Why land in the grass when paved is available?

Dan Thomas said:
Why is it nicer to sit under a tree instead of a big umbrella? Why is it nicer to go to the park for a walk instead of the concrete jungles of downtown? Why does an apple picked right off the tree taste so much better than the one off the display at the supermarket? Why does a hotdog roasted over a campfire--and burnt a bit--taste far more delicious than the one from the hotdog stand?

Some people do prefer the city and the supermarket food and the sterile hotdog. Those are the people that prefer pavement and are afraid of grass and a few bumps and slithers and dust.

Dan
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Nothing left to be said. Lock the thread. Dan nailed it.
 
Matthew said:
I've rented from 3 different FBOs and they each have different restrictions.

FBO #1 said: no grass fields except - Kxxx, Kyyy, Kzzz. These are fields that are used a lot for training and are well known to the FBO as being well maintained.

FBO #2 said: no restriction as long as it's a public use field and no gravel.

FBO #3: I don't remember, right now, I do need to check.
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The two FBO's I've rented from are based on airports that have both a paved and grass runway. They both prohibit solo student pilots from using the grass, but allow rated pilot renters to use the grass as long as they've had a checkout with a CFI.
 
The only good things I can say about paved runways are: they don't get soft or muddy and they made me better at landing my Luscombe.

Jerry
 
lr60plt said:
It's one of those things that can't be explained to those that have to ask ;)
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If you have to explain, they wouldn't understand :yes:

This is probably the smoothest runway I've ever landed on, period.

IMG_7333.JPG
 
MassPilot said:
Me landing on the grass at 1B9 in a C172:

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I love grass but avoid landing on a grass strip that is bisected by pavement. Both because of possible issues at the edges of the pavement and because it's just not right!
 
nddons said:
Josh, is your bird back in service, and do you take your 150 on grass?
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I've had it back since October, but have only gotten maybe 6 hours in since then. Hartford has a grass strip thats 2250 long and close to 200 feet wide, but it's not plowed in the wintertime. I took the wheelpants off the 150 just so I wouldn't get a bunch of grass up in them.
 
Living in the middle of a desert, I have not had an opportunity to land on grass. It is always dirt and gravel. While dirt affords some of grass' benefits, such as extended life of tires, it also has hazards: rains tend to ruin it. Runways here, if anyone cares, have crown in them which allows drainage, so directional control is made essential least you drift into the ditch.

Landing on grass that's not intended for it can be bad, like this:
http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/a-belite-is-broken/

Note that 1) Jim Bealie has an extensive experience doing this sort of thing, having made a bunch of forced landings due to engine failures, 2) the landing itself went well, but he pranged it while taxiing in the grass.
 
zaitcev said:
Living in the middle of a desert, I have not had an opportunity to land on grass. It is always dirt and gravel. While dirt affords some of grass' benefits, such as extended life of tires, it also has hazards: rains tend to ruin it. Runways here, if anyone cares, have crown in them which allows drainage, so directional control is made essential least you drift into the ditch.

Landing on grass that's not intended for it can be bad, like this:
http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/a-belite-is-broken/

Note that 1) Jim Bealie has an extensive experience doing this sort of thing, having made a bunch of forced landings due to engine failures, 2) the landing itself went well, but he pranged it while taxiing in the grass.
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He got some nice pictures of the Flint Hills.
 
As a taildragger jock, I'll take a nice, grass strip over the very best paved runway every time. In my little antique, grass is awesome. Grass is what she was designed for.
 
Yep, I was going to ask, why use Paved when grass is available.

I'm always amazed when people will take a horrendous crosswind when a grass strip at the same airport is available directly into the wind.
 
flyingron said:
I'm always amazed when people will take a horrendous crosswind when a grass strip at the same airport is available directly into the wind.
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Insurance often requires "paved". Only one FBO in my town has it phrased as "maintained public airports" in their agreement. Everyone else has "paved runways only".
 
kgruber said:
The real question is, "Why would you ever want to land on pavement?"
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This times a million!

My favorite lessons were when my CFI took me into 58C which is a 2300' grass strip. And the DPE had me land there on my checkride, covered with an inch of snow. So much fun!!!!
 
Many of the fighter strips in England during WW 2 were grass, spitfires, p51s, etc. all used them continually. I have landed on grass constantly for 50 years , still do, many times in a mooney. Strange thread. There's a grass strip beside the asphalt at an airport I use quite a bit. It's kept mowed and is very smooth. 2200 ft., like a pool table.
 
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Mine just requires it to be an airport, actually.
 
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