General aviation pilot reported there are tall trees located near the runway at 1W1 that are making takeoffs and approaches unsafe.

Date: 2025-08 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit|inflight-event-encounter-unstabilized-approach

Synopsis

General aviation pilot reported there are tall trees located near the runway at 1W1 that are making takeoffs and approaches unsafe.

Narrative

There is an ongoing and increasing hazard on the west end of this airfield. On the day referred to; the density altitude was 1500 feet. There are very tall trees 1141 feet west of the 2710 feet runway. The trees are far greater than 100 feet tall and they are getting taller every year. With 420 lb. of fuel and less than 600 lb. of people the aircraft was barely able to out climb the trees; flying at Vx. Just left of centerline the trees are a little shorter and so I felt the need to veer left to ensure that we would clear the trees. The trees are on private property but are in the airport environment. They are a safety hazard for both takeoff to the west and landing to the east. When landing to the east this requires a 9:1 slope to clear the top of the trees before diving for the runway; a very unstable approach. It's terrifying at night because you can't see the trees and have to trust the non-standard VASI slope until you are sure of passing the trees before cutting power and pitching steeply for the runway. An additional hazard caused by these trees are the downdrafts encountered when there are significant winds out of the east. One has to fly over the trees even higher to avoid those rollers.There is a flight school on this field. A small aircraft at gross weight will not clear these trees any better than the Aircraft X. I feel the trees need to be taken down before somebody dies because of them.There are additional 80 - 90 feet trees just north of the west end of the runway just a few feet from the runway threshold. They are so close that you feel like you should approach the runway at an angle from the south rather than straight in.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.