Field condition report- Sunday, March 19

[Frank v B]

Went to the field at noon today to help the Ryerson crew with this year's project. 
What an amazing day weather-wise.  Bright, sunny, calm winds, but still near zero. No snow anywhere except in the tall grass patch where the heli pad used to be.

The river on the west side was running nicely but still 90% covered with ice.  The water level was lower than the ice.  The running water averaged 2 feet wide and about 2" deep.  The side channels we dug last year from the dip in the driveway near the parking lot were still 100% ice but they will drain the area beautifully when they thaw. 

Most runway staples were about 2-3" above the ground.  I walked the south, west and north sides and pushed them down.  Most of the ones on the north side would not go down because of ice.  When Peter P. showed up about 90 minutes later he managed to get the north and east staples down, as well as the centre of the runway.  Thank you Peter.  They will pop up again if we get frost again.

The works project last fall will do an amazing job draining the field, driveway and parking lot this spring.  It was worth our investment in coffee and donuts last fall.

Spring starts tomorrow at about 6:30 am.  Then we get our usual Easter snowstorm, then the flying season starts.   Yeah!!!

Over to you Graham, the master of the field.

Frank