I did my first grass today

jmaynard

jmaynard

Cleared for Takeoff
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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.
 
Grass is not bad at all. In some ways it is easier that pavement. Like most grass fields I have landed on are very wide compared to the paved strips.

If you have wheel pants be careful. I hit a big divet last year that broke one. I was able to get it patched though.
 
I would have thought you tried that stuff decades ago!



:)

I've yet to claim a grass landing except as a passenger. Everyone has limitations on surfaces. :(
 
Most FBO's around here seem to have a limitation of 2500' min length of paved runway... no grass except in emergencies.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity during my flight training. Flying back from Lancaster (KLNS) to Perkiomen (N10), is Morgantown. My instructor pulled an engine out simulation on me while we were flying back, and told me to setup for the runway. I was so surprised to hear her say "take it in, it's an emergency" when I asked if I should begin a go-around after turning base to final. My experience was like yours, the field was dry, wide, and the grass was moderately cut. Not Fairway short, but not the rough either. Soft field landing and takeoff, in actual conditions,.. nice:)

Sadly, unless with a willing CFI, or as a passenger in someone elses plane, I won't be landing on grass soon. :rolleyes:
 
jmaynard said:
I'm definitely going to have to stop mentally crossing grass runways off the list.
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Excellent, Jay! :yes:

First time I landed on grass was a lot different than I'd expected, and there's really not much to it - Just do the procedures you learned while working on your Private! Some of the neatest places I've found in the ConUS Challenge were grass strips - They just seem to have more personality. :)
 
Well Jay, we did grass back in the 60's ( just kidding) But my first landing on grass was during my training. we did some soft field landing then the CFI took me to a grass strip and said this is why you learned them . Now Do it the way you did on the pavement, and i did and it was a great feeling knowing i could do it. And where i get my annual done is grass so i get atleast 1 a year.
Dave G
P.S. Rob if you want to go to a nice grass strip try Farmers Pride (9N7), and dont forget to stop and see Ernie he's a great person to meet.
 
In training for my PPL, almost all of the simulated engine failures were done at a "public" grass/dirt field that was about 8-9 miles away from the airport I was flying out of. We would regularly land there and I also had my instructor sign me off to land at the grass strip at the fly-in community one of my aunts and uncles lived at. The school I rented from didn't have any prohibitions on landing on certain grass fields (they had to be listed in the AF/D :D ) except in a couple of lease-backs and in the twins.

Now that they're under new management and almost completely cater to training for airline jobs, they've gone to a strict no grass strip policy, except in emergencies of course.
 
What kind of pilots are these no grass, no wind, no slips kind of schools producing? I got my PPL only about a decade ago but my instructor taught most of the flying farmers in the area and had permission to use their strips. Needless to say we did a lot of grass ops.
My wife's favourite field is a nice grass strip with a restaurant. My best landing ever was at that field one morning with the dew still on the grass. The tires slid just enough that I couldn't really tell when I touched down. Of course nobody was with me and no witnesses my superlative act of pilotage;). A sensation pilot-mill pilots will never experience.
My advice to students: stay away from instructors with epaulets. Ask 'em if they can drive a tractor!
 
Rob Schaffer said:
Most FBO's around here seem to have a limitation of 2500' min length of paved runway... no grass except in emergencies.
Click to expand...

That, quite frankly, sucks.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity during my flight training. Flying back from Lancaster (KLNS) to Perkiomen (N10), is Morgantown.
Click to expand...

Another grass field just north of KLNS that I trained on is Keller Bros., 08N in Lebanon. Its always well maintained. It was nice to be able to practice soft field takeoffs and landings on grass.
 
Definitely not as big a deal as you'd think it is. Flew into a grass strip here for the first time solo. (After the other 3 aircraft in our flight did). It's fun!
 
