Mowing day

Today was mowing day at our airpark. There were four of us that needed to get checked out on the mower. The briefing was at 10am. This thing is definitely dangerous if not fully briefed. Of course it runs on a healthy diet of 100LL. I cranked it up and it fired after a couple minutes of cranking, for only a few seconds. Cranking for another few minutes resulted in not a single pop, so we dove in. Popped off a fuel line to make sure we have flow, yep, but wait, that doesn't smell like avgas... We drained probably a half a gallon of water out of the lines and bottom of the tank. Yep, just part of the adventure. We all successfully passed our check-ride, then it was time to get to work. Everybody got their turn, but I tackled the majority of it with about 3.5hrs in the seat. Ol' Yeller does a great job for us and is in no danger of being put out to pasture any time soon. While I was out mowing, Tanya got a ton of standard maintenance done on the RV in the hangar. Here is Tanya doing a little cuttin'.
Good times.




All nice and tidy:

Mowing day here as well, wish I had four people to help me!!!! Well maybe not I've had offers to help. My field only takes two hrs. to mow at 2200' X 150' on average . With a little more modern, airconditioned cab and a 15' mowing deck keeping awake is the biggest chore.

Thats a good lookin tractor!

I like your tractor. I must admit that I am a little jealous. When it is mowing day... nobody seems to want to show up at our place. You have a little more to mow. Scott, you gotta share.... that looks like fun riding around on that mower.

This time of year it seems like every day is mowing day. We have 22 acres, but cut hay off 11, so I only have to mow 11. But that includes around the house, 2 hangars, and the runway.

Looks like the tractor from the movie Cars.

Ha! Except way uglier. Nothing like an ugly tractor that has already survived being broken in the worst ways, for many decades, to make you feel alive on a Saturday! A/C in a cab, are you kiddin' me? I'll get a picture of the beautiful results maybe tomorrow. Paved runway with a nice grass runway beside it, just waiting for my next project.

I enjoy hearing how things work at different airparks.

Here at SC86 the text goes out and four or five of us run for their mowers. We formation cut our 2500' x 150' runway in about 30 minutes.

There is a bit of a power struggle going on right now with some neighbors buying bigger and bigger mowers.

However the winner is the gang down at Triple Tree. To mow their 7000' x 400' runway, they built their own mower. The decks are made out of stainless so the fertilizers won't destroy the mower decks over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK67j2HKkqc

It is powered by an old school bus engine.

Unfortunately I don't have a runway to mow, but I do have an old Allis. No such thing as a Limitations section in the tractor operating handbook...amazing how much abuse and cobbling together those old tractors will take and keep on going. Mine brought my O-360 in from the semi.

Light planes & old tractors!

I think light and fast airplanes are a natural pair with old tractors.
I mow the airpark over-run and easement with a 16' batwing mower towed behind and powered by a 1957 Ford 861 tractor. This combo is a 'Zero Turn' arrangement and worked out far better than I imagined. It also uses less gas and works much faster than a riding mower doing the same work.
My son has a pre WWII Allis Chalmers Model C which is a lighter smaller tractor. What a hoot. It handles a rake, back blade or brush hog easily, but as with any older tractor, the only safety equipment is the operator!

crabandy said:

Unfortunately I don't have a runway to mow, but I do have an old Allis. No such thing as a Limitations section in the tractor operating handbook...amazing how much abuse and cobbling together those old tractors will take and keep on going. Mine brought my O-360 in from the semi.

Click to expand...

That looks like a WD, I have a 1946 WC.

I have a friend who started an airpark in Florida. It had a grass runway and there happened to be a small engine manufacturing facility nearby. As the story goes, he got a call one day from a guy in their quality department asking to speak with him about his grass runway. Turns out the quality department was looking to do some endurance testing on a variety of their engines and was wondering if they could use the runway as a test bed. As I remember it, a crew would show up with all kinds of mowers from push to riding and start at one end of the runway and work their way to the other.

Mel said:

This time of year it seems like every day is mowing day.

Click to expand...

Pretty close ! I divide the mowing at 53VG into two chunks and stagger the days whenever possible.

My "mower" is a lot smaller. I keep hoping to find an upgrade

That mower at triple tree is just unbelievable...
I would fly there just to see THAT!

N941WR said:

I enjoy hearing how things work at different airparks.

Here at SC86 the text goes out and four or five of us run for their mowers. We formation cut our 2500' x 150' runway in about 30 minutes.

There is a bit of a power struggle going on right now with some neighbors buying bigger and bigger mowers.

However the winner is the gang down at Triple Tree. To mow their 7000' x 400' runway, they built their own mower. The decks are made out of stainless so the fertilizers won't destroy the mower decks over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK67j2HKkqc

It is powered by an old school bus engine.

Click to expand...

I have an acquaintance in Chuckey, Tenn. who owns a private grass strip right next to a John Deere facility. He never touches his grass.