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Reply to "Is it OK to certify a "Loop + Footage"?"

IAG Measure 01 640

Thanks ALL for sharing your advice and experience on measuring on airport runways!  Thanks to your expertise I was right at home when I arrived at the Niagara Falls International Airport to measure.  It was a GREAT experience!  I met the Airport Manager, and he was fully on board for the planned 5K later this summer.  He assigned a tech to me who shadowed my movements and kept us in contact with Air Traffic Control's Ground Control at all times. 

The civilian airport is shared with the US Air Force Reserve's 914th Air Refueling Wing.  All three runways were active, including the big one, 10L/28R, over 2 miles in length.

I was advised this was probably the 1st time anyone had ever ridden bicycle onto the active runways.

We had to always "hold" short at or before runway hold lines and get permission to cross or enter any runway.  The first hold came at my 1-Mile split. A huge KC-135 stratotanker was readying for takeoff.  The big bird weighs over 100,000 pounds and it was loaded with about 200,000 pounds of fuel for re-fueling ops.  It needed just about the entire 2 miles to get airborne.   Once the KC-135 was airborne, ground control advised that I was clear to "turn right onto runway 10-Left", that's the big one!   Having a runway this big enabled us to design a very simple loop course 5K.   It should be real fast - no hills - very few turns.

On my second measure, we had to hold at various locations, including short of the big runway for an executive jet practicing touch-and-go's.  Then to our surprise, ground control stopped us again before we reached the runway:  A huge US Navy Poseidon P8 had entered our airspace and wanted to practice a rapid touch-and-go in the opposite direction, with the wind, on runway 28 Right.  It was great to watch that up close.

The job took about 3 times longer to complete than a street 5K, but my numbers were real good.  It was an awesome experience!

Jeff John

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  • IAG Measure 01 640: The measurment bike readying to measure the RUNWAY 5K
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Last edited by jeffjohn 2
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