Mooney grass strip

[ESPN168]

Has anyone land and take off on grass strip with their M?

[Shadrach]

2 hours ago, ESPN168 said:

Has anyone land and take off on grass strip with their M?

Yes many times. They do fine. Inner gear doors of the later birds are very low to the ground.

[gsxrpilot]

Yes, even in my 252 with the inner gear doors. But only on nice groomed/short cut grass... or dry lake beds like 88NV.

[Cody Stallings]

Following!!!

Been Really wanting to go back to Gaston’s, But I have a Rocket now So.....

[M20F]

I am of the don’t do it crowd.  The pucks are the devil on uneven surfaces.  While plenty will disagree, it is just something that to me isn’t a matter of if but when sadness occurs. 

I spent a fair amount of time flying gliders and in spite of rolling the runway and having people maniacal about the surface you just can’t best rain, animals, etc. all of which can put a small dip which will rock your world. 

[Bolter]

Step 1, contact your insurance agent  

 

[gsxrpilot]

7 minutes ago, Dan at S43 said:

Step 1, contact your insurance agent  

 

Just check your policy to make sure it doesn't explicitly exclude unimproved or grass strips. Most don't so you should be fine.

I wouldn't land on a grass strip that was soft and wet. But assuming a dry, firm, mowed, surface, you should be fine. I know several Mooneys based on grass strips.

 

[carusoam]

How smoothly do you land on paved surfaces?

The Long Body is just another Mooney in that respect...

• it weighs more...
• has low hanging inner gear doors...
• check your insurance...
• Beware of nature...
• rain, and soft surfaces and the Long Body, really don’t go together...

PP thoughts and a compilation of things read on MS...

Best regards,

-a-

[Hank]

4 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

I wouldn't land on a grass strip that was soft and wet. But assuming a dry, firm, mowed, surface, you should be fine. I know several Mooneys based on grass strips.

 

You'll slow down really fast landing on wet grass. Turning around without getting stuck can be difficult; took my C full power and reduced turn rate, crawling slowly along . . . .

[Shadrach]

41 minutes ago, Hank said:

You'll slow down really fast landing on wet grass. Turning around without getting stuck can be difficult; took my C full power and reduced turn rate, crawling slowly along . . . .

That depends on the length of the grass. Short grass on a hard surface with morning dew is just a few steps above ice...

[carusoam]

Two things to be aware of...

• Length and moisture of the grass itself.  The grass has a tendency to adhere to the tires and adsorbs energy as it gets pulled off... this adjusts the T/O and landing distance in hundreds of ft....

 

• The squishy-ness of the soil beneath the grass... can’t be ignored... because it might keep the plane from moving...

 

PP thoughts only, not a CFI.

Best regards,

-a-

[steingar]

Must be fun getting grass stains out the wheel wells.

[Shiny moose]

My F handles grass just fine. Pucks handle the bumps very well, increase your TO and landing distances, pay attention to morning dew! 

[flyboy0681]

Our inner doors were chewed up by a landing on a grass strip, which was well groomed.

[Shadrach]

3 hours ago, flyboy0681 said:

Our inner doors were chewed up by a landing on a grass strip, which was well groomed.

If you’re going to operate out of grass long term, best to preserve the doors by removing them. No discernible loss in speed,  

[flyboy0681]

1 minute ago, Shadrach said:

No discernible loss in speed,  

That's been our experience after we had them removed. Which begs the question, why are they there in the first place?

[Shadrach]

45 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

That's been our experience after we had them removed. Which begs the question, why are they there in the first place?

My guess is that they were little more than a way for marketing/sales to have talking points on refinements and improvements.

[thinwing]

I think it basically depends on East Coast grass vs West Coast..ie how many days of solid rain it’s had.All my western grass runways are irrigated ,well rolled mown surfaces ,very firm ground.Taxing at OSH during sloshcosh in 2010 was just asking for a prop strike

[ESPN168]

Thx for all fne respond. Removing door won't have an effect on speed? To what extend? 

[flyboy0681]

4 minutes ago, ESPN168 said:

Thx for all fne respond. Removing door won't have an effect on speed? To what extend? 

I haven't seen any reduction in speed. Like Shadrach said, it may have been just cosmetic. If anything, you may increase your load by the 5 pounds that they weigh.

 

[carusoam]

Find the list of mods from Lasar...  each has a price and an expected speed...

They cost a lot... their speed improvement is in the range of 1-3kias...

to ever see the speed... would take acts of engineering to separate effects of weight and balance...

What kind of precision are you looking for?

Best regards,

-a-

[tigers2007]

Mooney’s on Grass.

Every time I read this, this video comes to mind:

The only time my Mooney will land on grass will be when the fan up front breaks.


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[mike20papa]

I have landed & taken off my A model on grass several times.  No problems.  Ohhh ....  and NEVER with the gear up.!?  I'll never forget going to a flyin at Kingsburry Aerodrome and a guy in a pig of a Cessna ( a stretched looking 210) collapsed the nose gear just trying to initiate movement during taxi.  Holding NO up elevator, reving the engine and .. well kinda grusome watching all that dirt begin to fly!.  I don't know how he ever got that airplane out of there.

[Shadrach]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:26 AM, Cody Stallings said:

Following!!!

Been Really wanting to go back to Gaston’s, But I have a Rocket now So.....

Remove the inner gear doors and you’ll have no problems there. Does the Rocket feel that much more nose heavy than the F (I know it’s significant)? Are you able to make a gentle mains first touchdown and hold the nose off? At light weights does it feel that different? I think  4cyl mid-bodies are very easy to land gently and in short distances. Even at very slow speeds there’s an abundance of pitch authority (though I run out the nose up trim against the stoop when light with no baggage). I have to imagine that some of that is gone but might be countered with some weight in the baggage compartment.

[Shadrach]

6 hours ago, tigers2007 said:

Mooney’s on Grass.

Every time I read this, this video comes to mind:
 

 

The only time my Mooney will land on grass will be when the fan up front breaks.


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You seem to be implying that the grass caused the gear to fail. Undulating runways are not limited to grass and misrigged or worn gear does not care what it’s rolling on when it fails. The nose wheel axis was clearly moving for and aft a several inches before it failed. That gear was destined to fail, the undulating grass merely hastened the process. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Shadrach