Runway near Claregalway

jenningso

Hi. Does anybody know what the status is of this runway near Claregalway? I have seen it several times from overhead but I see it's got planning as a farm road!

Bing Maps Location

Planning File

mackjark

Yes it's a farm road, not a runway. That's all, an easy mistake to make given that it's looks like runway. Obviously you could use it to land a microlight there.

But there are microlight strips nearby.

DOCARCH

mackjark wrote: »

Yes it's a farm road...

Funny looking and pretty high spec farm road! Must be for a pretty wide tractor!!!

green123

mackjark wrote: »

Yes it's a farm road, not a runway. That's all, an easy mistake to make given that it's looks like runway. Obviously you could use it to land a microlight there.

But there are microlight strips nearby.

it is not a farm road.

i dont know what it is but it cant be just a farm road, there must be more to it than that.

it is very strange

It's an airstrip - you can see it under construction on streetview:
I hope this link works

jamo2oo9

I'm sorry but who what farmer would fork out a couple of 10Gs to built a long road/path for a tractor to the end of the field that has a dug-out ditch at the end of it. It's most likely a personal airfield for the owner.

LeftBase

It's in class C airspace a lot of the time during VFR so it's not a great place for a little airstrip or microlighting place

Tenger

jamo2oo9 wrote: »

...... It's most likely a personal airfield for the owner.

Looks that way. Is that a hanger at the end on the Bing maps link?

jamo2oo9

Tenger wrote: »

Looks that way. Is that a hanger at the end on the Bing maps link?

Seems like it. Perfect size of a small private aircraft and definitely to small for a farm plot unless the farmer intends to build the sheds along the paving and using it for cattle milking?

knucklehead6

maybe it's HopperDavy's!!

flazio

Look around it, plenty of room for expansion. Galway Airport is saved

Pataman

Its Ryanair's Galway base.

xtradel

Pataman wrote: »

Its Ryanair's Galway base.

You mean "Dublin (west) T3"

mackjark

No, it's a farm road and that's not a hangar but an agricultural shed. I'm sure the owner would be unhappy if it was broadcast to all and sundry that his farm road had been mistaken for a runway.

Growler!!!

mackjark wrote: »

No, it's a farm road and that's not a hangar but an agricultural shed. I'm sure the owner would be unhappy if it was broadcast to all and sundry that his farm road had been mistaken for a runway.

I'm sure if it is a farm road, the owner wouldn't care either way.

DOCARCH

mackjark wrote: »

No, it's a farm road and that's not a hangar but an agricultural shed.

...farm road to and from where? More like a farm dual carrigeway looking at the width of it...or just about the right width for landing a light aircraft!

LeftBase

It's the stuff of PFL/FL dreams that!!

BonkeyDonker

LeftBase wrote: »

It's in class C airspace a lot of the time during VFR so it's not a great place for a little airstrip or microlighting place

Not at the moment it isn't. Galway was only Class C when the tower was manned, which may not be the case for the foreseeable future. Unmanned it reverts to Class G

LeftBase

BonkeyDonker wrote: »

Not at the moment it isn't. Galway was only Class C when the tower was manned, which may not be the case for the foreseeable future. Unmanned it reverts to Class G

When Galway was open it was class C much of the day. 0800Z-1600Z if I recall. Looks as if construction on this strip of road or whatever started well before the closure notice.

I well remember them not manning the tower when they went on lunch and doing laps of Kinvarra while Shannon FIS tried to get them on the phone!:rolleyes:

jamo2oo9

I'm sorry but I'm not convinced that it's a farm road. It's too wide to be built just for tractors and even the largest tractor in Ireland would only take up less than a half of the width of the road. At the end of the road there is a burrow/ditch and the fields nearby are too small for tilling or harvesting. Fine for grazing for cattle but cattle don't need a road that wide..

BeardySi

Sigh... irony really is lost on some people...

You know what it is, I know what it is, the farmer knows what it is...

However he got permission to build a farm road, so that's what it is....

jamo2oo9

Treadhead wrote: »

Sigh... irony really is lost on some people...

