Todd

I agree with you. I flew PT-19's, AT-6's, P-40's. P-51's, 150's 180's
and a few other tail wheel birds (Cub's, Air Knocker's,
Luscombe's,Rearwin JR, etc.). Three pointed ALL OF THEM on grass and
hard surface with no problems.

Have seen a number of so called experts wheel a bird in and loose it.

Big John
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On 19 Jun 2006 08:59:01 -0500, T o d d P a t t i s t
wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

Your accounts got me to wondering ... how many of you all have actually
seen an airplane nose-over on a grass strip?

I've seen this. The field was definitely soft - extremely
soft. A week of spring thaw and rain during the week
leaving mud under the grass, then an overnight freeze
producing a hard crust allowing morning takeoffs on the
weekend. Thawing during the day left a weak crust, plane
noses over as wheels sink through into the muck. Fire
trucks ran out and sank through too.

This was not a failure to use soft field technique. Nothing
would have prevented this other than using the hard runway
or landing a couple hours earlier. I've got more landings
on grass than hard surface - mostly tailwheel. I don't
wheel land on grass, (I seldom wheel land on hard either)
and certainly would not do it on a grass runway I don't know
well. I use soft field technique if it's soft. I don't
stop the taxi if the grass is getting long, or at the edge
of a bump to the hard surface, but a normal grass runway
needs no special technique.