Landing on snow-covered grass

Yesterday we flew to nearby Amana (C11) to show my sister Iowa's most
popular tourist attraction, the Amana Colonies. Amana has a grass
strip -- one of the nicest in the Midwest.

We had received an inch of snow the night before -- the best kind of
snow, too, since it only "stuck' to the grass. (Any snow you don't
have to shovel is "good" snow.) Surprisingly, the temperature was
still below freezing at noon, so we would be landing on snow-covered
grass -- a rare challenge.

Mary purposefully flew a "747 pattern" to give us a nice, long,
stabilized approach. The runway at Amana is relatively short (2300
feet), and with braking action expected to be virtually nil on the
snowy grass, she wanted to touch down at minimum forward speed. This
meant three-notches of flaps, something we don't normally use in the
Pathfinder. It also meant dragging Atlas in somewhat behind the power
curve -- another tactic we normally avoid.

There are "square ponds" (waste water breathers) just off the arrival
end of Rwy 26, along with some trees -- just to make it more fun.
It's a "sporting" approach that we enjoy making a dozen or more times
per year -- but this was the first time we'd ever attempted it on
snow.

Mary skimmed over the ponds, jousting with a mild left cross wind.
She made a perfect touchdown on the sod, and rolled quickly to a
stop. The grass was a bit long, and the ground wasn't frozen, so the
added drag slowed us quickly -- one big advantage to the first snow of
the year. (Later in the year the sod will be like iron, frozen to a
depth of several feet.)

After enjoying a marvelous afternoon in Amana (their "Prelude to
Christmas" activities are always traditional and fun, and the food is
the best) it was my turn to fly us home. During preflight I
discovered that Mary had accidentally parked Atlas with the right
wheel up against a tie-down tire (hard to see in the snow), so that it
would act just like a wheel chock. Worse, the soft sod had allowed
the plane to sink in just enough so that Mary and I couldn't push it
back -- so we unloaded my sister and daughter so that they could give
us a hand.

With the four of us pushing, we were able to break Atlas free and push
him back about four feet -- enough so that I could clear the tire.
Start up was normal, and, as expected, back-taxiing on the soft, snowy
grass took considerably more power than normal. I utiliized the
"Sylvania Swing" (accelerating *away* from the direction of departure
and swinging it around while applying full throttle -- a short-field
technique that we learned at Sylvania Field in Wisconsin that can buy
you an extra several hundred feet of runway) to get off the short
field, and used classic soft-field technique to get the nose wheel out
of the snow. The cold air and Atlas' 235 horsepower did the rest, and
we climbed strongly in the cold, clear air.

After all that, landing on Iowa City's long, wide runways seemed
pretty tame...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Gail taught gliderguiders for several years out of Sylvania ... if you think
it is short in Assless, try it behind a Super Cub with a runout engine
towing a thousand pounds of glider {;-)

Jim




I utiliized the
"Sylvania Swing" (accelerating *away* from the direction of departure
and swinging it around while applying full throttle -- a short-field
technique that we learned at Sylvania Field in Wisconsin that can buy
you an extra several hundred feet of runway)

Gail taught gliderguiders for several years out of Sylvania ... if you think
it is short in Assless, try it behind a Super Cub with a runout engine
towing a thousand pounds of glider {;-)

Interesting! I didn't know that she was ever in SE Wisconsin! What
year(s) was she there?

The Sylvania Swing was only necessary when we were flying our usual
clapped-out rental Cherokee 140 on a hot summer day. That thing
(N32SA -- last I heard, it's still on the line at C89) was such a dog,
and if the tires were a bit low, or we had company in the back seat,
hoochee-mama, that thing was SLOOOW to accelerate.

If you were taking off the East, those trucks on I-94 just got bigger,
and bigger, and bigger...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

She was still teaching there when we met in '95 and as I recall, she had
been there for a couple of years. She also taught at Windy City and Clow,
living in Brookfield.

--
"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
...

Gail taught gliderguiders for several years out of Sylvania ... if you
think
it is short in Assless, try it behind a Super Cub with a runout engine
towing a thousand pounds of glider {;-)

Interesting! I didn't know that she was ever in SE Wisconsin! What
year(s) was she there?

She was still teaching there when we met in '95 and as I recall, she had
been there for a couple of years. She also taught at Windy City and Clow,
living in Brookfield.

Dang! Mary and I were flying out of Sylvania from '95 to '97, so we
almost certainly shared the pattern with her...

It's a small world...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

With the four of us pushing, we were able to break Atlas free and push
him back about four feet -- enough so that I could clear the tire.
Start up was normal, and, as expected, back-taxiing on the soft, snowy
grass took considerably more power than normal. I utiliized the
"Sylvania Swing" (accelerating *away* from the direction of departure
and swinging it around while applying full throttle -- a short-field
technique that we learned at Sylvania Field in Wisconsin that can buy
you an extra several hundred feet of runway) to get off the short
field, and used classic soft-field technique to get the nose wheel out
of the snow. The cold air and Atlas' 235 horsepower did the rest, and
we climbed strongly in the cold, clear air.

How does this buy you an extra several hundred feet of runway?

Matt

How does this buy you an extra several hundred feet of runway?

If executed correctly, the Sylvania Swing means that you'll be hitting
the start of your takeoff roll already going 20 knots or more.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

This is the same (partial) technique Art Mattison recommends when
flying out of short fields with his VG's installed ON CHEROKEES ONLY!!

I would not dare to try the rotation he suggests without the VGs, but
the "swing" really helps..

Basically...

Taxi down the upwind side of the rny and make a wide 180 deg turn at
the end . Without burning rubber, make the turn as fast as you are
comfortable. When 45 degrees to the takeoff heading, full power.

On a wide runway with good traction, you can get to 15 knts or more at
the beginning of the take off roll.

This works on Cherokees with their WIDE, SHORT and very RUGGED landing
gear. NOT RECOMMENDED for other types of aircraft.

YMMV!

Dave



On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:28:20 -0800 (PST), Jay Honeck
wrote:

How does this buy you an extra several hundred feet of runway?

If executed correctly, the Sylvania Swing means that you'll be hitting
the start of your takeoff roll already going 20 knots or more.

Jay Honeck wrote:
How does this buy you an extra several hundred feet of runway?

If executed correctly, the Sylvania Swing means that you'll be hitting
the start of your takeoff roll already going 20 knots or more.

I must not be visualizing correctly what you are talking about. I was
thinking it was like a J laying on its side with the long leg being the
runway and the short leg being beside the runway (assuming a pretty wide
takeoff area). You start point away from the direction of takeoff and
then make a sweeping turn onto the runway. However, if you do that wide
enough to be at 20 knots when aligned with the runway, you will have a
fairly large radius of turn and I'll bet you lose nearly as much as you
gain.

Matt

I must not be visualizing correctly what you are talking about. I was
thinking it was like a J laying on its side with the long leg being the
runway and the short leg being beside the runway (assuming a pretty wide
takeoff area). You start point away from the direction of takeoff and
then make a sweeping turn onto the runway. However, if you do that wide
enough to be at 20 knots when aligned with the runway, you will have a
fairly large radius of turn and I'll bet you lose nearly as much as you
gain.

You're right, if done incorrectly, you don't gain much -- although
even sloppily done, you still gain a bit.

The trick is to maintain your momentum around the "J" turn. You have
to hit the speed fast enough to maintain momentum, but not so fast
that you tip your tricycle over! As someone mentioned, Cherokees
are good for this, thanks to their wide stance. (A Tri-Pacer, for
instance, might not fare as well, with its tall, more closely spaced
gear...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"