Slipping into Sycamore Strip

[CraigH]

Any of you ever flown into Sycamore Strip in Ft. Worth? It's an interesting little airport.

http://www.sycamorestrip.com/

I'm attaching a pic that a buddy took of me on short final.

[Brady]

Craig,

Nice picture. Looks like a sporty little strip.

This is my F21 on a small stretch of dirt road where I know for sure nobody else has ever landed.

Bonus points for anyone else who knows what the round devices in the distance are used for. A hint...they are parachutes strung up between telephone poles.

Brady

[Brady]

Pic didn't show up in the post

Maybe I need to go to computer school...

I thought I attached the photo correctly but it didn't show up in the above post. I attached it in the "Attach file" section on the "post reply" page. It was on a CD.


Brady

[CraigH]

Brady,

Make sure the file size is UNDER 70K bytes. If not, it will not load.

[crispy critter]

Interesting fields

Craig,
If you want to fly into some interesting fields then you need to come see me here in east Ky.I know of a few that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck just by looking at them....it's really a fun learning experience.

[CraigH]

Challenging Fields

I'd love to! Always looking to expand my horizons.

These are probably the most interesting I've been to so far:

http://www.airnav.com/airport/T40

http://www.airnav.com/airport/TA59

http://www.airnav.com/airport/F78

The first is a GREAT place to eat. The second is probably the shortest 'official' airport I've been able to find, and the third has the most narrow runway I've seen so far.

[stormman]

Bonus points for anyone else who knows what the round devices in the distance are used for. A hint...they are parachutes strung up between telephone poles.

Old Skydivers

[Hank Jarrett]

The parachutes keep the wires from "singing" or worse yet, whipping in the wind from vortex shedding.
Hank

[Brady]

Strafing Targets

I'll try to attach this picture again. I think I've got it to the right size now.

If it doesn't come out in the post, the picture is of my T-craft sitting on a small dirt service road on a military bombing and strafing range (R3801, Claiborne Range near Alexandria, LA)

The parachutes are strafing targets for A-10s. Although you can't see it, there's an acoustic scoring system that's behind a berm, just in front of the parachutes. It counts the rounds that pass within a certain distance and the range officer can record a score.

Brady

[Brady]

Close up view

This is a "Strafe Pit" up close. It doesn't look that big in the pic, but that's a full parachute.

Brady

[Brady]

Aerial View

This is from the air looking to the west. There are four strafe targets in the plowed out rectangular area. The straight bit of road leading to the "pits" is where I landed.

We had to meet with the range folks to get ready for a recent A-10 competition called "Hawgsmoke." Instead of driving two hours from Barksdale AFB, we hopped in the T-Craft and made short work of it. We also landed on R3803 (Peason Range) that day.

The competition took place 29 April-2 May. We won it last time (47th Fighter Squadron, Air Force Reserves) in '02 therefore got saddled with hosting it this time around. Each A-10 squadron flew four jets in (the ones based overseas shared jets with the stateside units) and we staged out of Alexandria Air Park, which was formerly an A-10 base. There were dozens of media and guests as well, and we had a blast, but the competition got almost entirely cancelled for bad weather.

Brady

[Hank Jarrett]

HOLY CRUD! I thought you were talking about the LITTLE parachutes you occasionally see on long cables and wires. I should have waited to see the pictures.
Didn't it make you nervous having your "Target of Opportunity" parked there while they were target shooting?
Hank

[CraigH]

Brady,
Have you gotten that field approval for hard point .50 cal mounts on the F21 through the FAA yet?

[Brady]

Light attack...

Craig,

Yeah, hoping for that .50 cal. approval...using a 12 guage with a slug barrel and the door off when needed for now. 9mm works in a pinch too--only need to slide the window back for that.

Hank,

No strafin' going on while the T-Cart was there...

That pic was taken several weeks in advance of the competition...though, we do use Claiborne range pretty much daily.

Brady