Unpaved Landing areas

Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

-c

On Jun 26, 1:19*pm, gatt wrote:
Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:

How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

-c

Ah...that is part of the problem and why? Lack of experience on the
parts of the instructors who train pilots to operate of such strips?
And, why is that? Has to be an accident rate caused by pilots who had
no idea what in hell they were doing? What is happening to the
experienced guys who have a hard time landing on paved runways and
controlled airports? Are we nearing extinction?
Amazed at the rapid response to this post

Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
On Jun 26, 1:19 pm, gatt wrote:

How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

Ah...that is part of the problem and why? Lack of experience on the
parts of the instructors who train pilots to operate of such strips?

Maybe, I don't know. I did quite a few grass-strip landings with my
instructor during primary training. It wasn't until after I started
renting from various FBOs that I ran into the "no soft-field landings"
policy.

It's hard for me to blame the instructors; the ones I know are seasoned
pilots (I've avoided the CFI mills so far) who almost certainly wouldn't
have a problem. Sure wouldn't bother me to do them, either.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...
Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
On Jun 26, 1:19 pm, gatt wrote:

How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

Ah...that is part of the problem and why? Lack of experience on the
parts of the instructors who train pilots to operate of such strips?

Maybe, I don't know. I did quite a few grass-strip landings with my
instructor during primary training. It wasn't until after I started
renting from various FBOs that I ran into the "no soft-field landings"
policy.


Is "no soft fields" the same as "no unpaved fields"? I could make a good
argument that it isn't.

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...
Ol Shy & Bashful wrote:
How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

Such is the case with my insurance. I suppose I could probably pay more for
the privelege, but there's not that many in which I care to land and the
wear and tear to my nosewheel plane just isn't worth it. Besides I can
always hitch a ride with a tailwheel buddy or rent a Citabria if I have a
turf runway itch I need to scratch.

Mike wrote:
Such is the case with my insurance. I suppose I could probably pay more for
the privelege, but there's not that many in which I care to land and the
wear and tear to my nosewheel plane just isn't worth it. Besides I can
always hitch a ride with a tailwheel buddy or rent a Citabria if I have a
turf runway itch I need to scratch.

Strange. I've never had a policy that prohibited unpaved runways and I've
been buying 'em since 1990. Out here in the west, a large number of public
use airports have unpaved runways.

Unpaved doesn't necessarily mean wear and tear on the nosewheel. I've been
landing my Cherokee on strips like these for more than a dozen yrs. and have
never had any nosegear problems :

http://members.cox.net/jgalban/12f70900.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1c180890.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1ed9bf40.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1fa9bf40.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/13e15900.jpg

There are a lot of very unique unpaved public airports in the country.
Your missing out.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via http://www.aviationkb.com

Unpaved doesn't necessarily mean wear and tear on the nosewheel. I've
been
landing my Cherokee on strips like these for more than a dozen yrs. and
have
never had any nosegear problems :

http://members.cox.net/jgalban/12f70900.jpg

That runway looks better marked than some of the "paved" runways I used...

I must admit that the only runways I use nowadays are simulated (can I
argue that they are "not paved" ;-) ). But back when Jimmy Carter was still
in office, I flew off grass regularly.

I assume that at least some people still do - when I look at the local
charts, there are still plenty of small grass strips around.

Note: I still do get to ride in real life on occasion, but I am so rusty
that there is no way I would attempt to land something like the T-18 or the
Pitts that I get rides in - I did attempt a takeoff in the T-18 at Eau
Claire WI a few years back - good thing the runway was 150 feet wide - I
needed every inch.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

"JGalban via AviationKB.com" u32749@uwe wrote in message
news:8644438bd8ae6@uwe...
Mike wrote:
Such is the case with my insurance. I suppose I could probably pay more
for
the privelege, but there's not that many in which I care to land and the
wear and tear to my nosewheel plane just isn't worth it. Besides I can
always hitch a ride with a tailwheel buddy or rent a Citabria if I have a
turf runway itch I need to scratch.

Strange. I've never had a policy that prohibited unpaved runways and
I've
been buying 'em since 1990. Out here in the west, a large number of
public
use airports have unpaved runways.

Unpaved doesn't necessarily mean wear and tear on the nosewheel. I've
been
landing my Cherokee on strips like these for more than a dozen yrs. and
have
never had any nosegear problems :

I agree completely. A well maintained turf runway is no problem. It's the
unmaintained ones that are hard on aircraft. Naturally unmaintained paved
runways are a problem too, but there aren't as many.


http://members.cox.net/jgalban/12f70900.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1c180890.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1ed9bf40.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/1fa9bf40.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jgalban/13e15900.jpg

There are a lot of very unique unpaved public airports in the country.
Your missing out.

I've got probably 200 or so take-offs and landings on turf fields. The
number of them that I miss can be counted on one hand. Gastons, Cedar
Mills, and McGehee's come to mind, but as I said, I can always go with
someone else if I want to and I rent a tailwheel 3-4 times per year anyway.

On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:28:24 GMT, "Mike" wrote:

Naturally unmaintained paved
runways are a problem too, but there aren't as many.

Actually, I find it just the opposite. I know of three grass runways,
all of them smooth as could be. And the two paved runways I most often
fly to are terribly rough. Indeed, one of them is blacklisted by the
home airfield because it's too hard on tailwheels.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:19:44 +0000 (UTC), gatt
wrote:

How often do you get to land or take off from something other than a
paved runway?

Hardly ever. Insurance policies increasingly prohibit it.

My home field (7B3 Hampton NH) is grass, and I'm insured!

It's certainly true that most of the airports I can reach are paved,
but 2B2 Plum Island MA has a grass runway at an angle to the tarmac. I
choose it if I possibly can because it's in much better shape than the
asphalt.


Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com