I fly to any grass strip that’s longer than 500 m, and i have never had a problem with it
I could too but choose not to.
Peter wrote:
So I will do it if there is a pressing reason, but in general nowadays I would go only if I have been there before on foot.
That’s pretty much my position with the Lancair, so no real difference with a typical low wing retract.
My wife told me to buy an airplane & then insisted that I not back out when I began to have doubts as a result of the pre buy/annual. She’s not that into flying but sees I am.
I have bought a second set of wheel pants when i first bought the airplane, becasue I was sure I’d ruin them with all the landings on grass. Now I have it 2.5 years and I land on grass regularly, and that’s not really a smooth one but one of these glider fields in Bohemia …
The plane gets dirty, yes and the wheelpants have some scratches and two times (when the wheel pant touched the ground) i broke one of the brackets, but the wheel pants are still in good condition … maybe next year I’ll put on the other set and get the original ones painted.
Take-off roll with 3/4 fuel and me alone on board is almost never more than 300 meters, and landings i try to touch down as slow as possible, around 70-72 knots if i’m on board alone.
Peter wrote:
The PA28R Arrow is one of the hardest, because it’s one of the cheapest ones.
I think part of the gear trouble on the Arrow is due to the fact, that it is often used as complex trainer and thus many airframes make quite a lot cycles, much more than you in your TB20. With your long flights, you could easy get to 200 hours with the same gear cycles an Arrow in an ATO would make in 20. Plus, I bet your landings are seldom very rough, in contrast to typical first landings in a new aircraft.
If you have a well maintained gear, I bet taking off the wheel fairings for maintenance and refilling will become a factor in comparison (unless you can access everything through a door, that is.) :-)
There’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while, perhaps one of the Cirrus pilots here can answer.
Assume the following scenario: loss of control or a precautionary chute pull. Engine is operating. You now hang on the chute, gliding down.
In this scenario, can you ‘steer’ the airplane under the chute? IOW, can you use the engine and perhaps the rudder to guide the airplane under the chute to a favorable landing site?
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
My wife told me to buy an airplane & then insisted that I not back out when I began to have doubts as a result of the pre buy/annual. She’s not that into flying but sees I am.
Wow sounds like a keeper. 
Peter wrote:
Also the TB21 is not as efficient as the TB20 because it has a significantly lower CR.
The difference is not as big as it seems and the TB21 catches up quickly and becomes more efficient at higher altitudes. See data from POH
TB vs TB21 Performance Comparison. See the work sheet “Compare TB20 vs TB21”.
At 9000 feet the TB21 has slightly better efficiency at slightly higher air speed.
I thought one of the reasons for fixed gear on the cirrus is it is part of the crumple structure?
As to retractables most seps seem to be designed for hard. The gear is realtively weak, the tyres high pressure and far too narrow. Thats why you feel every lump and bump. Some might say cheap and nasty engineering!
