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Grass Strip 2600 feet

amekler

Well Known Member
Patron
I plan on flying in to a 2600 foot grass strip near a vacation cabin we are building in Vermont.
The grass is supposed to be in good condition.
Should I remove the wheel pants or leave them on?
Alan
N668G RV10
 
My aircraft lives on a pretty rough grass strip in southern Washington and the pants stay on. I just hose out the grass/mud if it gathers to much.
Art
 
The wife an I have owned 17 taildraggers and 5 other planes with nose gears. Many thousands of hours, never removed the wheel pants for grass or snow up to 5".
 
It depends. If your plane is a 10, then remove them. If you own it to fly it, the leave them on. You will get some grass stains on the bottom of the pants, but that is it.
 
Take them off and bring them with you.

You can then decide to put them back on or leave them off after knowing the true condition of the strip
 
With both the 4 and the 8 I’ve owned, the wheel pants were torn up and hunks of fiberglass were ripped out of the bottom from flying in and out of grass strips. In both cases it was before I purchased the aircraft. The previous owner of the 4 said it happened when he let his tire pressure get too low and the clearance between the wheel and pant narrowed.

I have always since removed them for gras strip operations on an unfamiliar field, but poling the crowd, it sounds like I may not have to. I do recommend it. Not sure how you would operate out of 5 inch grass without damage, but if you’ve done it maybe your wheel pants are stronger than mine?
 
I'm on the fence about removing the wheel pants as they will lower my cruise speed by 12 knots but I think I will be flying into this field often while we are building a camp so I'll probably remove them just to be safe.
I appreciate the input.
Alan
RV10 N668G
 
I live on a grass strip with my 6A. I have over 1200 landings on it and the only evidance is a small amout of grass stain on the very bottom of the pants. You cant see it unless you remove the pants. My son has less landings with his 6A, but there is no evidance on his.
 
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