T

Tjrice

I'm New Here
My Father and I have just purchased a RV-9A. We are in the early stages of this new RV experience and loving it. Here is the question. My Dad operates out of a grass strip in Wisconsin. It is a well maintained strip, I would rate it a solid 8.5 from a standpoint of smooth surface. What are the real risks and considerations for operating this airplane on grass. I know all about normal soft field techniques and keeping the nose wheel off the ground as long as humanly possible, but I want to know from the real experts in the RV world.

A little extra wt. 50lbs?? in the rear to keep the CG aft and obviously keep the stick all the way back until the nose comes down? Slow taxi would seem to be a no brainer. I have just a few posts that have me a little concerned about operating off grass. Any insider information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tim
 
Welcome to VAF

Good piloting skills, keeping the stick in your gut until the engine is shut off, ect. The nose gear is a kick stand to keep the prop off the ground, just treat it as such and you should be.

There are several thread about mods you can perform to the nose wheel pant to help. Do you have the new nose gear fork?

What strip are you off of?
 
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Welcome to the great world of RV's!

Nose wheel bearing design and setup are an important key, besides the obvious piloting techniques that will be mentioned over the next two thousand posts...

I say design since there are several floating around. There is fairly strong evidence that bearing lockup has been a problem. The number of nose gear problems has dramatically dropped since a bunch of discussion on the bearing topic occurred here a couple years ago. Use the advanced search function on this forum, perhaps look for nose wheel bearing. I started a couple threads on it, so searching for threads started by me is another place to start. Let us know if you have any trouble finding this information.

Enjoy the RV!
 
Two words....

Transition training... Contact one of the many CFI's who provide this service to new to RV pilots and you will not be disappointed. Besides, your insurance company may also require it, or at worst may qualify you for some $$$ savings. There are really good reasons why airline, military, professional pilots, etc tend to get this type of training before launching into the blue in their new RV.

Relatively smooth grass runways and RV's do mix well if equiped with the right set of skills.
 
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Other considerations....

Think of the front wheel pant as a sacrificial skid plate. If the front wheel turns sideways due to a rut (which is what happened to me resulting in $7,200 worth of repairs), a reinforced front wheel pant could give its life so the rest of the airplane (and occupants) do not have to give theirs.

Said differently, Never Leave Home Without It (the front wheel pant). Breakout needs to be checked and confirmed frequently.

We fixed the bearing issue with a $5 steel spacer.
 
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