Well it's getting regular that someone is cutting circles in our field with those darn 4 wheel drive trucks. Have any of you guys had any experience with that at your fields and what did you do to combat it? Eddie Fulmer Pres. West Alabama Aero Modelers...
West Alabama? Good luck!
We had that problem once. They would come at night and do burnouts on the runway. Have you ever seen the tack strips the police use? They work! A couple in the longer grass at the approaches to the runway did the trick.
Efulmer bored us with:
Start laying out caltrops in the grass when you're finished. At around $400/tire, they'll soon start looking elsewhere to 4x4.
WTH
Paul McIntosh bored us with:
Oops, sorry, my post was redundant.
WTH
Depends considerably on local laws, ownership of the property, etc., etc. Most places would require input from the land owner to get the police involved. If the land owner doesn't care, you could be out of luck. Whatever you do, don't do anything that may damage the vehicles, puncture tires, etc., until you check with local law enforcement. That kind of irresponsible and immature activity does nothing but make you the bad guys and you could find yourselves facing criminal charges and/or a law suit as a result.
Check with your land lord and with local law enforcement and see what can be done. In the meantime, you might try having a couple of guys spend a night out there to get the culprits on film. That alone may be enough to chase them away.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Chuck
A little dis-information can go a long way. One of the bike paths in town was having trouble along the same lines. Every time I saw a vehicle nearby I would approach in an overly friendly manner and sympathetically "warn" the drivers how the authorities have been cracking down on folks driving where they should not be. Mention one or two guys you "saw" get $800 fines and an "impound" on their vehicle. Word of mouth will eventually get back to most of the problem people, and you have recruited others in your cause. I was amazed at how quickly this worked in this case. If it works for the CIA, why not us?
How about contacting a local 4 wheel drive club? These folks are responsible hobbyists and might have some good ideas and knowledge of local problems. Many clubs are associated with local law enforcement agencies for search and rescue, giving you some inside avenues to pursue the problem.
Tom
experience with
Ya know - your post got me to thinking....
I'm assuming this is happening at night. What about burying a few well placed steel pipes in the ground - short sections about 2 feet long and an i.d. of about 2". these could easily be capped so aircraft tires pass over the top of them. When the field is secured, take the caps off and place some cutoff sections of steel fence posts (like those used for electric fencing) into the holes. Cut them off so they stick up about 18". Anybody that drove over them with a four wheel drive pickup would end up with serious repair bills. If anybody asks - you used them for balloon breaking masts for RC events.
This assumes that you OWN the pr>Well it's getting regular that someone is cutting circles in our field with
I got two words for ya...mine field.
Hmmmm! You know, after reading some of these responses! I'm no longer quite as shocked as I was over the behavior of a few troops in an Iraqi prison. I now understand where they got it from. No doubt learned it from people back here.
We had a similar problem. Our field is accessed by going up an road that serves as an irrigation canal access. We had problems with guys doing the circle cut, playing "Hide-the-weenie" with their girl friends, etc. We solved the problem by getting the county to let us put in a gate. Pretty much solved the problem. They can still get in, but they have to work at it.
The old timers in the club told me an interesting story. The guy who used to own our field (He GAVE us the land about eight years ago) found a stalled car in the middle of the field one early Saturday morning. There was no doubt that at the time they broke an axle, they were cutting some fine circles in our grass. They also left long burnout strips down the asphalt runway. This car had been seen doing this on at least four other occasions. The guy proceeded to take a baseball bat to that car. Windows, head and tail lights, and various body panels received the "Custom by crunch" treatment. THEN, he waited around for the guys to collect the car. When they finally showed up, they were arrested. (They got a slap on the wrist for tresspassing and vandalism) Nobody ever found out who tore up that car, though. Bill
Yeah, Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney etc. etc.
Quis custodies custodiet?
And you Mr. Jones (or Kline, or whoever you are) are the reason why our country keeps getting crapped on!
RS
On 5/16/2004 5:42 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:
One thing you can do, however this will require some manpower, is dig a trench about 3' - 4' wide x 5' - 6' deep across the width of the field. Put some 1/4" ply over the trench and place the sod you removed on top of the trench. If the ply sags from the weight of the sod, place some
2x2 vertically under it about every 3' - 4' for support. During the day the club members can see where the trench is and not walk on it, and, unless you are flying VERY HEAVY planes, you have use of the field. You should find some 4x4s "lawn darted" in the morning.As far as anyone is concerned, The trench is for providing protection for a camera man who is (will be in the near future) taking action photos/movies of the planes.
Since you lease the flying field and maintain it (cut the grass, seed, fertilizer, roll it, etc), you should be able to do what you would like (within reason of course) at/on the field. Obviously, the "camera man's pit" will have to be filled back in "at a future date".
Then don't worry about the overseers bailing out your pitiful welfare island the next time some European despot wants it for reason known only to him.
RS
Hey D.H., I guess you really got a charge of that guy getting his head hacked off becuase he happened to be an AMERICAN. Maybe you should go visit your friends in Iraq.
Amazing! Even your Latin sucks! But in response to your question, show me one worthy of being the custodian!
Not hardly Mr. Scholefield! It's because of people who teach and allow our youth to commit such atrocities! It's all a matter of values and ethics. Are you one of those people? I for one would lock up those young degenerates and throw away the key. After giving them the spanking they deserve!
What would the "Greatest Generation" (yours) do about it?
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