![Ranger Creek in Washington gives pilots a taste of a technically challenging runway. [Credit: John Wilson]](https://www.flyingmag.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Ranger-Creek-facing-north-Large.jpeg)
As the Cessna 172 taxied toward the fuel truck, there was something amiss with the marker beacon wire on its belly. It looked like there was a tree branch entangled in it. It wasn’t a big branch, but it definitely should not have been there.
A quick conversation with the somewhat sheepish CFI revealed he’d taken the learner to one of the private grass strips the flight school had permission to use for soft-field takeoff and landing practice. As they landed to the south, which the CFI noted he’d been told was the preferred runway, it felt like they had a tailwind. The windsock confirmed this. For departure they backtaxied and took off to the north.
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According to the CFI, shortly after they became airborne and were heading for “that low spot in the trees,” he remembered that the runway had a slight slope to the north and it was a one-way runway, and both takeoffs and landings were supposed to be to the south. The outcome could have been a lot worse.
Coincidentally, this airport was one the school used for the mountain flying course, where the concept of the “one-way runway” can literally be a life-or-death situation.
One-Way Runways
One-way runways, those technically challenging landing strips carved into forests or other rural unimproved areas, are often a test of a pilot’s skill and can be absolutely unforgiving of a mistake in judgment.
That’s when pilots like Long Bach Nguyen, the chief pilot for Washington Air Search and Rescue (WASAR), are called in to help find the pilots who have crashed while attempting to land or take off from a remote airstrip that is a “one way in, one way out.”
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According to Nguyen, many pilots are not familiar with the required aircraft performance when in density altitude conditions, the result of warmer temperatures and high field elevation, or since there are one-way runways, they might experience a slight tailwind on takeoff or landing.
“You will encounter these conditions in mountain airports or airstrips,” said Nguyen, adding that pilots can practice before they get to the airstrip by flying with “limited power as if you are flying in that condition and do it with a tailwind to see the performance.” (Instructors have been doing a variation of this technique for years, having pilots fly over a 5,000-foot runway on one magneto only to demonstrate a lack of performance).
This kind of practice can come in handy if you are heading to Ranger Creek in Greenwater, Washington, northeast of Mount Rainier at an elevation of 2,558 feet msl. The runway is aligned 15/33 and measures 2,875 feet by 50 feet. The airport is closed to the public from October 1 to June 1, and the rest of the year it is a popular camping spot. Pilots are warned there is a guardrail and road along the east side of the runway, and the airport sees a fair amount of traffic from other vehicles and pedestrians who are there to camp along the east and north of the runway.
“Being unfamiliar with the terrain before attempting to land or takeoff is a common mistake,” said Nguyen. “Also, they are not comfortable flying slow in the valley above Ranger Creek to make a good descent profile to the runway. The normal recommendation is to land on [Runway] 33 so that when you have to make a go-around, you can fly down the valley to Greenwater and exit.”
Pilots who attempt to land to the south on Runway 15 get into trouble.
“We’ve had people who landed to the south on Runway 15 and had a harder time climbing out due to rising terrain toward Chinook Pass and the narrow valley (where they attempted) to turn around and crashed.” said Nguyen.
Specialty Training
Some flight schools will offer specialty training to allow their renters to access technically challenging airports in their area. These usually consist of ground training with an emphasis on density altitude and its effect on aircraft performance, local weather patterns, and short-field and soft-field techniques.
Some schools make it a rule that certain airports are off-limits to renters unless they are accompanied by a qualified CFI (who has presumably been through the special training) and/or make it a rule that solo student pilots cannot fly into these airports. Other schools ban actual soft field operations in their airplanes altogether—no sand, no rocks, no grass, unless it is an emergency. However, student pilots are required to learn the techniques as they likely won’t be student pilots or renter pilots forever.
If soft-field operations are banned, there is likely a story there. A renter may have had a bad day and damaged an airplane in a nose-over on soft ground. Respect the rules if you want to keep your rental privileges.
Don’t get complacent, warns Michael Phillips, a Southern California-based flight instructor with 14,000 hours of dual instruction given. Phillips teaches out of Santa Paula Airport (KSZP), Camarillo Airport (KCMA), and Oxnard Airport (KOXR). Based on information from AirNav.com, all three airports present unique obstruction and traffic challenges.
Phillips said a common mistake pilots make is “thinking that it is just another takeoff or landing,” as they often don’t understand that topography, altitude, and potential density altitude, wind, and weather can and will impact aircraft performance. This is particularly true, he said, when flying into strips in the Sierra Nevada or Rocky Mountains or those used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Local knowledge is important, Phillips said, but more significantly, “pilots need more common sense and a sound foundation for understanding operations at high altitude and obstruction-rich airports.”
Phillips supports a combination of ground and simulator training before taking an aircraft into the actual environment.
“We require pilot checkouts for people flying into Big Bear City Airport (L45) and Catalina Airport (KAVX),” he said.
Big Bear is surrounded by mountains and lies an extreme noise-sensitive area, while Catalina sits on a mesa, and pilots cannot see aircraft on opposite ends of the runway due to the runway gradient. Therefore, pilots should announce taking the active runway on unicom prior to departure.
Coastal Challenges
It is not just mountain airports that can catch a pilot by surprise. Airports at sea level can also present a challenge, such as Copalis State Airport (S16) on Copalis Beach approximately 54 nm west of Olympia, Washington.
The runway is aligned 14/32 and is only available during low tide. Pilots are advised to make a low pass before landing to check for debris, always use soft-field technique, and aim for the wet sand, which is darker and firmer than the dry sand that can put the airplane on its back.
You also need to have good short-field skills, according to John Wilson, Copalis State Airport manager. According to AirNav.com, the strip measures 3,560 by 150, but that might be a bit optimistic, Wilson said, as the south end of the runway is slowly disappearing, taken by the Copalis River.
“A few years ago the windsock was at the midfield of the runway,” Wilson said. “Today it is the south threshold of the runway because the Copalis River is eroding the southern bank area.”
Wilson recommended pilots use Google Earth to get a view of the airport or call the airport manager to receive an update on the conditions
before they venture out.
This column first appeared in the March Issue 968 of the FLYING print edition.
