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RV-7A grass field operations

Solo, lightly loaded. Van says 350' on asphalt. I'd say 1.5 times for grass. Even more for wet grass.

Couple of things to consider. To perform safely and regularly, would require considerable RV experience. And wouldn't be something you'd enjoy doing every day, IMO.

Van's advertised numbers are very good, IMO.

see www.vansaircraft.com

CFII/MEI
approaching 1000 hrs RV time
 
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Practise...practise..

Mornin' guys,
I have quite a bit of short field experience in my 6A, not any difference between it and a 7A to speak of. I have a 180 HP with a three bladed Catto prop and when I drag the airplane in at 65 MPH indicated (which is nose-up attitude) I barely can stop in under 500 -600 feet on pavement and braking fairly hard.

A friend has a grass strip, 2000 feet long with one approach over short trees and tall trees at the other end. Dragging it in as slow as I dare, I can't touch down for almost 700 feet and brake hard and still end up very near the tall trees on the other end....kinda scary sometimes. Granted, I could probably use a slower, closer to stall airspeed and do better. My advice to you is to be sure and practise a lot before going in to short grass strips, especially if there is no overrun as in this case. It's hard to attain Van's numbers IMHO.
Regards,
 
pierre smith said:
Mornin' guys,
I have quite a bit of short field experience in my 6A, not any difference between it and a 7A to speak of. I have a 180 HP with a three bladed Catto prop and when I drag the airplane in at 65 MPH indicated (which is nose-up attitude) I barely can stop in under 500 -600 feet on pavement and braking fairly hard.

A friend has a grass strip, 2000 feet long with one approach over short trees and tall trees at the other end. Dragging it in as slow as I dare, I can't touch down for almost 700 feet and brake hard and still end up very near the tall trees on the other end....kinda scary sometimes. Granted, I could probably use a slower, closer to stall airspeed and do better. My advice to you is to be sure and practise a lot before going in to short grass strips, especially if there is no overrun as in this case. It's hard to attain Van's numbers IMHO.
Regards,

Pierre,

The fixed pitch prop is not helping the situation.

We live on an airpark with 2200' of grass sloping toward a stand of trees. It's either land over the trees, or sloping toward them. I have found landing and stopping well before the end of either runway a regular event, depending on wind. The difference being a CS prop. When the throttle closes, the prop becomes a big speed brake. A steep approach is possible with half flaps and idle power. This is happening using 70 knots on final, not a nose up, drag in, short field approach. I do not have to use the short field approach technique which I do not like because the machine is so close to stall speed.

Wind is a very critical factor. A direct cross wind of 15 knots makes using either runway quite a challenge. Half the time I experience a tail wind on final and that changes landing distance significantly. Go around and try the other runway and you could have a tail wind again as the wind is never constant, especially so with trees on both sides of the runway.

Bottom line, there will be days when it is a good idea not to fly when operating off a short field. Take off and go somewhere is OK most anytime, but returning can be a problem.

dd
RV-7A
 
They both made two or three landings and the part that impressed me was when I walked out on the strip and found the touchdown marks. All of them were within a few feet of one another and none was more than about 25' from the threshold. Very accurate flying.
They're better pilots than me.
 
Nevertheless.......

David-aviator said:
Pierre,

The fixed pitch prop is not helping the situation.

The difference being a CS prop. When the throttle closes, the prop becomes a big speed brake. .


dd
RV-7A


Hi dd,
True, but nevertheless, I have drug (dragged?) it in on calm days at a really slow airspeed and still have a hard time matching Van's numbers which I believe were obtained with a fixed pitch prop.

My Air Tractor has a fully reversible 110" Hartzell and is definitely a speed brake when it goes flat but a two bladed CS prop on an RV can't create THAT much braking on rollout, can it? I can see the braking on final or when the prop is moved forward but on rollout? Must be.. :confused:
Regards,
 
I live on a 1700 foot grass strip with my 7A. I do have a Hartzell BA prop and an 0-360 A1A. I highly recommend the C/S prop for short grass fields. I used to fly my 180 Cherokee here with no problems, but it was easier to slow down than an RV with a fixed pitch prop. Like David said, the C/S prop is a really nice brake.

Roberta
 
I find that dropping it in rather than a carry in does a much better job of disipating energy quickly for the very short fields. I want my energy down as much as possible when I hit. Greasers on grass extend the rollout way too far. Its worth a good 200' in my guestimation.

I do a 1k' strip quite often in the Super 8 with tail wind. If I come in steep and slow, flare and crash in 3 point, Im good for the half field turn off. Right after gear squat and crash, its stick fwd, tail up way past horizontal, and hard on the brakes to stop. When I flare there is nothing but a buffet and crash landing. I drop 2', gear squats, crash land and I know I've done good. Tail up to get weight on mains and cg fwd to apply hard brakes. Tail is still up till almost stopped, then add power briefly to set tail down nicely.

If I come in shallow same speed, flare and grease, Im 3/4 down field and have added 200' to my rollout.

I dont know Vans technique, but this is mine and its not for the novice. It can be easily practiced on your long pavement first.

My 2 cents.
Best
 
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Kahuna: You are going to get someone up on their nose and they are not going to happy with you

Kahuna said:
I find that dropping it in rather than a carry in does a much better job of disipating energy quickly for the very short fields. I want my energy down as much as possible when I hit. Greasers on grass extend the rollout way too far. Its worth a good 200' in my guestimation.

I do a 1k' strip quite often in the Super 8 with tail wind. If I come in steep and slow, flare and crash in 3 point, Im good for the half field turn off. Right after gear squat and crash, its stick fwd, tail up way past horizontal, and hard on the brakes to stop. When I flare there is nothing but a buffet and crash landing. I drop 2', gear squats, crash land and I know I've done good. Tail up to get weight on mains and cg fwd to apply hard brakes. Tail is still up till almost stopped, then add power briefly to set tail down nicely.

If I come in shallow same speed, flare and grease, Im 3/4 down field and have added 200' to my rollout.

I dont know Vans technique, but this is mine and its not for the novice. It can be easily practiced on your long pavement first.

My 2 cents.
Best
 
Yes

Doyle,
He said that it's not for the novice.......we all need to know and live by our limitations.

Heck, we used to stand a Super Cub up on it's mains with a lot of power before it even began the take-off roll! Someone else might try it and stand it on the prop but it won't be Kahuna's fault.. :D or mine.

FWIW, I showed an Airline Pilot/Flight engineer/ferry pilot that an Agwagon could roll, loop, split ess and then he ferried it home to Muscle Shoals Alabama. The next Sunday he took the airplane out without the owner's permission and proceeded to go and do aerobatics. He fell out of a loop. started spinning and did so into the woods! :eek: He broke his back but healed. Did I feel responsible? No. We had just repaired the wings on the airplane after a violent thunderstorm had yanked it loose from tiedown and wiped out both wings....then he totals it.
Regards,
 
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