ADS-B Lawn Mowing

[Grahame Hutchison]

Who would have thought that ADS-B could be used to watch lawn mowing at Sydney Airport. This track was produced by the SACL New Holland TS115A Tractor,
running for 80.1 minutes, and covering 13.17322 Km. The average speed was 9.88Kph - great work and nice way to keep warm on a cold day.

[Terence W]

Thanks Grahame, you've solved another one of my curiosities (yeah, I have a lot on my mind obviously) - that of how the airside grass is kept in check.

When do they mow it though? At night? I can't imagine the lawn being mowed during the day when aircraft movements are happening around it? The lawn mower photo doesn't show any grass catcher, so the risk of FOD would be high?

[Grahame Hutchison]

Terence, this mowing was done between 1100 and 1220 today. Not sure about the FOD issue, maybe the grass is mulched at the same time to reduce the probability. Also there was light rain today which would help keep the cut grass in place.

[Nigel C]

Mowing inside the runways is done during curfew, but outside of that it's generally done in daylight.
There's a sweeper on hand for any clippings that spill onto the hard surfaces. But just like when your council mowers do your local park, unless there's a strong wind then the clippngs stay within the grass areas. Remember too that the grass isn't kept as low as your front lawn (it's often cut at between 10-20cm height), so there's plenty of room for the cut grass to fall and get trapped.

[Adam P.]

Sounds like we need input from the resident turf expert again eh Nige...

[Terence W]

Thanks for the insight Nigel!

[Nigel C]

Originally Posted by Adam P.

Sounds like we need input from the resident turf expert again eh Nige...

Who are you? Do I know you?