Soft and Short of it

[Flocker]

Post-landing pic on my buddy's private grass strip...

[MrMorden]

Looks nice, PM me the GPS coordinates!

[chavycha]

Neat pic!

How do you feel about the prop clearance of the 162 on grass? I've never been tempted to try... seems like it'd only take one small pothole while taxiing and the prop would be chewing dirt?

[Flocker]

Looks nice, PM me the GPS coordinates!

It's Hogjowl (GE11) on the Sectional. I can land there anytime. Pick me up at PDK and let's go!

[Flocker]

Neat pic!

How do you feel about the prop clearance of the 162 on grass?

Seems to be adequate. Never had an issue.

[chavycha]

Good to know. I would think if prop clearance wasn't an issue it would make a pretty nice short / soft field machine. As you know you can certainly plop it down in a few hundred feet if needed, and it ain't your dad's 150 when it comes to takeoff, either. Not that I would ever advise doing something that was prohibited in the POH, but rumor has it that it will get off the runway and over a 50' obstacle even quicker with 25 degrees of flaps. I mean, if a person were to accidentally do that.

The owner of the 162 that I fly doesn't want it anywhere near grass strips, or even to have it pulled across the grass between the hangar and taxiway. Ah well.

[drseti]

The owner of the 162 that I fly doesn't want it anywhere near grass strips, or even to have it pulled across the grass between the hangar and taxiway. Ah well.

Their plane, their rules.

[chavycha]

For sure! I have no intention of taking the 162 off the pavement without the approval of the owner. The prop clearance would still worry me and the tires/gear, while robust enough for a LSA, probably wouldn't do super-well on anything that wasn't well manicured. It's not exactly rocking the Alaskan Bushwheels.

[deltafox]

I did a little work on takeoffs recently. I positioned the camera to watch the nosewheel while doing soft/short field takeoffs. You may find this interesting: http://lsaeronaut.blogspot.com/2015/05/takeoff.html

[MrMorden]

I've landed my CTSW on grass quite a bit, and my prop seems to hang about as low as the 162's. It's always filthy with grass and bug debris when I get home, but it cleans right up. I might not want to land it on a dirt strip where there is loose gravel or stones though.

[chavycha]

deltafox - cool angle. In your vid there's plenty of clearance throughout the roll.

What I'm thinking of is what happens when your nosewheel goes into a hole while taxiing or slowing down after touchdown. Of course we all use perfect soft-field technique on every takeoff and landing, with the nosewheel up until the last possible second, right?

If you dropped the nosewheel into a hole (think elk tracks, small drainage ditch, rabbit burrow, etc.) the prop arc would come down slightly further (because of its forward position relative to the nosewheel). It looks like it would take a pretty big hole with the PiperSport (maybe 8" or so, causing 10" of prop deflection).

[chavycha]

Of course, when I think of soft fields, I think of places like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-53lT734csM

I've taken a 172 in here without problems, but there are a lot of potholes and dips in the 'runway'.

[deltafox]

I think of "turf" fields a bit differently. I guess they are a bit more manicured in this part of the country and obviously more suitable for a PiperSport. I agree a good "groundhog" hole would cause my nose gear a big problem and I always did a FOD walk before taxiing at Butter Valley (7N8) to insure there were no hidden surprises. This is what I think of for soft field landings: https://youtu.be/LAU6fhtOqqA

[FastEddieB]

As a data point, Cirrus planes typically have a 7" prop clearance.

[BrianL99]

As a data point, Cirrus planes typically have a 7" prop clearance.

With all the tail strikes in the early days, the Cirrus Drivers seemed to want about 20" clearance on landing