2021 New Runway

2021 Runway Refurbishment

After being delayed because of the 2020 pandemic, and then by lack of material availability for most of this year, we finally accomplished the runway refurbishment.

Work started Wednesday, September 1st with a good turnout to remove all the existing spikes from the fabric. Staples were left in to hold the old fabric in place while the new was installed. All the spikes were removed in a little over an hour. New fabric patches were overlaid on the badly worn areas in the center and at the north end of the runway. A new roll was then laid down over the entire center. We also dug out places around the runway to find the edges of the buried existing fabric so we could trench out the edges.

On Thursday, KC brought out a trenching machine and circled the entire runway with a trench. While KC was trenching, others followed behind removing sod that had overgrown the runway edges and cleaning out the trenches. It was back breaking work to say the least.

On Friday, the trench clearing continued and preparation for putting down the remaining two rows of runway fabric was completed. Then the Fabric was installed and spiked down. It was beginning to look like a runway again.

On Saturday, with the help of Norm's tractor, the old sod and larger rocks from the trenching were removed and disposed of. New top soil was brought in to back fill the trenches and packed down. Late Saturday, the first flights on the newly refurbished runway were made by Tom Rogers and Rick Fuller.

On Sunday the field was open for flying again. A major accomplishment had been completed.

The following Wednesday KC, Paul, Jim and I met and painted all the necessary markings on the runway and work was officially complete.

A huge thank you to all who came out and helped with this huge project. Without you it could not have been done,
Duane Barrett, President, Kitsap ARCS