"George Patterson"

Keeping it light is good. Keeping it in the air (as it will be after TD
with full up elevator) is pointless and increases the landing roll. Use
the brakes after TD until the speed gets to the point where elevator
authority is insufficient to hold the nose up or keep it light enough for
the conditions. How much you use then depends on the length of the
strip.

Have you ever actually put one down in a plowed or muddy field? You'd
better pray that you actually *can* keep the nose wheel in the air or, at
least, keep it from digging in. Seen the ad in AOPA Pilot for renter's
insurance? That's a guy who didn't do that. NO BRAKES. The ground will do
a perfectly good job of that.

The vast majority of soft fields are short turf strips. You need brakes to
stop before the end in most GA planes, right? I say use the brakes until
you have full up elevator and the nose starts to get heavy. There is no
reason to avoid using brakes when doing a soft field landing on firm ground
(as most of them are). And that's what it looks like the A320 pilot was
doing. You will know, within a second of TD, whether the ground is soft
enough to cause braking-like friction on the mains and you will brake
accordingly. 2000' of firm turf says you do.

moo