If I had been in the position to have wrecked my shiny new aircraft in an unmarked pothole at a grass airstrip, I would probably feel somewhat similar.
It was at a hard runway airport, on a grass/concrete transition.
But I have also been to a “1200m” grass strip where I needed ~ 1000m to get airborne. Grass maybe 20cm long. Aircraft completely covered in green sh**t.
I am very much a “go places” pilot myself.
If going to totally unknown grass, it comes down to one’s attitude to risk (more or less what I said earlier). My attitude is that if going to somewhere in S. Europe, or actually most nice places in Europe, I am a very long way from home and the logistics of doing a repair would be hugely complicated. I don’t think my view would be different in a Cirrus. I am sure many take a different view if it’s not their plane, and I used to fly to places in rented PA28s which I would not go to today.
Always keep your margins.
That’s not easy if you are landing at a new unknown place, and regardless of what you find there you still need to take off sometime later.
The narrower the runway, the easier it is to stay on the center line – proof that nature doesn’t always conspire again you.
Huh? I learned to fly on a 7000 ft rwy and flew for many years from a 9000 footer. Never had an issue with finding the center line. Only thing is, it’s almost as wide as the nacelle of the Cessna ;-)
IMHO life is too short to be constantly worried about the perfect “as new” condition of one’s aircraft.
That’s very much how I feel. Anybody likes a shiny plane without dents better than a beat up old dog, especially if it’s a high qualiyt touring airplane like a TB20, Bonanza, Cirrus or Mooney (a beat up old CUB can be very charming, i think). But then…, Do i have the plane to GET TO PLACES, or am I a slave of the airplane?
Of course i can understand Peter too. That really is bad.
I was thinking about this a lot when I had to make the decision if I will fly the SR22 to work. The airport next to our company in CZ is a pretty rough grass strip, but long and not terribly bad. But since it’s on a hill and the underground is sandy, it’s never muddy. So i decided for it. After all the flight is only 40 minutes compared to 3+ hours (if I drive fast that is) by car.
I do see a chance that I will regret it, but I did it three times now, landed slow, flat and with the nose up high… and it seemed okay. Take-off is no problem at all… 300 m is all i need to get it off the ground and to accelerate in ground effect.
I am sure many take a different view if it’s not their plane, and I used to fly to places in rented PA28s which I would not go to today.
Actually, for me it’s the other way round. I rather ruin my own stuff.
But I have also been to a “1200m” grass strip where I needed ~ 1000m to get airborne.
It gets really interesting if the grass strip is submerged under 5cm of water…
> If I had a grass runway I would covertly reinforce it with that green plastic mesh, immediately.
I would do, too. It’ll probably make it a bit easier to keep in good shape too.
I’m sort of the opposite to you – I’d prefer to always operate off grass but in reality I never get to do so (I think in the last 12 months I’ve landed at one grass airfield only!). My plane was built in 1945 when hard surfaced GA airports were rare, and was designed for it. We’ve got fat main gear tyres to make operating off unimproved surfaces better, too. We’ve also got a solid shopping trolley style free castoring tailwheel which isn’t so good on hard surfaced runways. Places like Ronaldsway especially (with a grooved runway and ultra grippy runway surface) I always wheel land and keep the tail up until I’m going quite slow to stop the tailwheel from suffering from excessive wear.
The Bonanza also was designed in this era – the first Bo was on the market in 1947. One notable thing about the Bonanza when you compare it to (say) a Mooney or even an Arrow is that the Bonanza has very tough landing gear with the gear doors remaining reasonably clear of the surface (and quite big wheels), and also quite a lot of prop clearance.
