Orval Fairbairn wrote:

I have been following the "Grass Strip" thread and have a few comments:

I have a "high performance" Vintage Johnson Rocket (the hot rod of 1946)
and have based it on both grass and paved fields and have flown into and
out of grass fields ranging from "fantastic" to "I'd never go in there
again!"

I based at Frazier Lake (CA) for 8 years, where we would close the grass
during the wet season and land on the paved taxiway (really sporting
with a stiff crosswind). The grass was irrigated and kept well-manicured
and was easy on tires and was quite forgiving on sideslip angles during
crosswind rollout.

One of the finest strips I have ever landed on is Leeward (FL), where,
the only way you knew that you had landed was to notice that you were
slowing down. The roughest was Bob Lee (FL), which also has a lot of
dips and waves (a "Never again!" place).

The softest was another Florida grass strip a week after a hurricane
went through. It was WET and slowed us down quickly (using soft field
technique).

It took a fair amount of power to taxi, but we parked and did our
business. The only good thing about it was that it was 3500 feet long.

Takeoff was the maneuver I wondered about most, as my wheels were
sinking into the soil as I taxied (with a fair amount of power). I knew
that I could fly if I could get the nose to rotate and that I could
abort if not, due to the 3500 feet of "runway". I chose full flaps, to
facilitate lift and added full power and stick full back. Acceleration
was very sluggish, but eventually the nose rotated and we lifted off and
flew home.

Yesterday I witnessed a Baron pilot land nosewheel first, porpoise a
couple of times and eventually get control. Several of us there expected
to see the nosewheel fold and the Baron slide down the runway. Talk
about poor technique!

Your accounts got me to wondering ... how many of you all have actually
seen an airplane nose-over on a grass strip? I've been flying since
1978 at two airports that had grass strips (one had only grass until
just last year). I've NEVER seen an incident on a grass strip period,
let alone one that occurred because of failure to use short-field
technique. I haven't tried to search the NTSB archives yet. I'm sure
they have some accounts, but it certainly isn't the type of crash that
I've either heard or read about with any frequency.


Matt