Back in the day when I did this, we started with a good dosing of RoundUp or Triox to kill everything in sight, then laid down a couple of inches of crushed limestone (use a coarse crush, not the pulverized stuff). Then ran the roller over it to make sure it didn’t move. If we got weeds mid-summer, we burned then with a torch. Don’t use gasoline to burn them. That will blacken the rock when it burns. Use a propane torch or another blast of RoundUp or Triox.
Make sure the rock is low enough that the mowers can go over it without damaging the cutting blades.
I can understand the pea gravel issue. Propwash (and the mowers) will fling pea gravel all over the place, including at the tail of the plane and the glider on tow.
Stay safe out there.
Best Regards,
John F. Phelan