spinner2
Good question but I would like to share my experience for you and anyone else that is contemplating landing on grass, which can be subjective. My thinking on taking off on grass is that if you can move and build speed to go airborne before you run out of runway then you can. Might not be the best thing for the plastic bottoms but certainly doable. My experience on taking off on supposed grass has been limited to frozen turf with a dusting of snow or ice ( much like the photo above that cubus shared), that has given me a base that allows a rapid acceleration to flying speed not a lot different than being on snow or ice. I have never attempted to take off on frozen dry turf but I suspect like I mentioned above if your able to reach speed you certainly can.
My memorable experience is a landing I did on grass that did not turn out well. I have landed on grass several times in the past when my field of operation has been devoid of snow and I have come off the lake country with straight skis, plastic bottoms and plastic skag. So long as the ground is frozen and a minimal amount of snow or ice is present I have never had a problem.
The time I experienced a problem was a few springs ago when I had been flying in the lake country of Minnesota with wheels installed and skis removed as the lake surface late in the year becomes a solid piece of ice that makes an incredible and enjoyable landing area. This providing temperatures are such to maintain that. We can have up to three weeks of conditions that provide an opportunity to fly with wheels instead of straight skis. Simplifies the logistics significantly and opens up a fun time of the year that a lot of wheel only pilots can enjoy.
The problem I had, came real late in the season when a warm spell (70 degrees) snuck up on me while I had to leave the area for a day leaving my wheeled plane on the ice with me 250 miles away. Upon returning I discovered the ice appeared ok and solid enough to get off. When I taxied the plane one wheel or the other would drop into a soft spot and bring everything to a halt. I felt it too dangerous to attempt a take off for fear of damaging a gear and ground loop. No I wasn't worried about falling through the ice as it was still 3 feet thick and able to support tons of weight. It was just the surface that had deteriorated. The impending forecast did not include any temps below 32 degrees and increasing daytime temps so I was up against the proverbial wall. I elected to get the skis out and we quickly installed them and I departed the lake in short order. Having landed on grass many times previously I wasn't concerned about doing it again. However I knew there would be no ice or snow or moisture on the grass so I approached my landing carefully and had a good head wind to get my ground speed as low as possible. I landed just above stall speed and with the headwind I had I suspect my groundspeed was less than 30 mph. What I had not counted on was the ground was totally thawed and almost mud like. Before I could do anything I was on the nose with the prop coming to a complete stop. Fortunately I did not go over. SJ can I get a half hat for that? Well anyhow my pride was hurt more than the airplane. I got my dollies on, cleaned the mud off the prop, fired up the airplane, checked the tracking of the prop and taxied back to the hanger. Subsequent Lycoming AD for prop strike revealed no damage internally, replaced the camshaft pin, paid the bill and flew that engine for another 35 hours.
Pictures below kind of show my situation and the grass I landed on as well as the divots created by the prop strike.
prop strike8.JPG (264.3 KB)
prop strike2.JPG (190.6 KB)
prop strike4.JPG (406.1 KB)
prop strike5.jpg (302.2 KB)
I have landed on grass since then, but I had to swallow hard before I did as the pucker factor was huge, I also had my flying partner try it out before me.
That helped!!
I have often wondered if I would have been better off, to have landed on the asphalt runway instead. Anyone else have any experiences doing that with plastic bottom, plastic skag straight skis? I guess I will always second guess my decision but like I mentioned above it can be subjective and I would certainly not tell any one you should have no problem. Take your own chances and know what you are getting into.
Hope this helps..........Rod