You know what it is, I know what it is, the farmer knows what it is...

However he got permission to build a farm road, so that's what it is....

I'm not like that. I just can't see why would a farmer build a road of that size, width and length just purely for his tractor. His shed doesn't even look that big. I know a lot of farmers that would have a farm of 3-4 acres large and have one tractor (I'm not including the fields for grazing or crops), a trailer, a combine and some cases, a mapro.

DieselPowered

jamo2oo9 wrote: »

I just can't see why would a farmer build a road of that size, width and length just purely for his tractor.

Read the thread before your's again and take the hint hint.......read between the lines and you will get your answer

jamo2oo9

DieselPowered wrote: »

Read the thread before your's again and take the hint hint.......read between the lines and you will get your answer

That everyone thinks it's an airfield? I got that.. But others claim it's a farm road.

Shamrock231

jamo2oo9 wrote: »

That everyone thinks it's an airfield? I got that.. But others claim it's a farm road.

Yeh, a "Farm Road", not a Farm Road...

MadYaker

FWVT

A tractor path that leads to a ditch at the end...a fat lot of use that is.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,535431,735844,6,3

mickdw

But if he is known to use it as a runway, the planning department will be down on him like a ton of brick. Im sure it can only be a runway but he will not have an easy time with Planning officials.
I would go so far as to say that he was better to have no planning whatsoever. To knowingly mislead the planning authority tends to annoy them.

GTE

There is quite the assumption that a student would be well versed in the lying about planning permission. Face palms away with you.

notharrypotter

That everyone thinks it's an airfield? I got that

a student would be well versed in the lying about planning permission

But if he is known to use it as a runway, the planning department will be down on him like a ton of brick. Im sure it can only be a runway but he will not have an easy time with Planning officials.

From reading between the lines its seems that it is what it not what was initially proposed.

So question is.
how would this individual treat the parts of the rules of the air that equally dont suit them?

Stovepipe

Look, the guy was probably told that planning permission for a tarred runway would not be forthcoming and that the easiest way to do it would be to apply to have a tarred farm road allowed. He can drive his farm machinery along it any time he likes in the pursuit of his lawful business as a farmer and he can occasionally use his other off-road vehicle, which happens to be an aeroplane, along it, too. Now, unless his neighbours object to his aircraft and provided he keeps his nose clean, then he can carry on....there are several other tarred/hardcore runways in the country that operate under pretty much the same conditions, ie, don't make a nuisance of yourself and carry on. an Irish solution to an Irish problem.
regards
Stovepipe

homerjay2005

does anybody actually know if this man, actually owns a plane?

jenningso

The reason why I posted this thread was out of curiosity. I'm not a pilot myself, but I am often in aircraft. Whilst flying in the area a while back, possibly well over a year ago, we heard some pilot radio the Galway tower looking for a runway near claregalway to land, NOT the airport. Galway tower hadn't a clue what he was talking about. Eventually the pilot found it and was gone without issue. Possibly came from Birr if I remember correctly. It spiked our interest and we happened to fly over it a few times and wondered how the hell had Galway tower not know about this.

In fairness, the planner who signed off on this must have had his eyes closed. It's an incredibly blatant attempt at duping the planning authority, with photos of harvesters and tractors attached, daft! We all know what it is and in fairness, the land would be unsuitable for a grass strip. If I was him, I would have attempted to put the foundation in alright, but dress it with a few inches of topsoil and sow grass so that it was in effect a solid grass strip. Nobody would care and it would be nobody's business. As it stands, we can all see it from overhead and anybody just browsing Bing maps can see it too. They're building it openly on Google maps street view! More than anything, I'm just flabbergasted how the planners plotted in the application and signed off on it without alarm bells ringing in their heads. Or should I be surprised anymore!? The road to nowhere.........

notharrypotter

the guy was probably told that planning permission for a tarred runway would not be forthcoming

So the applicant was possibly refused.

and that the easiest way to do it would be to apply to have a tarred farm road allowed. He can drive his farm machinery along it any time he likes in the pursuit of his lawful business as a farmer and he can occasionally use his other off-road vehicle

Are you saying that the planning officials colluded with the applicant to circumvent the law?

