what works and what doesn't. Just think things through and try to see the results in your head of what a particular action will do. Good luck.


I've seen a lot of pilots in Africa who seem to think because they land on gravel, they are bush pilots with gravel experience. This despite that their props are torn to shreds because no one has ever taught them the proper way of doing things and also they think that prop damage is unavoidable. The props will take more damage than a pavement to pavement aircraft but it is surprising how little damage you can get if you know what you are doing.

This plus everything that everyone else has written.

185 guy, as long as the winds were not too strong, I always used to land in one direction and takeoff going the other way. Turning in the runway used to do the most damage from what I saw. Where I was flying, thats how we did it and never had any problems. Can't speak for your neck of the woods. I really like the garden hose idea. I wish I had thought of that one. Could have saved myself a lot of horsefly bites