Grass Runway Landing Training

Did you ever receive flight training on a grass runway?

  • Yes, during PPL training

    Votes: 86 53.1%

  • Yes, but after PPL

    Votes: 25 15.4%

  • No, never

    Votes: 51 31.5%
  • Total voters
    162
Nav8tor said:
Yup, lots of grass crop duster strips in South Jersey. My CFI did most of my soft field training on those fields.
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RotaryWingBob said:
We did a couple of patterns at the grass ag strip next to the Cedar Lake VOR.

I think the folks who really have it right, though, is the school at Aeroflex Andover in NJ. The students there start their primary training in taildraggers on grass fields, and never get exposed to trigear a/c until after they solo.
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Solberg, NJ also trains their students on their own grass runway. They also taught us some grass runway etiquitte - mainly about landing when it was wet creates ruts that are a pain to remove.

Here in Nebraska, the places I rent from prohibit grass fields- some of the municipal airports are grass (like Wilbur, NE). You'd think the 2 states would be the other way about grass fields:dunno:
 
Ron Levy said:
Third, no, it's not a requirement, but I think there is a reticence among many pilots to go roll on the grass if they've never done it first with an instructor. Also, it's my opinon that doing a soft-field landing on a hard runway and actually landing on a grass one are significantly different experiences.
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And a landing on a soft field is generally different from both of those ;)

skyflyer8 said:
It's true that many grass strips aren't really that soft. However, in my experience, many of them are rough, giving me a good reason to do soft-field technique. I make sure all my students get the experience.
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Actually, in my experience, the biggest hazard of a grass runway is the occasional 4-5" lip where it crosses the asphalt runway or taxiway.

That, and putting ruts in somebody's nice, smooth grass runway when it's wet. THAT's a good way to get yourself hurt!:hairraise:

Fly safe!

David
 
No flight school I'm familiar with allows operations on grass runways, for insurance reasons. I got some very informal "training" by flying with someone other than my CFI, and further "training" and practice after my Private.
 
JohnR said:
No flight school I'm familiar with allows operations on grass runways, for insurance reasons. I got some very informal "training" by flying with someone other than my CFI, and further "training" and practice after my Private.
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Most don't. I was surprised that when I was doing my commercial I was allowed to do soft field ops in the rental aircraft.

There is an airport near here, 0C0, that has three grass strips and does initial flight training. They are the only ones I know of in this area that let rental planes and student do soft field work.
 
I don't really consider grass as being soft field. Only once have I had a grass field go "soft" on me. This was at Gastons 07. Some of us elected to delay our launch due to approaching storm cells. The airport received several hours worth of rain. This was right after I made a comment stating that I would likely never run into a soft field in my life.
 
jesse said:
This was right after I made a comment stating that I would likely never run into a soft field in my life.
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i think nick retracted his comments re soft field around that time as well :)
 
smigaldi said:
Most don't. I was surprised that when I was doing my commercial I was allowed to do soft field ops in the rental aircraft.

There is an airport near here, 0C0, that has three grass strips and does initial flight training. They are the only ones I know of in this area that let rental planes and student do soft field work.
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Scott,
Come on, the planes at A&M are allowed into grass fields after you've been into one with an instructor. (Note that I'm presuming you meant grass when you said soft. Ignore if I'm wrong) And I was talking with the owner today and encouraging him to make a true grass landing a part of the official curriculum. He may fly he Citation and King Airs, but he also flies the Champ! I'm holding out hope!

Plus, I verified with him that Aurora is building that 6000' grass strip I mentioned earlier. Of course, we could all be wrong, but...
 
my club only requires that you land at 'established airports' which i understand includes anything that is used as a runway, like private strips, but not just landing in a field somewhere.

my fbo allows landing on non paved runways, but only at FAA approved airports.
 
I had no introduction to grass operations in primary training, but within a month after, my instructor and I did go land at nearby grass strip. Over the next few years, I would land on grass fields occasionally (like at Stanton's Barbecue Restaurant), and the place where I had to go pick up the examiner for my instrument ticket is an interesting airport near Greensboro where one lands uphill on grass and takes off downhill with the nosewhell on a little narrow strip of asphalt.

