Triple Tree Aerodrome, Sierra Charlie Zero Zero, and the Seven-Thousand-Foot Grass Runway in South Carolina Mowed Like a Putting Green Where You Camp Under Your Wing and Nobody Wants to Leave

Triple Tree Aerodrome, identifier SC00 (“Sierra Charlie Zero Zero”), is a private airfield near Woodruff, South Carolina with a 7,000-foot-long, 400-foot-wide grass runway kept trimmed like a golf green. Founded by the late businessman and aviator Pat Hartness as “the most beautiful runway in the world,” it operates as a nonprofit foundation that welcomes pilots to camp under their wings and hosts two of aviation’s most beloved gatherings. There is arguably nothing else quite like it in the country.

What Makes the Triple Tree Runway So Special?

The surface is deep Bermuda grass, mowed short, tight, and even enough that you could putt a golf ball down the centerline. At 7,000 feet long and 400 feet wide, the runway feels less like threading a needle and more like landing on a football field that never ends.

Because the turf is so well maintained, touchdowns are famously soft - pilots often describe the landing as kissing a mattress. The most common first word out of a pilot’s mouth after shutdown is simply, “Wow.”

Triple Tree sits in the rolling upstate country between Greenville and Spartanburg, where the land folds into soft green hills. The approach itself is part of the appeal: you descend over tree lines and pasture, and a ribbon of impossibly green grass opens up beneath you.

Who Built Triple Tree, and Why?

The field is the realized dream of Pat Hartness, who ran a large manufacturing company in the Carolinas and was a lifelong lover of airplanes. His goal was not to build a mere airstrip but to build the most beautiful runway in the world - and then share it rather than sell it.

Hartness built a clubhouse, camping areas, and ran electrical power out to the tie-downs so visitors could plug in. The property also includes a lake, Lake Genevieve, where guests can fish.

Along the tree-lined lanes, pilots park in the shade, pitch a tent right off the wingtip, and stay. Camping under your wing is the whole point.

What Is It Like to Camp at Triple Tree?

Evenings are the heart of the experience. As the sun sets over the Carolina hills and the day’s heat breaks, the ramp fills with the smell of campfires, coffee, and grilling. A Piper Cub might sit beside an RV, a Cessna 172, and a homebuilt that its owner spent nine years riveting together in a garage.

Nobody is in a hurry. No one watches a Hobbs meter. The airplane brought you there, but its job is done - what remains is a lawn chair, a fire, and strangers who were hundreds of miles apart that morning and are now friends over a shared love of flight.

It’s the kind of place where fifteen people gather around one fire to hear a pilot tell the story of a gear-up landing from the 1980s, everyone having flown in from somewhere different to be right there.

What Events Does Triple Tree Host?

Triple Tree runs on a seasonal rhythm built around two marquee events.

The fall fly-in, held in September, throws the gates open to hundreds of full-scale airplanes - taildraggers, warbirds, light sport, and antiques. The field becomes a tent city with wings, complete with pancake breakfasts and aircraft parked as far as you can see down the camping lanes.

Joe Nall Week, held every May, is the field’s other claim to fame - and it may be even more famous than the fall fly-in. It is the largest radio-control model aircraft event in the world, drawing thousands of modelers with scale models, quarter- and third-scale aircraft, and turbine-powered jets.

That manicured turf turns out to be exactly what a delicate model airplane wants for landing, too. A third-scale P-51 Mustang screaming down the deck in a low pass can make a grown pilot forget they’re watching a model at all.

Will Triple Tree Survive Its Founder?

Pat Hartness has passed away, but the field was deliberately structured to outlive him. He established it as a nonprofit foundation, and much of the work - mowing, welding, cooking, and marshaling aircraft - is done by volunteers who donate their weekends and vacation time.

The scale of that commitment is significant: roughly 400 acres of turf on the property are kept to golf-green standards. That is not one person on a riding mower; it is a small, dedicated crew who believe in the place.

As one longtime volunteer put it when asked why he gives up his Saturdays to mow someone else’s runway: because someone is going to fly in for the first time that weekend, and it’s going to change their life - the same way it changed his.

How Can Pilots Visit Triple Tree?

Triple Tree is a private field, so it is not a spot for spontaneous, show-up-and-land visits. Pilots attend during scheduled events or when the field is open and welcoming visitors, and they do their homework first.

The Triple Tree organization publishes all the essentials - frequencies, arrival procedures, event dates, and what to expect on the ground. Read that current information, follow it, and respect that this is both a home and a dream, not a public airport.

A note on the grass itself: at 7,000 feet, runway length is never the concern here, but turf behaves differently than pavement. It’s soft, it grabs, your rollout is shorter, your takeoff roll is longer, and conditions change after rain.

Fly proper soft-field technique - keep weight off the nosewheel, ease it on, ease it off - and treat the turf with the care it deserves. Most of all, slow down, on the ground and in your head. Shut off the mixture, sit a moment, and notice how quiet it gets. Then go find a campfire.

Key Takeaways

Triple Tree Aerodrome (SC00) near Woodruff, South Carolina has a 7,000-foot by 400-foot grass runway mowed like a putting green - arguably the finest turf runway in the country.
Founded by Pat Hartness and now run by a nonprofit foundation and volunteers, the field offers free-spirited wing camping, a clubhouse, power at tie-downs, and fishing on Lake Genevieve.
The property maintains roughly 400 acres of turf to golf-course standards.
Two signature events anchor the calendar: a full-scale fly-in in September and Joe Nall Week in May, the world’s largest radio-control model aircraft event.
It is a private field - visit for events or when open, study the published procedures, and fly soft-field technique on arrival.