Rob Schaffer said:
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity during my flight training. Flying back from Lancaster (KLNS) to Perkiomen (N10), is Morgantown. My instructor pulled an engine out simulation on me while we were flying back, and told me to setup for the runway. I was so surprised to hear her say "take it in, it's an emergency" when I asked if I should begin a go-around after turning base to final. My experience was like yours, the field was dry, wide, and the grass was moderately cut. Not Fairway short, but not the rough either. Soft field landing and takeoff, in actual conditions,.. nice:)

Sadly, unless with a willing CFI, or as a passenger in someone elses plane, I won't be landing on grass soon. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Good on your CFI for that! Doing landings on unpaved strips I think is important. Just remember your soft field landing/takeoff procedures.

I did some during my initial training. Unfortunately, the best grass strips around here are private use, and my club planes aren't allowed to land at private owned, private use grass strips. Besides, since they're private use you're supposed to know the people before you land.

That said, my instructor is friends with all of these people. So, when I went to go do my high performance endorsement, we took the Dakota (which isn't a club plane) and did a grass strip tour. Man, that was fun! Especially on all the grass strips with big mountains off the end of the runway to avoid! :)
 
AdamZ said:
Remember Grass Field does not necessarlily mean soft field.
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Especially when it's frozen solid... the one time I made some landings on grass, other than the glider, the strip was almost as hard as the adjacent paved runway. :D
 
jmaynard said:
I'm definitely going to have to stop mentally crossing grass runways off the list.
Click to expand...

Good for you! We love flying into grass strips in both the Pathfinder and the Ercoupe. Heck, my very first solo flight was off grass.

It's much more forgiving than pavement. In fact, my A&P has always said that the ideal situation for aircraft maintenance would be "All take-offs from pavement, all landings on grass" -- cuz well-manicured grass is so much easier on the airframe.
 
Jay, grass landing are great as long as they aren't caused by the engine in the plane you are flying deciding mid flight that some of its parts didn't want to spend any more time with some of the other parts as my first grass landing did.
 
Jay Honeck said:
It's much more forgiving than pavement. In fact, my A&P has always said that the ideal situation for aircraft maintenance would be "All take-offs from pavement, all landings on grass" -- cuz well-manicured grass is so much easier on the airframe.
Click to expand...

The cropdusters I worked with would choose a grass strip w/ a slight crosswind over a paved runway when they had the choice. Changing tires on those birds every year or so gets old and pricey very quickly. Not to mention that they all claimed that grass was more 'forgiving' than pavement.
 
Jay Honeck said:
It's much more forgiving than pavement. In fact, my A&P has always said that the ideal situation for aircraft maintenance would be "All take-offs from pavement, all landings on grass" -- cuz well-manicured grass is so much easier on the airframe.
Click to expand...
Jay your A&P might have been hinting that you need to work on setting the plane down a little lighter and not like a carrier landing ;);););)



:D:D:D:D:D
 
Anthony said:
That, quite frankly, sucks.



Another grass field just north of KLNS that I trained on is Keller Bros., 08N in Lebanon. Its always well maintained. It was nice to be able to practice soft field takeoffs and landings on grass.
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That is EXACTLY what we get when we abdicate our lives to the courts and lawyers.

BTW...grass strips ALWAYS seem to make my landings look better! :D
 
Since I owned my own plane during my training, I was able to land on grass. My instructor had me work on soft fields quite a bit. I guess my Examiner new that too, as he had me do my soft field landings on the grass during the checkride. (Fortunately I did pretty well and passed!) I think he wanted to land on grass since all of the rentals he usually gives checkrides in are prohibited from grass landings.

This thread makes me want to go do it again!
 
tdager said:
That is EXACTLY what we get when we abdicate our lives to the courts and lawyers.

BTW...grass strips ALWAYS seem to make my landings look better! :D
Click to expand...
I think it might be more insurance related or maybe just over zealous flight school operators.

I too was prohibited from doing real soft and short field stuff when I was not an owner with the exception of one FBO in Florida. But by then I was doing my commercial and all they required was a CFI in the plane when landing on soft fields.

