Triple Tree Aerodrome, Seven Thousand Feet of the Finest Grass in the World, and the Fly-In Where They Cut the Runway Like a Golf Green and Hand You Sweet Tea Before You Shut Down

Triple Tree Aerodrome near Woodruff, South Carolina is a private grass airfield home to what many pilots call the finest turf runway on Earth - 7,000 feet long and 400 feet wide, groomed to golf-course standards. Founded by businessman and lifelong modeler Pat Hartness, it hosts one of the country’s largest radio-control events and a beloved fall fly-in known for Southern hospitality, including sweet tea handed to arriving pilots before their propellers stop turning.

What Is Triple Tree Aerodrome?

Triple Tree Aerodrome sits in the upstate of South Carolina, near Woodruff, a short hop from Greenville and Spartanburg. Its identifier is SC00, and it is a private, privately owned field - not a casual drop-in destination.

The single runway is oriented 32/14 (roughly 320 degrees one direction, 140 degrees the other) and is laid into rolling Carolina hills, framed by tall pines with a pond off to one side. The turf is wide enough and long enough to comfortably handle everything from a Piper Cub to heavy warbirds.

The grass itself is the draw. It is mowed in patterns, crowned for drainage, and maintained with the care of a championship golf green. Landings on it produce no chirp of rubber - just a soft, forgiving hush as the turf takes the wheels.

How Did Triple Tree Get Its Perfect Grass Runway?

The runway was the vision of Pat Hartness, a Carolina businessman, builder, and passionate radio-control modeler who flew giant-scale, gas-powered aircraft. He set out to build not a good runway, but a perfect one.

The result was engineered from the ground up. The soil beneath the turf was graded, drained, and crowned so water runs off, then planted, nurtured, and babied into what many aviators consider the world’s finest grass strip.

Just as important, Hartness chose to share it. Rather than keep his private paradise gated, he opened the field to the world - creating a place where a child with a toy plane and a Mustang pilot with thousands of hours stand on the same grass.

What Is the Triple Tree Fly-In Like?

The property began with model aviation and became home to one of the largest giant-scale radio-control fly-ins anywhere, drawing modelers nationwide who fly aircraft with 12- to 15-foot wingspans. Full-scale flying grew right alongside it.

Every fall, the valley hosts the full-scale Triple Tree fly-in. Hospitality defines the arrival: a volunteer in a golf cart rolls out to marshal you to a shaded tie-down, and you are handed a glass of sweet tea before you finish your shutdown checklist.

The culture is camp-under-your-wing. Pilots pitch tents beside their airplanes among hundreds parked wingtip to wingtip, with campfires at night and morning mist rolling off the pond as engines cough to life.

The aircraft span aviation history: Stearman biplanes, flocks of Piper Cubs, rows of homebuilt Van’s RVs, and warbirds like the North American T-6 Texan and the P-51 Mustang - the big iron that explains why the runway needs all 7,000 feet.

Why Does Triple Tree Matter Beyond the Runway?

Triple Tree is run by volunteers as a nonprofit foundation, with a mission centered on education, preservation, and passing aviation on to the next generation. Youth programs bring kids out to the flightline and into the cockpits.

That mission plays out in small, lasting moments - a pilot lifting a young child onto a wing walk to peer at the instruments, the exact instant a lifelong passion for flight takes hold. As the saying goes at the field: the grass grows back, but what they are really growing out here is pilots.

How Do You Fly Into Triple Tree?

Because SC00 is private, access is by permission and primarily through the field’s organized events. Do it the right way, and the experience rewards you.

• Get permission and read the guidance. Check the field’s published notices and, during the fly-in, study the detailed arrival procedures and follow them exactly.
• Brief your plan early. Know the pattern and your spacing before you are anywhere near the field. With hundreds of aircraft funneling to one strip, the arrival is a choreographed sequence.
• Listen more than you talk. Radio discipline keeps a busy grass arrival safe.
• Follow the marshaller. When the golf cart and flags come out, follow the human directing you.
• Use proper soft-field technique. Keep weight off the nosewheel, hold the stick back, and let the airplane roll. Respect the surface and it rewards you with a beautiful landing.

Key Takeaways

• Triple Tree Aerodrome (SC00) near Woodruff, South Carolina, features a 7,000-foot by 400-foot grass runway oriented 32/14, widely regarded as the finest turf strip in the world.
• The field was the vision of modeler and businessman Pat Hartness, who engineered the soil and grass for golf-course quality - then opened it to the public.
• Triple Tree hosts a major giant-scale radio-control fly-in and a famous fall full-scale fly-in known for camping under the wing and sweet tea on arrival.
• It operates as a volunteer-run nonprofit foundation focused on education, preservation, and inspiring young pilots.
• Access is private and permission-based, mostly through events; arrive with a briefed plan, follow published procedures, and use good soft-field technique.