Paved vs Grass Tiedown?

hish747

hish747

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
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Location
Skylark Airpark
Display Name
Hish747
Home Airfield
7B6, 7B2
Do folks have a strong preference for grass vs paved tiedown spots? At an airport I'm considering grass is cheap and plentiful and paved are expensive and harder to get. Do people who have grass find the moisture creates a problem?
Hish
 
I have never tied down in grass but I would think moisture, settling, and mud could be a major problem. Let alone who's mowing around and under your plane?
 
Disclaimer: I don't own, I rent from an airport that has the rentals (and privately owned) planes on the grass. No issues here. The guy mowing is the airport owner, a pilot and the field mechanic. He makes sure to take care of the planes.

TJ


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I have been on both. Only difference is when it rains. Need to be a little more careful on grass during the rain.
 
I grew up on a well established grass airport. We had several airplanes tied down outside over the years. Never seemed to be a big issue as the ground was well compacted over the many years. Unless it rained a great amount, even moving planes around after a rain was never an issue, unless we were trying to use a heavy vehicle to tow them. Just sitting on grass vs pavement doesn't, in my opinion, subject a plane to a significantly higher moisture exposure. We had fabric covered Cubs and Aeroncas as well as all metal like C172 and recall no unusual issues.

I've owned and based at a grass airport for 14 years now, one of which has a small river running across the north end and a large wetland to one side. Other than polish aluminum, it hasn't caused any issue, but I have always had mine in a hangar which obviously helps with direct exposure, but the humidity/moisture is still about the same.

That's my two cents. :D
 
I'd wonder a bit about insects/rodents a bit more with grass I'd think, as you're probably more likely to encounter them in a large section of grass than you would a concrete pad. It's probably of minor consequence though.
 
I've seen insect/rodent problems in both. Even most paved airports have plenty of grass around them.
 
If your rodents are this big, I suggest a hanger.....
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http://www.viralforest.com/this-pil...t-he-repaired-the-whole-thing-with-duct-tape/
 
The area where I saw this as an issue is in a northern state, where having the aircraft in the snow and grass lead to more issues then when the aircraft was stored on concrete. It was a lot easier to clear the snow from the concrete than the grass.
 
Grass is cooler. Grass is easier on the tires. Grass is more forgiving to the gear when bouncing around on the ropes in the wind.

Pushing back may be easier on a hard surface. How much easier depends on the surface and your tire size. If it's a drive-through tie down that's not a problem.
 
Tie downs suck across the board, grass vs paved, meh, whatever.


Runway wise, I prefer grass
 
Fortunately, we rarely got snow where I grew up. This was a rare occasion. Around 1972 IIRC.

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