Arizona Pilots Association and U.S. Forest Service Complete Runway Crack Sealing at Grapevine Airstrip

The Arizona Pilots Association (APA) and the U.S. Forest Service have completed runway crack sealing at Grapevine Airstrip (88AZ) following weather-related delays, according to project organizers.

The Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) helped coordinate the project through its Cost Share agreement with the Tonto National Forest. Under that arrangement, the Forest Service paid a portion of the costs, while the APA covered the majority of the crack sealing expenses.

"Our contractors did a great job on the recent crack seal project," said Tommy Thomason, an APA officer.

Grapevine Airstrip sits on national forest land, and this project shows how maintenance on that kind of strip is typically funded: a land manager contributes a share, a pilot organization carries most of the remaining cost, and a coordinating foundation holds the agreement together. That structure matters because backcountry strips have no commercial revenue stream behind them, so upkeep depends on volunteer groups raising money and on the agency agreeing to match part of it.

Crack sealing is preventive work. Sealing cracks keeps water out of the pavement and slows deterioration of the runway surface, which is cheaper than resurfacing later. For recreational and utility pilots who use remote strips, a sealed surface is a practical benefit, and the completion of this job after weather delays shows how much the schedule of such projects depends on conditions at the site.

The next milestone to look for is any further maintenance work at Grapevine under the same Cost Share agreement, which would show whether the APA and Tonto National Forest intend to keep the arrangement running beyond this project.