Most of them are very hard to spot from the side, but then many tarmac airports are also hard to spot from the side unless there are obvious “airport buildings”.
But I have been to many grass places where I was on say a 3 mile extended runway centreline (using the GPS, obviously) and still could not see the place. All I could see were many grass fields. And my eyesight is just fine – I have CAA and FAA Class 1 medicals 
Is there some trick to spotting them?
This is also relevant to the widespread practice (in the UK, anyway) of using airfields as waypoints. I can’t think of anything worse to navigate by, and when I was doing my unofficial “mentoring” I always made the point of selecting waypoints which are not only obvious from any direction but are also unique (e.g. two lakes, or one weirdly shaped lake).
This is also relevant to the widespread practice (in the UK, anyway) of using airfields as waypoints.
Not only in the UK, some instructors teach that here too.
I can’t think of anything worse to navigate by…
Not worse, but equally bad are conventional navaids like VORs in the days of GPS. Why limit the inifinite number of GPS waypoints to a dozen airfields and navaids along the route thus maximising the probability of coming close to other traffic? Plain stupid, especially in times where IFR navigation is (almost) completely detached from navaids for the same reason!
…and still could not see the place.
When doing CPL-VFR training with students, the emphasis is on dead-reckoning and terrestrial navigation with no GPS or radio navigation equipment to be used (just like on the checkride). I usually give them ad-hoc tasks like flying to a gliding site or grass airfield 20 to 25 NM away, with all the navigation (getting course and distance from the chart and computing heading and time) done while flying. Over fifty percent of these exercises end to my own embarrassment because I too am unable to spot the grass runway without cheating and secretly looking at the GPS ;-) Especially this time of the year, when there are no standing crops that look clearly different from a mown airfield surface.
Is there some trick to spotting them?
Thats a difficult one. I fly from a grass airfield that is quite long (for a grass runway anyhow), and near a large town. But in different seasons, and from different inbound tracks, especially at relatively low levels its quite difficult to find. Returning back to find the airfield was the hardest part of most of my pre-ppl solo nav’s.
East Kirkby in the UK was probably the hardest airfield I have had to find. Its half grass, half tarmac, and the old RAF original runway nearby was a bit of a distraction. Worse still, there are no markers at all, and no numbers. I also did a ‘GPS 3 mile final’ (though East Kirbky has no ICAO code so on the GNS430 I was using GPS co-ordinates), and for me it was a case of coming in high and slow, and being ready to drop the power and the last stage of flap and try and come in as vertical as possible (short field approach type configuration) and not float into the field beyond. I will be honest, and say that when I tracked back along the ‘runway’ and saw the Lancaster Bomber being wheeled out of it’s hanger, it was a relief that I was in the right field after all. Besides the obvious be prepard go around if you, the alternative is a fly overhead scenario for a visual check and then get into the circuit pattern and dont lose sight of it.
Haven’t I heard that, in the “good” old days when all fields were grass, and not all had runways, the rule was to circle the supposed field at least twice, to make sure that it was what is was supposed to be, AND to check windsock and signal square, spot possible obstacles, &c &c?
That said, I have my own “hard to discern” fields, EBZU Zuienkerke and EBMO Moorsele top that list. Others, though, are obvious from very far away, EBKH Keiheuvel for one. My home place EBZH is not too easy, either, for newcomers. It was quite a thrill to locate it for my exam flight, this was the “navigation” part of the test…
Nearly all the airfields that I fly to have only grass runways and yes some of them can be the devil to spot. These days I will normaly study Goggle satilite pictures to pick out dominating features. Before this became available I once had the embarrassment of having to land at a small farm strip to ask where I could locate my destination strip that I knew was within a couple of miles from my landing spot. Without that I’d have had to go to one of my planned diversion airfields, life is much easier now.
I certainly don’t use airfields as turning points unless they are some of the many disused wartime fields, and only then when I know that they’ll be visible (good old Goggle). With many of these the old perimeter tracks are still in place and show up very well.
On my first visit to one grass strip, I located a differently coloured area of the correct length and shape. On short final I realised I was positioned to land on a vegetable crop parallel to and about 50m from, the runway.
On all the grass airfields I used, there always were some markers at least at the runways corner. (I learnt to fly on a grass runway) This would definitely be the sign that you’re in the correct field. Aren’t there always such markers?
Usually, in my experience, you spot the hangars before the runway. A windsock can also tell you you’re not too mistaken, but you have to be close then to see it.
Having been based at the same grass airfield for over two years, I can discern in on a summer day due to surrounding features, but still find it very difficult to locate during the twilight hours or under the snow… Having a flashing beacon on the field would help in these conditions.
I remember an especially tough one during my JAR PPL training – I think it was LKZM. The chart showed it right outside of town, and I was loitering over the marked place for at least 10-15 minutes but couldn’t find it. One of the reasons I kept missing it was an unusual shape – the runway was short but very wide (AIP for LKZM says 725×100 m, but I had obviously failed to look it up before the flight).
On all the grass airfields I used, there always were some markers at least at the runways corner. (I learnt to fly on a grass runway) This would definitely be the sign that you’re in the correct field. Aren’t there always such markers?
I’m afraid not
Usually, in my experience, you spot the hangars before the runway. A windsock can also tell you you’re not too mistaken, but you have to be close then to see it.
Too many hangars are tucked away under trees or closely resemble other farm buildings, but if not as you say they are good identifiers. A freshly cut grass runway can stand out, but sometimes they match in with their surroundings rather too well. Snow can be a real problem specialy if there is rough ground close to the runway
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Is there some trick to spotting them?
Sounds like a very good reason for an overhead join; look down, verify what is there and then set up the correct circuit patern.