I agree with one poster on here that landing on grass is no problem (actually makes ones landings look better!), but that soft field take-offs are more problematic.
This was evident at Gaston's 04, arriving on Friday, then leaving Sunday after a good bit of rain all weekend. The Cardinal RG is not that great off of soft fields, with its small wheels (takes a good bit of energy to get it rolling, particularly if the tires are at all underinflated). That take-off scared me enough to get with my Cardinal instructor to make sure that my soft-field technique was proper (it was).

Wells
 
gprellwitz said:
Scott,
Come on, the planes at A&M are allowed into grass fields after you've been into one with an instructor.
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What is A&M?

The rentals at 3CK, 10C, which is what I meant by 'around here', do not allow soft field ops at all.

BTW I am subscribing to the psychosis that grass is not soft and I have the broken wheel pant to prove it! :yes:
 
I've been searching for grass runways to take students here, but in SoCal grass is more expensive than asphalt I think. The only dirt runways I've found are used by gliders & tow planes.

Anybody know of one within an hour's flight in a 172 of Los Angeles?

Right now I probably have a dozen or so grass and dirt landings all with a more experienced pilot on board.

Next time I visit Tom and Diana I plan to double that.

Joe
 
Got myself some tailwheel training in a friend's 180, when he was down from Alaska for a while. During that, we did a bunch of dirt/gravel-strip landings, very short things with trees all around. But no grass.

Later, I was hired to fly a Bonanza for someone who had a private grass strip, very well maintained, and we flew out of that place for a few yr. My first job for him was to move the plane from Denver to near Miami, find his strip [difficult, let me tell you] and land there. I prepared for it mentally, went just fine. Sort of talked myself through it, I suppose.
 
Never had a chance during PPL. Not much grass around phoenix. Took my private pilots students to grass strips in ND and MN though.
 
smigaldi said:
What is A&M?

The rentals at 3CK, 10C, which is what I meant by 'around here', do not allow soft field ops at all.

BTW I am subscribing to the psychosis that grass is not soft and I have the broken wheel pant to prove it! :yes:
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A&M is the FBO at Clow in Bolingbrook, so I think it still qualifies as "around here". www.aandmaviation.com.
 
Though it was interesting on a recent BFR that the instructor from my FBO told me he had never actually landed on a soft field. He is a CFMEII....I was required to do actual soft field landings and takeoffs during my PPL training but that was 23 years ago. So, I took him for his very first soft field experience. Yes you can simulate it but nothing like the real thing. Especially when it comes to take offs. You can't simulate the actual feeling and aircraft response. It's not "rocket surgery" all of us trained monkey's can do it with a little practice.
 
Albertadams33 said:
Though it was interesting on a recent BFR that the instructor from my FBO told me he had never actually landed on a soft field. He is a CFMEII....I was required to do actual soft field landings and takeoffs during my PPL training but that was 23 years ago. So, I took him for his very first soft field experience. Yes you can simulate it but nothing like the real thing. Especially when it comes to take offs. You can't simulate the actual feeling and aircraft response. It's not "rocket surgery" all of us trained monkey's can do it with a little practice.
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I didn't land on an unpaved runway until I was training for my CFI a few years ago. Now I do it all the time at my other job flying for a cattle ranching company.
 
Wow, look at all the cobwebs here.

(You revived a 6 year old thread if you didn't notice...)
 
tehmightypirate said:
Wow, look at all the cobwebs here.

(You revived a 6 year old thread if you didn't notice...)
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And some of the posters still appear to be using PoA, too!

I started in gliders on a grass field - and when I started training in airplanes I was required to land in a real grass field during training. In turning around at the end of the runway, I managed to turn through an un-mowed section, which added a nice bit of green to the prop and give me "soft field" experience - my CFI saying "Throttle forward! Don't stop!"

Since then I've landed on grass, gravel, dirt, and volcanic cinders (Santiam Junction.) Worst field (so far) was Toketee State which was pretty rough due to elk tracks and mole mounds. Just when I thought I'd gotten into ground effect on takeoff my nose wheel must have hit a big mole mound because it really jarred the plane.

Guess I'm luckier than some who have posted to this thread - the rental agreement where I rent from says, with regard to where I can fly to, only that "Renter agrees to use designated airports...." I figure that means if the FAA has a record of it I'm allowed to land at it.
 
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