In the late 1970s I made several trips to Heath Canyon Airport carrying flourspar miners to and from their work It was not a landing strip for the faint of heart and I would not advise anyone to attempt to land there without some dual with a pilot experienced with the runway. It is a one way runway which lands to he northwest and departs to the southeast. The approach is over a bluff (which can be seen in the picture) that is about 300' high and about two miles southeast of the runway and you are landing on a runway that, though paved, is very narrow. About 500 feet after touch down the runway climbs a hill and then stays level for about 800' before climbing another hill. It is best to touch down shortly after the threshold. There is nearly always a strong crosswind from the west. Once over the bluff you are committed to land as the runway ends against another high bluff which would make any attempt at a go around nearly impossible. Takeoffs should be done from the northwest threshold. I found that, in a Cessna 210 I was not at VR before the first "roller coaster" hill and I had to hold forward pressure so as not to be thrown into the air before the plane was ready to fly and then make a sort of "ski jump" off the second hill. Sometimes I could climb straight out but not usually.
However, this is all moot as I notice that the 2009 DigitalGlobe picture shows X's on the runway.This is just as well as Somebody might be tempted to land there and it really is a dangerous strip.
Heath Canyon Airport
🔗 Sun, 17 May 2009
— @misterbick at Heath Canyon Airport, United States
In the late 1970s I made several trips to Heath Canyon Airport carrying flourspar miners to and from their work It was not a landing strip for the faint of heart and I would not advise anyone to attempt to land there without some dual with a pilot experienced with the runway. It is a one way runway which lands to he northwest and departs to the southeast. The approach is over a bluff (which can be seen in the picture) that is about 300' high and about two miles southeast of the runway and you are landing on a runway that, though paved, is very narrow. About 500 feet after touch down the runway climbs a hill and then stays level for about 800' before climbing another hill. It is best to touch down shortly after the threshold. There is nearly always a strong crosswind from the west. Once over the bluff you are committed to land as the runway ends against another high bluff which would make any attempt at a go around nearly impossible. Takeoffs should be done from the northwest threshold. I found that, in a Cessna 210 I was not at VR before the first "roller coaster" hill and I had to hold forward pressure so as not to be thrown into the air before the plane was ready to fly and then make a sort of "ski jump" off the second hill. Sometimes I could climb straight out but not usually.
However, this is all moot as I notice that the 2009 DigitalGlobe picture shows X's on the runway.This is just as well as Somebody might be tempted to land there and it really is a dangerous strip.