jmaynard
Cleared for Takeoff
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2008
- Messages
- 1,487
- Location
- Fairmont, Minnesota
- Display Name
Display name:
Jay Maynard
I got bored and decided to go claim a few nearby airports for the ConUS Challenge. There was a new personal challenge for me, too: I'd never landed on grass, and two of the four I set out to do only had grass runways.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, at least since there hadn't been any significant rain in the past week or so, there wasn't much difference at all. I've used asphalt runways that were bumpier than the three grass strips I wound up using. Yes, one of the airports (New Ulm Muni, KULM) has both, and the winds strongly favored the grass one - and they've got things set up just right: I didn't notice any bump at all crossing the asphalt runway and taxiway on the grass. I'd been a bit concerned about that.
I'd been leaving the airplane on the ground until 70 knots or so on smooth asphalt; I lifted off at 60, mainly because the airplane would bump right about then and act like it wanted to fly, so I let it. I'm going to have to try that on asphalt. Might make the initial climbout go faster (60 is the Zodiac's Vy).
I'm definitely going to have to stop mentally crossing grass runways off the list.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, at least since there hadn't been any significant rain in the past week or so, there wasn't much difference at all. I've used asphalt runways that were bumpier than the three grass strips I wound up using. Yes, one of the airports (New Ulm Muni, KULM) has both, and the winds strongly favored the grass one - and they've got things set up just right: I didn't notice any bump at all crossing the asphalt runway and taxiway on the grass. I'd been a bit concerned about that.
I'd been leaving the airplane on the ground until 70 knots or so on smooth asphalt; I lifted off at 60, mainly because the airplane would bump right about then and act like it wanted to fly, so I let it. I'm going to have to try that on asphalt. Might make the initial climbout go faster (60 is the Zodiac's Vy).
I'm definitely going to have to stop mentally crossing grass runways off the list.