Flying in an old airfield ...

[Cubflyer]

Hello fellow Super Cub enthusiasts,
I'm new to this forum and wanted to introduce myself and share a great experience that I had with my Super Cub yesterday after work.  I live in the Indianapolis area and I did an internet search for abandoned airfields around Indy.  I found one called Brookside Air Park not far from my house and thought it would be an ideal place to fly.  If it was a large enough field for full sized planes, my Super Cub aught to have enough room to maneuver!

The airfield has been abandoned for 20+ years, but the hanger building is still standing, although in need of repair.  The runways/taxiways are seriously degraded but I did find a patch clear enough to take off from and to shoot approaches.  Definitely refined my skills at putting the bird down exactly where I need to.  Attached a pic below of my Cub loaded for bear with some bombs in the Air Drop Module and the old hangar in the background.  

I had a great time yesterday trying to fly the perfect pattern, shoot the perfect approach, improve my dive bombing skills, and even practiced a few stall turns etc.

Felt kind of spooky standing in the middle of what was once an active airfield, but I'm sure that the place appreciated the sound of a prop spinning again ... even if on a smaller scale.  

Happy flying, and keep the dirty side down! 

[spindeepster]

Wow, cool. I work on an active Navy base and daydream about the smooth runway and wide-open space. Only problem for me would be the security escort off the base should I attempt to fly there!

[Cubflyer]

Yes that would be cool!  I was in Army Aviation for 10 years, and if I had been into the hobby then, it would have been great to fly around those wide open spaces in/around the airfield.  I'm thinking of bringing a weed wacker to this airfield to make the runway a bit more usable.  

[spindeepster]

Aug 1, 2013 15:04:57 GMT 1 Cubflyer said:

......I'm thinking of bringing a weed wacker to this airfield to make the runway a bit more usable.  

I WOULD! I'd also take some weed killer like "RoundUp" to keep the weeds at bay. Every visit you could spend a little time "improving" your new-found airfield by extending the cleared runway a bit. Keep us posted!

[prarieflyer]

Awesome find. We have an abandon municipal field not too terrible far from me. Grass runway, but with some TLC it could be of great use.

[Cubflyer]

Went back out to the old airfield again today and spent some time on runway improvement. Took a weed whacker to the tall weeds and that helped a great deal. My approaches did not have to be quite so steep. I came as close as I ever have to crashing today ... Was zooming around my friend and I at half throttle and after flying past/over our position in a dive, I barely pulled out of the dive in time. My prop and wings did a number on some of the tall weeds that I didn't get with the weed whacker. Too close for my comfort! I spent the rest of that battery making traffic patterns. All in all a great day at an improving flying site.

[prarieflyer]

There is a field I fly that has really tall hay on one side and corn on the other. It's a pain if you go down. But the abandoned airfield would be cool to fly at.

[Cubflyer]

Here in Indiana, there are lots of wide open spaces with crops like corn, soybeans etc.  I've been tempted, but have never flown over cultivated fields, because I figured the farmer would not be too amused.  That would be difficult to find your plane if it went down in some tall corn or hay too ... so far I haven't had to run a search and rescue mission on the cub.  The location I'm searching for now is one where there is a decent amount of smooth asphalt/concrete to take off and land.  The old airfield is in decent shape, but it will take a bit of work to get it squared away.  If only the Super Cub were a better grass lander!

[prarieflyer]

I've added 2.5" sport wheels and a 1.25" tail wheel from a stratos. No issues landing on grass. Field needs to have a somewhet smooth grass fields free of ruts and such.