Hi. I have have just been checked out on an SR20 here in the UK. The owners are not too happy about visiting grass strips but have not ruled it out. Please could you advise me, what is the deal about flying into & out of grass strips in the SR20? The POH seems to suggest that there’s no problem. But what about the published figures? Even with grass runways and other factors considered in the performance calcs, is it still not recommended to operate from grass strips. I’m used to flying Arrows, is there much of an acceleration difference? Thanks.
In reply to:
Hi. I have have just been checked out on an SR20 here in the UK. The owners are not too happy about visiting grass strips but have not ruled it out. Please could you advise me, what is the deal about flying into & out of grass strips in the SR20? The POH seems to suggest that there’s no problem. But what about the published figures? Even with grass runways and other factors considered in the performance calcs, is it still not recommended to operate from grass strips. I’m used to flying Arrows, is there much of an acceleration difference? Thanks.
Thomas: I have a '22, and will not land it or park it on grass due to the wheel pants. There is no issue with the acceleration (but please review the POH first and apply a healthy dose of conservativeness) or stoutness of the landing gear.
My reasons are two fold: The first is that the wheel pants are very tight and low. They are so low to the ground you will probably get grass stains or worse, dinged up. My second reason is that the '22 is heavy (a lot heavier than the '20) and tends to sink if left parked on soft ground or for a while. It can be tough to pull it out.
Yes it should be OK for well-groomed grass. COPA member Clyde Stubbs wrote a nice article for the COPA magazine about operating a '20 off grass strips; if you join COPA you can access it here.
If you know for sure the grass is well groomed and the ground is level and firm, you should have no problem. I had an SR20 for four years and landed on grass a dozen times or more. Never a problem and never any pant damage. I definitely would avoid any strips with gravel in the grass, or holes, or long grass. My minimum for well-groomed smooth firm grass strips would be 2,500 feet. That assumes you are comfortable with 2,000 paved.
Jim Knollenberg SR22 1904 N716DG-soon-to-be-N5PF
Thomas,
I’ve not landed in grass, but I’ve been a passenger with Ian Valentine landing an SR22 (N147VC) on grass at Shoreham. For an in-cockpit QuickTime video (18.3 MB) of the landing, click here. Note that this was done with wheel pants on.
Cheers,
Roger
I’ve done grass a couple of times with no problem and no grass stains. The grass was of average lawn height. The field was dry.
Gaynor
In reply to:
Hi. I have have just been checked out on an SR20 here in the UK. The owners are not too happy about visiting grass strips but have not ruled it out. Please could you advise me, what is the deal about flying into & out of grass strips in the SR20? The POH seems to suggest that there’s no problem. But what about the published figures? Even with grass runways and other factors considered in the performance calcs, is it still not recommended to operate from grass strips. I’m used to flying Arrows, is there much of an acceleration difference? Thanks.
I have been landing on grass strips at Oxford during the ILS installation on the main tarmac runways and it is definitely different from landing the 20 on the tarmac. The two issues to me were:
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If the grass isn’t flat (definitely not in Oxford) then you can get really bounced. Therefore I held it down on takeoff and on landing dumped the flaps as soon as I was down
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I needed 20% to 30% longer takeoff runs
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Approach speed was really critical and I tried to hold it to under 75 across the fence and 70 for the flare. Loading obviously makes a difference to this.
Other than that I found it very bouncy on landing - I guess due to the spinginess of the under carriage
Have fun
Craig
Hi
If you send me a PM or join the “members side” for discussion (a MUST if you are flying a Cirrus) I will let you know my reservations on grass operations in the UK for the Cirrus…
I have done quite a bot of it!
Ian
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I’ve done grass a couple of times with no problem
How long do you wait before you fly?
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How long do you wait before you fly?
Until maybe the third puff?
-Sanjay
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How long do you wait before you fly?
Depends on how high you were.
Thanks for the replies. I’ll give it a go, and if I survive I’ll report back.
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Thanks for the replies. I’ll give it a go, and if I survive I’ll report back.
If not, please report that as well!
Thanks, that’s useful info.