Thread: STAY OUT OF THE LONG GRASS!!!!!!

Hi guy's, STAY OUT OF THE LONG GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!

I was on my 6th hr of conversion from a C42 to my CTSW and i had my instructor on board "10000+hrs on various aircraft" i had just passed my ppl on march 08 with no prior flying experience. i was doing circuits into a small grass strip to try and get the hang of landing! the strip ran 18-36 and is approx 250m in lenght, on the east and west side of the strip it was lined with large oak trees etc, and on 36 was a hedge and on 18 was a small river!!! "The things we have to put up with in the emerald isle!!" guess it better than a bomb!!

That day the wind was coming from the SE and blowing about 8-10 kts, "the wind normally prevails from the SW, anyway my problem with my landings was that when i was flaring out the ct seemed to drift to the right (no matter which direction the wind was coming from!!) so i was finding this hard to get the hang off!!. I had some good landings, some not so good!!!!.

So on my 3rd circuit i was on finals for 18 @ 55kts and everything was going great!! i had touched down and pulling the stick back when suddenly the ct started to drift towards the long grass, i tried to counteract this with left rudder, but suddenly my right wheel caught the long grass and it wasn't letting go!!!!, the ct swung round to nearly 45deg of 18, All i could do was hit full power and lower the nose, whilst heading for the tree's!! Anyway i cleared the tree's and looked to see how my instructor was? waiting to see a white face!! not so, he had a great smile and said BRILLIANT!!!! i didn't think so!!!

We headed off into the circuit as i tried to compose myself and check to see if underpants were still dry!! thankfully they were!!, anyway u know the old saying, if u fall off your horse, get back on!!! so as i approach finals at 800ft all i could see was this white thing lying on the strip, i look at ronnie and said whats that? he checked his side and couldn't see anything, so we decided to land as we had to at some point and why not now!!

The landing was perfect even if i do say so myself, as we approached the white thing, it turned out to be my wheel spat or pant. We got out to assess the damage. The Spat was in pieces, the leg fairing was ripped and the wheel bracket had lost the lug that holds the spat in place.

The total damage cost me £500 or $1000, talk about being ripped off "BIGTIME!!" anyway always look on the brite side it was cheaper than two lives!!!.

I have to say at this point i am glad this happened as i never imaged long grass would have had this effect and i am only to glad to share it with you all. It has taught me a very valuable lesson, one i will never forget and also to have respect for flying and respect and thankfulness to God!!. BTW i have now clocked up 75 hrs in my ct since late april08 and have mastered my landings, (or so i think!!!)

I must say i made the rite choice in buying a ct, i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! recommend one anytime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway STAY OUT OF THE LONG GRASS!!!!

thanks neil, from sunny N. Ireland (not!!!)

So

Neil,

Thanks for the post. Passing on information to others should be in all pilots attitude / behaviour. We can't make all of the possible mistakes and live, so we need to hear from others that have been there. Sounds like you handled the situation well.

If you have any input, arrange for some decent weather in Ireland. I'll be in Dublin on the 14th for a week. How far are you from there?

Originally Posted by nice1111

All i could do was hit full power and lower the nose, whilst heading for the tree's!! Anyway i cleared the tree's and looked to see how my instructor was? waiting to see a white face!! not so, he had a great smile and said BRILLIANT!!!!

Sounds like proper go-around technique to me. Good job.

Doug

Good job Neil!!!

I remember from my gliding days that long grass literally can be a killer.

The ct performs admirably on grass strips, but yes I agree stay out of the long grass which can really cause problem especially with respect to groundloops!!

Cheers,

Jos