I know this is an aviation forum and consequently people seem to have a more relaxed view of transgressions by their brethren of inconvenient little rules.

an Irish solution to an Irish problem.
regards

It was the same logic that led to the mess in Priory Hall.
"its all right shure what are those inconvenient building regulations anyway".

Oh, so it's actually an illegal airfield that if the authorities knew about, they would take legal action against the farmer then?

If you want to run things by nod nod, wink wink, shut the eff up & stay off the internet.

LeftBase

Lads I'm pretty sure that the planning authorities would not be so easily duped or turn a blind eye. I say that because I have many friends and family who have been placed under CIA like surveillance and subjected to CIA like interrogation over plans to build houses etc etc.

As I said earlier this strip is/was in Class C airspace and thus trying to dupe anyone would be a little hard given that in order to take off you would need prior permission from Galway Tower during most of daylight hours and this would be a dead give away to the authorities. If it was in Class G then perhaps you could get away with it.

FWVT

LeftBase wrote: »

Lads I'm pretty sure that the planning authorities would not be so easily duped or turn a blind eye. I say that because I have many friends and family who have been placed under CIA like surveillance and subjected to CIA like interrogation over plans to build houses etc etc.

As I said earlier this strip is/was in Class C airspace and thus trying to dupe anyone would be a little hard given that in order to take off you would need prior permission from Galway Tower during most of daylight hours and this would be a dead give away to the authorities. If it was in Class G then perhaps you could get away with it.

Unless, of course, they knew the Class C would be going and now they'd be free to come and go as they like?

Stovepipe

I'm guessing that the guy was told fairly and squarely that permission for a LICENSED tarred runway would not be given, probably because of the proximity of GWY airport. Somebody probably had visions of increased aircraft movements operating close to the approach profile for GWY, so he was declined. He may also have been told that a farm road was possible, quite simply because it broke no aviation laws and would not knowingly annoy the IAA. So, as far as I can tell, the guy has broken no laws. JenningsO, do feel free to go around to the guy's house and tell him he's taking the piss out of the planning laws. I'd love to be there to see that. You could sell tickets to that show! You're signature says that you're from N. Galway. I've flown out of a strip there so you must have been away that day. LeftBase is right, the planners are incredibly exact about what they do and trying to establish an airfield, no matter how basic, is a very difficult process in a country with 26 (or so) different planning authorities, each of which has a different interpretation of the rules.
I'll say again, unless the guy has broken any laws, he is free to do what he likes, whether it be with an aeroplane or anything else. Remember, he already has the permission of the landowner, so he's halfway there already.

regards
Stovepipe

Victor

It would seem from an aviation regulation point of view it is OK, provided it is only for private use. Similarly, it is probably OK from a planning point of view provided it is only occasional use. The neighbours may have separate issues of nuisance.

jenningso

Stovepipe wrote: »

do feel free to go around to the guy's house and tell him he's taking the piss out of the planning laws. I'd love to be there to see that.

Well Stovepipe, if he happened to overshoot the runway, get tangled in the phone line running alongside the road and/or crash into the house opposite, maybe then somebody might call around to his house, but it won't be me. Listen, I understand there is no huge issue here regarding having a landing strip in your field. His field was too boggy, so he built a runway, fine. But describing it in planning as an agricultural road, that goes nowhere, c'mon!

homerjay2005

has anybody actually seen a plane taking off from there?

homerjay2005

homerjay2005 wrote: »

has anybody actually seen a plane taking off from there?

I saw a plane seemingly emerge from the bog somewhere around there last year but didn't think too much about it.

My father told me about it last Christmas - I didn't believe him so I went to Google and then Bing and it shows up plain as day.

Stovepipe

there are over 200 airstrips in this country, many of which are little more than pastures with a strip mowed out of it. Some are only fit for microlight use, others will accept a Cub-type aircraft and others are capable of taking light twins. There are even a few that microlights and radio-controlled models use. Some are very active, most scarcely active at all. Some are subject to rigid planning control, others are free to do as they please.
regards
Stovepipe