How to land on a grass airstrip

As a (fairly) recent private pilot (~125 hrs), I do not have much
experience with non-paved runway surfaces. The advice I have comes from
these points:

1) Have a qualified (ie, one experienced, current, and comfortable with
non-paved surface landings--grass, dirt, gravel, et al) instructor on
board until YOU are comfortable with non-paved surface operations.
2) Treat any non-paved surface as a soft-field operation until you know
otherwise. It may save your pocketbook.
3) A misconception I had was that you performed EITHER a soft-field
landing OR a short-field landing, but not a COMBINATION of the two.
Realize that if you land at an airstrip that is rough, but hard, you may
want to still use soft-field techniques. If it is short, but soft,
combine short- AND soft- field techniques.
4) See point #1. It all comes down to YOU and YOUR experience and
comfort level with non-paved surface operations, no matter what I or
others may say. YOU are pilot-in-command. Kudos to you for trying to
get more information, though.

Chris G, PP-ASEL
Salem, Oregon
flying (at) k7sle *d*o*t* com.

drclive wrote:
Can anybody point out a good bibliography or article that describes the
differences in landing on a grass airstrip for the first time, tips and
advices? Thanks

Chris G. wrote:

3) A misconception I had was that you performed EITHER a soft-field
landing OR a short-field landing, but not a COMBINATION of the two.
Realize that if you land at an airstrip that is rough, but hard, you may
want to still use soft-field techniques. If it is short, but soft,
combine short- AND soft- field techniques.

Absolutely. You do what is needed for the circumstances at hand. If a
strip is both short and soft, then you need to use both techniques.
What originally gave you the idea that you shouldn't combine the two
techniques? My primary instructor had me practice the combination often
as many soft fields are also short fields.


Matt

It was just a misconception I had until later in my training. I think
it was probably because there are significant differences in the
procedures (holding nose off vs, keep nose on the ground as much as
possible), they're tested separately in the PTS, and I didn't really
have a good practice strip for short/soft fields. My Instructor (aka my
Dad) did a good job explaining the need to combine techniques, I just
didn't get it until later on.

Chris

Matt Whiting wrote:
Chris G. wrote:

3) A misconception I had was that you performed EITHER a soft-field
landing OR a short-field landing, but not a COMBINATION of the two.
Realize that if you land at an airstrip that is rough, but hard, you may
want to still use soft-field techniques. If it is short, but soft,
combine short- AND soft- field techniques.

Absolutely. You do what is needed for the circumstances at hand. If a
strip is both short and soft, then you need to use both techniques. What
originally gave you the idea that you shouldn't combine the two
techniques? My primary instructor had me practice the combination often
as many soft fields are also short fields.


Matt

Chris G. wrote:
It was just a misconception I had until later in my training. I think
it was probably because there are significant differences in the
procedures (holding nose off vs, keep nose on the ground as much as
possible), they're tested separately in the PTS, and I didn't really
have a good practice strip for short/soft fields. My Instructor (aka my
Dad) did a good job explaining the need to combine techniques, I just
didn't get it until later on.


any-one want to give out the speed/time formulae as to finding the
length of the grass strip -before- you land on it...

"george" wrote in message
oups.com...

Chris G. wrote:
It was just a misconception I had until later in my training. I think
it was probably because there are significant differences in the
procedures (holding nose off vs, keep nose on the ground as much as
possible), they're tested separately in the PTS, and I didn't really
have a good practice strip for short/soft fields. My Instructor (aka my
Dad) did a good job explaining the need to combine techniques, I just
didn't get it until later on.


any-one want to give out the speed/time formulae as to finding the
length of the grass strip -before- you land on it...


60Mph = about 90fps

1.5 X Mph = Fps

100mph = 150fps
10 second pass = 1500 feet
20 second pass = 3000 '

Al G

You probably want to avoid this technique.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article_ap?id=87256

On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:29:49 -0400, Skylune wrote:

You probably want to avoid this technique.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article_ap?id=87256

What a trashy rag for releasing what potentially could be the pilot's name
before the family was notified.


Greg