Short Field A-Game - Landing at Cedar Key (KCDK) Florida's Shortest Public Airport for Local Clams!

Описание: Sticking the landing! putting training to practice with only 1900' of runway available.

Most pilots rarely operate into true short fields. Cedar Key is for real - only 2300' of pavement makes it Florida's shortest, paved public airport. Not only that, but displaced thresholds on both ends reduce the available landing distance another 220-420'.

A long time bucket list airport for both Maddie and Virgil, we got the chance to drop in for some local seafood on a trip from St Pete (KPIE) to home in Pensacola.

Winds favored Runway 23 the shorter option with under 1900' past the threshold. Before takeoff, we ran a landing weight calculation and referenced the Comanche's weight adjusted VSO chart to get a target short field VREF at 1.3 VSO of 75mph. This is about 5mph slower than the gross weight number and with the large useful load of the Piper PA-24, when you want minimum float you need to adjust the speeds for lighter weights.

Normal speeds of 100mph, 90mph, and 85mph were used on downwind, base, and initial final. As we got lined up and on a good glide aiming for 1/2 way between the runway end and threshold, we adjusted power to give a gradual bleed off of airspeed to 75 across the fence. A little burst of power in the flair carried us over the threshold to drop plant all three wheels on the numbers in quick succession with no float and no bounce.

At this point, we were under 65mph and could comfortably use aerodynamic braking to slow down and wait on the brakes until the final third of the runway. Total ground run could've been much less with aggressive braking but no need.

The airport is just over a mile from town, but we found a rental golf cart waiting with a key - we just called and rode it into town to pay. Steamers served us a hot batch of local clams to power us up for the return home.

Being light, liftoff in under 1000' with a short field takeoff was no issue as we climbed away and headed for fuel at Perry Foley (KFPY) before turning west for 82J.

What's the shortest public airport you've flown into?

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