Green(e) is the Colour

Getting the Band Back Together

In mid-November, I instigated a common scenario. It went something like this:

1. I looked at the forecast and got really excited about the potential for a good flying day.

2. I sent a text message to Tom proposing a flight that day.

3. Tom said, "I'm in!"

I suggested Greene as a destination, a grass field tucked into the Chenango River valley 10 miles northeast of the long paved runways at Greater Binghamton / Edwin A Link Field. (Yes, that Link.) We have been hearing good things about Greene and the on-field restaurant Lippy's from our friend Dan, but had yet to make the flight there. 

Once Tom confirmed that he and Alicia were in, I started thinking about who might fly with me. Kristy and The Bear were unavailable. Remembering how well Alyssa got along with Tom and Alicia during our Mackinac trip, I invited her to join.

"Great!" responded Alicia when I shared this with her. "We're getting the band back together!"

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

In Search of Good Grass

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
17 Nov 2024	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - 4N7 (Greene, NY) - SDC	2.3	2938.3

Tom and Alicia chose a higher cruise altitude with more favorable wind and, even though Alyssa and I departed Sodus first, we watched their Cherokee 180 pass over us with 2,000 feet of vertical separation.

When it comes to finding nice turf runways, Pink Floyd had it right with the title of their track from the 1969 album, More: "Green is the Colour". Or, in this case, "Greene". (Sadly, the song has nothing to do with aviation or turf runways.)

West end of the Greene Airport with a prominent "7" marking the end of the runway.

My habit before visiting new airports is to survey satellite imagery to understand how the airport and its surroundings will appear when I arrive overhead. In that imagery, the opposite ends of Greene's runway ends were marked with "7" and "25" as dark stamps outlined in white. I was puzzled initially and wondered if the labels were added digitally by mapping software that somehow knew a runway lay there.

Approach end of Greene's runway 25.

But from the pattern, it was clear that Greene's runways were physically marked with their numbers just like their paved counterparts. Greene's green grass runway stood out against the brownish yellow of an adjacent harvested field. Alyssa and I followed Tom and Alicia on a left downwind for runway 25, flying close to the top of a ridgeline southeast of the airport that defined the Chenango River valley. A Cessna 170 preceded our arrival by a few minutes.

High forested terrain off of the approach end of runway 25 necessitated a steeper than normal approach and I transitioned the Warrior into a slip on short final to move our touchdown point closer the start of the runway. Touch down and roll out were smooth. Greene's runway was well maintained. Tom and I parked near a large hangar building in the northwest quadrant of the airport where we saw a tie down.

Getting Lippy

Lippy's Bar & Grill is at the west end of the runway. Lippy's hours are limited; they are only open on Thursday (3-11 pm), Friday and Saturday (3 pm - midnight), and Sunday (noon - 8 pm). With a menu focused on burgers and barbecue, prices are reasonable and portions are large. We realized this when we saw a neighboring table receive a slab of ribs about the size of the one that tips over the Flintstones' car at Bronto Burger in the closing credits of the 1960s cartoon.

My BBQ chicken sandwich so overflowed the bun that my meal appeared to have wings. We all enjoyed our meals.

Exploring the Turf

The runway perimeter at Greene is defined by a set of non-standard light fixtures. Beyond them, there is room for aircraft parking off the west end of the runway directly behind Lippy's. Clearly, we could have parked closer to the restaurant than we did.

Lippy's Bar & Grill as seen from the runway.

Greene's runway markings were asphalt pads placed flush with the turf and outlined in white paint. Protection for the nonstandard runway lighting was provided by aircraft tires and what appeared to be Mason jars.

There could be little doubt over which runway this was.

The appropriately named Airport Road crosses the runway near the approach end of 7. Airplanes purportedly have the right of way. I hope drivers on Airport Road pay better attention to signs than the drivers at home.

Me, Tom, Alicia, and Alyssa. Getting the Mackinac band back together.

We paused for the obligatory group selfie before climbing back into our aircraft. Tom remarked that we landed at a lot of grass fields (for us) in 2024: Woolsey Memorial (5D5) in Michigan, Basin Harbor (B06) in Vermont for lunch at the Red Mill, Shelburne Airport (VT8) in Vermont for a visit to Fiddlehead Brewing, Benton Airport (PA40) for the annual fly-in, and now Greene. I have always loved landing on grass, but tend to be suspicious of unfamiliar turf without foreknowledge of surface condition.

Warrior 481 at Greene just before departure.

Departure

Tom and Alicia taxied out first for departure. 

Once they were airborne, we also backtaxied runway 25 for departure.

I performed a quick runup next to the runway 25 asphalt markings embossed in the turf. As magnetic north moves over time, renaming these runways is likely to be a lot more work than just repainting the number and revising paperwork with the FAA.

On departure, we turned slightly to the left to follow low terrain away from the airport as we climbed for altitude.

Greene is one of the closest fields with a restaurant to the Williamson Sodus Airport. As an airport with high quality grass and good  food, I am certain that this will not be our last visit.