Dirt Landing in Bisbee

[coppercity]

Just picked up a Go Pro camera to shoot some videos for training material for our school. Still learning where to mount it to get the best perspective for a student watching it.

 

Here is a landing on our short dirt strip at Bisbee, its about 1200' long. Winds were light and DA was about 7500, still hardly used the brakes.

 

[rookie]

Looks just like the one you did with me two years ago on the same dirt strip. Next winter we have to work on it, my goal is to achieve a bit of your consistincy.

 

Al,

[knolde]

Just picked up a Go Pro camera to shoot some videos for training material for our school. Still learning where to mount it to get the best perspective for a student watching it.

 

Here is a landing on our short dirt strip at Bisbee, its about 1200' long. Winds were light and DA was about 7500, still hardly used the brakes.

 

 

 

I had not seen this before and I appredicate it very much. I have passed up landing on dirt strips. IO was surprised at the apparent smoothness of the surface. I will make it a point to try a dirt strip in the near future. I have always been a bit goosey about landing on dirt, but then again I was the same about landing on grass when we got a Cherokee 140. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

See ya, Ken Nolde 840KN, 500+ hours

[Jim Meade]

Operating on a surface that can be loose and gritty can be cauee for caution that you don't get some damage to the prop or the prop throw the stuff into your paint job. Obviously, you want to not sit in one place and throw up a bunch of this debris. When moving, keep movng. When starting out, try to get rolling without full throttle if you can so you reduce the damage.

 

It all depends on the surface. I'm only suggesting you give it some consideration in how you operate there.

 

 

[Runtoeat]

I visualize pussyfooting on a dirt strip as Jim intimates but still picture an airplane eventually getting the front of the wheel pants sandblasted and stone chiped after a few years of exposure to this, regardless of how gently one goes about it. Just curious, do the aircraft that use dirt strips get beat up after a few years of this?

[coppercity]

If your careful and use good soft field takeoff and landing techniques as mentioned, like not using high power settings when you are near stationary, keeping the nose light and off the ground as much as possible you can minimize damage. I use the dirt occasionally, mainly when the winds are strong crosswind and also to give my students some real world short runway practice. I have suffered a few rock chips in the wheel pant and a couple in the horizontal stab. Nothing a little touch up paint pen cant fix. If I was operating on it 100% of the time it might be worse but occasional use is not to bad.

[sandpiper]

I flew in Alaska for almost 40 years and owned aircraft there for about 30 years. Unless you were lucky enough to be on floats, gravel runways were (are) a fact of life. Here is what worked for me:

 

1. PARKING - Pick your spot to park. Can you: find some grass? find a compacted area? Park facing downslope? Park into the wind? Move the plane by hand to a better area?

 

2. GETTING GOING - Gently apply the throttle to get moving. Don't allow a large RPM surge on start up. Rock the plane with elevators to help get it moving. Keep the stick back at all times.

 

3. RUNUP - If no pad, consider not doing one, especially if you just flew it. But, if you feel the need to do one, do it while moving and maybe at a lesser RPM.

 

4. TAKEOFF - Apply gradual throttle to get moving. If you have to back taxi keep it moving during the turn around, don't lose your momentum. Use recommended max take off flaps. Get the nose slightly off the ground and become airborne soonest.

 

5. LANDING - Touch down slow with nose up using all the flaps you are comfortable with. Pick your spot which may be to the side or farther down the runway but safety first. Avoid the brakes or use gently. Locking up can throw gravel into the prop.

 

6. GENERAL - Avoid gravel when you can, especially with a big load or small tires. Think ahead and anticipate if your actions will place you in a low speed/high power/downwind situation.

 

If you do much gravel you will want larger tires. Tundra gear for the CT works pretty good. Also consider abrasion boots for the elevator if legal.