Landing a columbia on grass.

Theboys

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Theboys
Wondered if anyone might have operated a columbia off a grass strip? Was wondering how it might work and if the wheel pants would stay on. I know they are required to maintain airworthiness.
 
Wondered if anyone might have operated a columbia off a grass strip? Was wondering how it might work and if the wheel pants would stay on. I know they are required to maintain airworthiness.

Why wouldn't the wheel pants stay on? It would some pretty deep, rough nasty stuff to tear wheel pants off. Anything that bad would also be a flipover hazard. I've landed on lots of grass strips, and I would land an airplane in that class on 90% of them. Have you ever landed an airplane on grass?
 
I fly off grass quite a bit. In fact landed on them the last two days. Have had some trouble with cracking wheel pants on a cessna a few times. I can't find anywhere if the columbia is approved for grass.
 
I'm not so concerned about my ability to land on a grass strip, as I do it often. More interested in ability of the columbia to handle it. They have small tires that the wheel pants don't leave much clearance for. I really like grass strips. I also like columbia airplanes, but don't know how well they would mix on a regular basis. I have looked in several places and haven't seen anything about soft field operations. Was thinking maybe they were like the pa-46 was and not approved to operate on grass, although, I know that now the mirage and meridians have been approved for soft fields. I was thinking that your rv10 series also had some problems on soft fields with the nose gear?
 
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Wheel pants are required for airworthiness?
 
Joe - I've seen Columbias at Gastons before. That said I personally wouldn't be that comfortable operating them on grass with much regularity. I say that based on me having seen the wheel pants and knowing how sometimes grass can hide some surprises.

I would be surprised to learn if anyone bases Columbias on grass. That said there is nothing prohibiting their operation on grass that I'm aware of.
 
I'm not so concerned about my ability to land on a grass strip, as I do it often. More interested in ability of the columbia to handle it. They have small tires that the wheel pants don't leave much clearance for. I really like grass strips. I also like columbia airplanes, but don't know how well they would mix on a regular basis. I have looked in several places and haven't seen anything about soft field operations. Was thinking maybe they were like the pa-46 was and not approved to operate on grass, although, I know that now the mirage and meridians have been approved for soft fields. I was thinking that your rv10 series also had some problems on soft fields with the nose gear?

There have been some 2-place RV flips, but no -10's that I know of. If flying solo or two up front without any baggage then our nose is on the heavy side. We are always with the family near aft CG on grass=light nose wheel. We have tight pants(3/4"), low to the ground with no problems at SC00. Anywhere else, I would probably remove them.
 
Your question is highly field dependent. The majority of strips I've landed on would not be suitable for the Columbia...too short, too rough, ground too soft, grass too tall. If you can find a nice long strip cut like a fairway you will be fine. Good luck.
 
Our grass is short and our soil beneath is by and large pretty firm. We've had just about everything imaginable land on it from Pilatus and Barons to things with tight wheel pants.
The one thing I can say about our grass is that when it rains it does get slick. I normally get on the brakes a bit to get slowed down enough to turn at my house at midfield, but not when it's wet.
 
Fiberglass pants and fairings require a fair bit of maintenance and repair working off anything but the smoothest grass strips, that said, the costs of said maintenance and repair are fairly low and within the skill set of most anyone. I have also modified the mounting on Cessnas and Pipers using O-rings as a mounting buffer that goes a long way to preventing most of the cracks.

If I really liked grass and wanted a performance plane, I'd go with a Bonanza or Baron.

The question you really need to ask though is "Can I get insurance for operating off grass in my new $600,000 airplane?" The answer to that is most likely, 'No'.
 
I was thinking that your rv10 series also had some problems on soft fields with the nose gear?
I operate my RV10 off of 8NC8 which is not considered a smooth field. I know a couple of 2 place RVs have nosed over but there are 1000s flying and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the '10. The nose wheel works as well as my TW Maule so far.

There's two questions to consider - 1) for a given operation on a particular date and time, take off or landing, what kind of shape is the field in, how long, what's the wind, how heavy am I. 2) If basing on a grass field, the same questions need to be answered relative to dispatch reliability and wear and tear over time.

As someone else mentioned, wheel pant maintenance is not a big deal. Bo's and Barons are built like tanks and seem to be able to operate on rough stuff regularly without problems. Cirruses don't seem quite as robust but I don't really know. Columbia?
 
I already have the columbia. My insurance is very reasonable for my hull value. Just looking at buying a private airstrip and hate to have to rent a hanger on a paved strip. I am flying into the strip now with my other cessna's and it is very smooth but wasn't sure about the columbia.
 
No experience with the Columbia or any of the high end singles, but 2 years ago when I was at the Backcountry Fly-In at Johnson Creek, ID, there were two Cirrii that flew in and operated without trouble there. This is a 3500ft grass field in the mountains.
 
No experience with the Columbia or any of the high end singles, but 2 years ago when I was at the Backcountry Fly-In at Johnson Creek, ID, there were two Cirrii with pants that flew in and operated without trouble there. This is a 3500ft grass field in the mountains.
 
Wheel pants are required for airworthiness?

Amazingly, it is true.

I didn't believe it, so I found a POH online, and sure enough the nose and main wheel fairings are indicated as required equipment for all kinds of flight operations.

This is different from a Cirrus, despite the many similarities of the airframes otherwise.
 
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