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decent dirt road; happens all the time. We are very fortunate where I fly. We have mile-long runways that are mostly well maintained, at least as best as can be done by the company. A couple runways we use are owned by someone else and they apparently have no idea about what a runway is supposed to be. The company I work for bought land with one of the worst runways we flew from and invested in repairs and got it up to speed. As it was; it was completely unusable, safely. It’s one of our best runways now. Another runway which is the only fully paved strip we have, other than the home airport, is in the process of falling apart, I have no idea what will become of it as the asphalt continues to give way. This is a good time to mention, the asphalt patch stuff you buy at big hardware stores is absolutely no good for patching runways. Don’t even try it. In my experience, a waste of money, time and effort. As a hired pilot, you really don’t have much choice or say in runways you fly from. The one closest to the work is the one you’ll fly off. I’d darn sure bring up deficiencies, anyway. If a runway needs maintenance, the operator needs to address
it sooner than later. There’s been more than one airplane shut down because of a busted tailwheel spring, or landing gear leg. Many have gone off the end and crashed when a longer runway could have very well prevented it. Remember, an airplane flies by airspeed, not ground speed. Every hole or bump, every movement of the control surfaces slows you down, especially if you have to make large corrections dodging holes, bumps, mud puddles, or off grade slants. A pilot has enough on his hands and in his mind getting the airplane off and back on the ground without having to squirrel his way around an obstacle laden runway. Any operation will benefit from just simply maintaining their runways. It costs money and time. It can be a lot of work and expense. If an operator stays on top of the situation, it’s not that bad once it’s fixed the right way. Either way, we pilots will fly the airplane and do our level best to get the job done in a safe, precise and effective manner. A good runway always helps. Fly well and stay safe!
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