Tkitchen1

Member
Hello all, I would like to hear thoughts, opinions, pittfalls and gremlins about landing the 9 on grass.
Thank you.
 
Hello all, I would like to hear thoughts, opinions, pittfalls and gremlins about landing the 9 on grass.
Thank you.
I land my -9 on the grass every chance I get. No gremlins at all. However, I would highly recommend changing the stock tailwheel bracket to a Doug Bell unit or one similar.

If you are talking about a -9A, A's are landed on grass all the time. You will want to slow them down, do a soft field landing, and keep the nose up through the roll out and taxi slow.

That said, I know of some "A" pilots who don't even like to taxi on grass.
 
Hello all, I would like to hear thoughts, opinions, pittfalls and gremlins about landing the 9 on grass.
Thank you.

If you keep the stick in your gut until you shut the engine down you will be fine. Most -XA drivers "let go" of the stick as soon as the touch down. A very bad habit to get into. :eek:
 
Still the right way up after about 200 grass landings, although you Northern Hemisphere types would likely consider that we are always upside down in the Southern Hemisphere :)

Fin
9A

RV.jpg
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Technique is a big factor...

If you land like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhoVGJ3rF1A

and not like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6f5frA9lfI

You will be fine.

Note that the first landing is not much different than a Naval Aviator carrier arrival (good technique for a carrier landing, poor technique on any surface with an RV).

The second video is of good technique with a tri-gear RV landing on pavement, but essential for any trigear airplane landing on grass.
When we learn to fly they teach us soft field take off and landing techniques.

The definition of a soft field is any surface not covered in pavement or concrete. We don't learn these techniques for just in case we ever decide to land in a mud bog. :p
 
Grove wheel kit

The other thing to think about, if you would like to build a -9A, is the Grove Wheel Mod described in this thread.

You can delete the parts from your Van's kit at no cost and order what you need from Grove.