Jay Honeck wrote:
Whoops -- forgot one more thing: Soft field capability. I know several
Comanche owners who won't fly into Amana's grass strip, which is an awful
shame. We fly in there -- and several other excellent grass strips --
all the time.

That's just pathetic. Not being able to go offroad would have been a deal
killer when I was looking at the Bonanza.


I confess to not knowing enough about the Comanche's gear to comment. Is it
that they *can't* or that they *won't* fly into a soft field?


They all can land off pavement. Look when they were designed. Most GA
planes landed on grass/dirt a significant number of times. And it's not
necessarily soft field that concerned me. I wouldn't land my 182 in a
mud hole. The West is a desert, therfore very dry. What's more
important is rough field. Most strips I land on are just plowed with a
road grader and maybe cut a couple times a year to keep the grass less
than 6 inches. They can be pretty bumpy.