Once I got my own plane I started doing them and the first couple of times I thought they would be scary/hard. Turns out they are real easy and no problem at all. IMHO perhaps a little easier than pavement.
 
jmaynard said:
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.
Click to expand...

Jay
You aren't too far away from Lake Benton, if you get this way and want to try mine out you are welcome. It's a real farm strip. We make a low past first to shoo away the critters and then come back around. If you think your coming send a pm and I'll make sure I'm home.
Do you know the guy who fly's the doctors over to Pipestone????
 
smigaldi said:
Jay your A&P might have been hinting that you need to work on setting the plane down a little lighter and not like a carrier landing ;);););)
:D:D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

Heh -- you might be right!?

:goofy:

Actually, I was amazed at how many landings we've been getting on our Monster retreads on the Pathfinder. I can't remember the exact number, but it was high -- like 400 landings -- before we simply rotated the tires to the opposite main gear. I expect another 300 - 400 more before discarding them.

Either these are great tires, or we've gotten a lot better at landing the Pathfinder...
 
I learned to fly out of a grass strip (Nevada, IA) in a champ. My instructor was a farmer and he had a pasture behind his house. We landed there a time or two in order to pick something up that he forgot, but I can't remember if I ever actually landed in the pasture, or if he always did it. I think that I can say that I did, and it will be hard for anyone to refute it. I do remember that he warned me against landing in pastures myself because of badger holes or big rocks that you might hit. There were cows out in his pasture, and of course he would land on the other side of wherever they were. I remember one day the cows were in the way, and he tried to chase them to one side by buzzing them. We tried a half dozen times, and the cows just ignored us, so we gave it up. Whenever he landed in his pasture, which was quite often as I remember, he would hit the cow pies and fling them up on the bottom of the wing and they would get all over the belly of the plane. I used to get to the airport early to hose it off, fuel it up, and clean the windshield, which was worth a half hour of free flight time.

So at Nevada, the two grass runways formed an X. There was a bump at mid field, and you could launch the champ off of that bump if you just held it on the ground until you got there. For a while, I was afraid to land on pavement. I don't know why, I was young. My instructor finally took me over to Ames to land on pavement. I thought that I was big time then. Later, I finished up my private at Boone, and they had a paved runway. Back then, the grass runway was the preferred runway for students and the 150. The paved runway was for "big" planes. After I got my private, I would land on the paved runway all the time if I had a passenger, just to show them what a big shot I was. Anyway, thanks for indulging me in my moment of nostalgia. I'll try not to do it too often.:)
 
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smigaldi said:
Jay your A&P might have been hinting that you need to work on setting the plane down a little lighter and not like a carrier landing ;);););)



:D:D:D:D:D
Click to expand...


Remember the old Naval Aviator saying, "Flare to land, squat to pee!"


Trapper John
 
Now I'm really reaching back here, so I'm not sure when they paved 01/19, but I think that it might have been paved when I got back from the Navy, which was 1976. I might be wrong though because I don't ever remember landing on it after I got back. I'll have to check it out when I get back to work. They might have something like a timeline posted somewhere at the airport. I took a long time off from flying in the 80s and 90s, and a lot of things happened during that time, and I don't have the chronology straight in my mind.
 
KennyFlys said:
I would have thought you tried that stuff decades ago!



:)

I've yet to claim a grass landing except as a passenger. Everyone has limitations on surfaces. :(
Click to expand...

I had the same thought when I first saw the thread title. :D

I have one grass field in my log, and it was as a student before I joined the club. Club rules require paved runways. Bummer, there are some nice grass strips around here. But, we had a member violate the rule a couple years ago and have a prop strike. So they're a little militant about it.
 
i *think* 1/19 at ames was paved in the 80's sometime. my only reason for thinking that is that the glider club guys remember the good ole days of being able to land and launch glider simultaneously on the grass there with barely a complaint from the powered traffic. the club was just barely getting started in the mid 70s and all of those guys are either dead or not around anymore.
 
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