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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
I was thinking low wing planes would be favorable for landing on a
grass strip, because the extra ground effect could mitigate hard landings and keep the ride smooth. But I recently read that some fields are rough enough that rocks, bushes and debris can hit or snag on the flaps. I'm interested in hearing which configuration folks prefer for turf strips - as well as other factors that might make one plane more suitable than another for grass strips. Or is everything negligable? I've seen some planes fitted with quad runner off-roading type tires for landing on very rough terrain.. but that would be overkill in my case. -- PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation. |
#2
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
Operating on grass strips is not the same thing as "Bush flying". Other
than the ground effect issue you noted, neither type has a particular advantage on a grass strip. However, on gravel strips and strips with obstacles, high wing aircraft have advantages, particularly obstacle clearance and being farther away from rocks kicked up by the tires. That's why most of the bush aircraft up North have high wings... "Justin Gombos" wrote in message news:Mpr4i.9617$vp1.1589@trnddc06... I was thinking low wing planes would be favorable for landing on a grass strip, because the extra ground effect could mitigate hard landings and keep the ride smooth. But I recently read that some fields are rough enough that rocks, bushes and debris can hit or snag on the flaps. I'm interested in hearing which configuration folks prefer for turf strips - as well as other factors that might make one plane more suitable than another for grass strips. Or is everything negligable? I've seen some planes fitted with quad runner off-roading type tires for landing on very rough terrain.. but that would be overkill in my case. -- PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation. |
#3
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
Ground effect can also lengthen the flair process, not a good thing
with most unimproved strips. |
#4
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
Then you're flying too fast. I put 1000 hours on a 182 and now with the
Bonanza I fly it basically the same. 70 MPH short final slowing to about 65 over the edge of the runway. Just fly it right into the ground. This is assuming a non paved but not a really soft field. Paul kgyy wrote: Ground effect can also lengthen the flair process, not a good thing with most unimproved strips. |
#5
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
In article ,
Newps wrote: Then you're flying too fast. I put 1000 hours on a 182 and now with the Bonanza I fly it basically the same. 70 MPH short final slowing to about 65 over the edge of the runway. Just fly it right into the ground. This is assuming a non paved but not a really soft field. Paul kgyy wrote: Ground effect can also lengthen the flair process, not a good thing with most unimproved strips. No -- his flare exhibits insufficient flair! |
#6
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
Justin Gombos wrote:
I'm interested in hearing which configuration folks prefer for turf strips - as well as other factors that might make one plane more suitable than another for grass strips. Or is everything negligable? I've landed Cherokees and Cessnas on grass and I prefer the Cessnas. It seems to me that the elevator authority is greater, or becomes effective earlier than in the Cherokee. It doesn't take much to hold a C-172 nose up, particularly compared to an PA-28 or -32. YMMV. -- Mortimer Schnerd, RN mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com |
#7
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
On 2007-05-22, Newps wrote:
Then you're flying too fast. I would agree. But if an aircraft requires more precision on the part of the pilot, then that's a factor in itself, and in fact it's a strike against it. So it seems the low wing confines pilots to a smaller range of speeds in this scenario, making it less tolerant of speed deviations, so what am I getting for the extra effort? Is the ground roll over turf a noticeably smoother ride in a low wing? Is it less likely to have the landing gear sink into soft spots? I'm speculating that that's the case, but it could all be negligeable for all I know. -- PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation. |
#8
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
So it seems the low wing confines pilots to a smaller range of speeds
in this scenario, making it less tolerant of speed deviations, so what am I getting for the extra effort? I don't know the answer to your question, but the above contains a flawed premise. A slippery craft would confine the pilot to a smaller range of approach speeds (since excess speed is harder to bleed off). This is independent of the wing configuration. Perhaps the high wing aircraft in question is draggier, or high wings in general are draggier. If this is the case, then what you get in tradeoff is better performance for a given power. Jose -- There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that just want to know what button to push, and those that want to know what happens when they push the button. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
On May 21, 6:10 pm, Justin Gombos
wrote: I was thinking low wing planes would be favorable for landing on a grass strip, because the extra ground effect could mitigate hard landings and keep the ride smooth. But I recently read that some fields are rough enough that rocks, bushes and debris can hit or snag on the flaps. I'm interested in hearing which configuration folks prefer for turf strips - as well as other factors that might make one plane more suitable than another for grass strips. Or is everything negligable? I've seen some planes fitted with quad runner off-roading type tires for landing on very rough terrain.. but that would be overkill in my case. -- PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation. When I flew out of a rough grass strip the high wings were at a clear advantage (I was flying an Aeronca and a Swift). The low wing planes would often get rock dings on the leading edge but the high wings were always fine. -robert, CFII |
#10
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Soft field landings - low wing vs high wing aircraft
Justin,
so what am I getting for the extra effort? You get to fly a low wing aircraft! ;-) Seriously, though, if you can't control your speed on final enough to avoid more flare than you want in a low wing, you have no business flying to (difficult) airfields in any aircraft. -- Thomas Borchert (EDDH) |
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