[TowerTalk] FAA & Private Airstrips

[William Hein]

My family and I recently moved to a wonderful house in beautiful Glade Park CO (on the other side of Colorado National Monument from Grand Junction.  The house itself is an ultra-energy efficient Earthship (Google "Glade Park Earthship" for more info).  We have 35 rural acres of land around our house in a low population density rural area.  All in all it's going to be a great place for ham radio.

I've had stations in Malibu CA (as KC6EDP and AA6TT), Tiffany CO (as AA6TT/0) and Topsham VT (AA6TT/1 and NT1Y) so I have some idea of what works and what doesn't with regard to terrain, RF and the ionosphere.  In this regard my new location is superb with great 'shots' to EU and JA and elsewhere and is confirmed by the success the other ham who lives up here - Jerry K0DU - has in contests and pileups.  I'm counting the days until the ground thaws and tower construction can start in earnest - I've been off the air due to a heavy workload for several years and I'm dying to be back on the air.

Since moving in I've noticed a small private plane passing overhead fairly low (I'd say 100 feet or less) on a regular basis and landing nearby.  Checking Google Maps aerial photos I discovered a small grass airstrip with a windsock - "Pinyon Airport" - on what I believe is private land a little over 5 km SE of me (5.586 km per Google).  The runway is not pointed towards my house nevertheless seeing the plane flyover directly overhead so low motivate me to Google FAA, airports and towers.  Here is a picture from Google Maps of my house with a line drawn to the closest point on the airstrip:

	http://www.aa7xt.com/ 

if you want to take a gander at my place on Google Maps yourself:

	  39.013949 N
	-108.744371 W

	479 South 16 1/2 Road
	Glade Park CO 81523

The FAA Website TOWAIR indicated that "Structure does not require registration"after I plugged in my coordinates along with elevation (6840-ft ASL approx.). There are no airports within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of the coordinates you provided."  TOWAIR went on to caution "TOWAIR's findings are not definitive or binding".  Since "Pinyon Airport" (a rather pretentious designation for a grass airstrip with a windsock) is 5.5 km away I am guess it is either not registered with the FAA or somehow doesn't count as a real airport.

I have a 142-foot Big Bertha tower which I previously had installed in Vermont which I intend to reinstall here along with at least one other 100-ft + tower and a few smaller structures.  For many reasons I'd hate to see a airplane run into Bertha.

So what should I do now?  Contact the FAA for an opinion?  Find out who owns the airstrip and give them a verbal or written heads up on my tower plans and also request they avoid flying low over my house?  Something else?

73
Bill

-----
William Hein, AA7XT
(ex-AA4XT, NT1Y, AA6TT, KC6EDP)

AMSAT Life Member
ARRL Life Member
UKSMG Member

1st W to OH0 QSO on 6m
1st North America to Asia QSO on 60m

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