In February 2008, we decided to change our existing grass runway to a new geotextile runway.   Geotextile material is used under roadways when the ground is soft to keep the roadbed together..... they typically lay down a layer of geotextile, cover it with gravel and a layer of asphalt.   Since this seems to be the new way to go to build an RC runway - and is much cheaper than asphalt runways, the decision was simple.

Another reason for the change is that our irrigation pump "died".... and it's roughly $4000 to replace it......  Our budget for the entire geotextile runway was $1200.

In order to eliminate weekly watering and mowing, we decided to completely do away with our grass strip, which was a nice sized 40' x 400'.   It was a great runway, but required lots of water and even more mowing......  and the mower she's a gettin' 'old.....!

 The Geotextile material came in 300' rolls that were 15' wide, so we decided on a 30' x 300' runway.  We also decided to add a small taxiway to make it easier to get onto the runway from the lawn, so by removing a small amount from the end of each roll, we were able to create a taxiway and still have enough material left over to make patches or whatever.....

A road grader was brought in to level the ground, as well as to remove the old layer of sod.  Joe Humbert of Valley Sand and Gravel did a great job - and gave us quite an overrun.... we could actually have up to a 500' strip in the future, if need be.

In reading articles regarding the use of geotextile for RC runways, it was stressed that the ground need not be perfectly smooth, but as good as possible.   As you can see from the above photo, it was pretty smooth when Joe finished - and very hard-packed!   Once Joe was done, we raked out the major bumps, and began rolling out the material.

Mike Blue and Rocky Daniels checking out the progress....

Ralph seems pleased to be rolling out the first of the material.

It took a little doing, but Rock and Ralph figured out a good way to pierce the thick material to get the staples started..... we made the "staples" from 9 ga. fence wire.  They had to be pounded into the ground with a mallet.  The first roll went down fairly easily, once we figured out to roll out the material, straighten it up as best we could by hand, then go along and begin stapling.  A little trial and error, and it all started going down pretty smoothly.

The second roll was laid out next to the first one, with an overlap of approx. 6" .  Ralph applied tar and Rocky and Scott went along and added staples to the center after him.  Ralph also laid out the taxiway.

Pretty happy crew, eh?

Here's the runway after a full day of stapling..... it's got some small wrinkles in the material, but according to others who've used the material, it will shrink down tight in a few weeks of sunny weather.....  and we've found they don't really effect even small airplanes.  Runway looks short in this photo, but it's 30' x 300'!

You'll notice Rocky is working on one end with the orange staple bucket whilst Ralph (with Buck the wonder dog) prepares to be the first to fly off the new surface.....

This photo was taken after the runway was down for about a week - you can see most of the large wrinkles have gone away already. 

This photo was taken a month after installation.

Final Thoughts - the runway is really nice to fly off - especially after years of a pretty rough grass strip!  Planes handle really well on the geotextile, and it's nice to have a plane roll out as it should after landing.   It'll be very nice for our Father's Day Fly-In!

Many Many Special Thanks to.....

Helpers Rocky Daniels, Ralph Rose

Dale Perry who watched the shop while we worked

Technical support Don Mooney

Valley Sand and Gravel - Joe Humbert, Brad Humbert

David Cochrane - Koncrete Industries

UPDATE!!!  We purchased another 300' roll of the geotextile material and plan to extend the runway from 300' to 450' in April 08!

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