No, not THAT kind of grass, or even that kind. Yesterday I did my first flying from a grass runway. I took an instructor along since I hadn’t done it before. During primary flight training you get instruction in and have to demonstrate the “soft-field” takeoff and landing techniques, but it’s almost always on pavement. In fact, the flight schools I trained with specifically prohibited ever landing their rental planes on anything unpaved! Not so with the flying club.
We flew down to Auburn, NE where there is a 4000′ long turf runway in good condition. When we arrived we did a low pass — I skimmed along the left edge of the runway maybe 30-40 feet off the ground at most, while Ryan checked out the runway condition and grass length from the right side. It looked good, so I climbed out and turned back for the downwind leg. A full-flap approach, carry a little throttle through the flare for a soft touchdown with the nose wheel in the air, and we’re down. The field had not been mowed recently, so we got plenty of extra drag from thick grass and weeds. You turn a little wider, and there’s plenty of throttle needed about midway through the turn to keep your speed up so you don’t get stuck. It’s different, but not hard to do.
I turned and taxied back to the end of the runway and did a soft-field takeoff much differently than I have ever done before. On real grass, you need to really get the nose wheel up as soon as possible and lift off well under stall speed, then level off while you’re still in ground effect while you pick up speed. At 80 MPH I’d begin climbing and raise the flaps. We did a few touch & gos after that, then headed back to Millard. I’m glad I had Ryan along — it helped to have his advice trying to stay in ground effect, and a little post-landing coaching on the approach.