Rich:

First thing, there is grass and there is grass....some smooth and short....:>) .... and some bumpy and long, etc.......:>(

Come on up to Fond du lac, WI any weekend and see our grass field. 750 x 215 ft of smooth grass with clear approaches and no obstructions closer than 1/4 mile.

We routinely fly Roo's, HotSpots, Blades, Avonds F-15, both turbine and D/F, and Bandits off the field currently. In the past, we have flown Mavericks, Agg III, Regal Eagle, and TGA F-15 off the grass.

Landing gear takes a bit more beating, but not a whole lot, and you never have to worry about crosswinds, wingtip scuff, or even no gear landings. BVM gear on my Bandit works fine on grass. Only downside is that we get sloppy with crosswinds when we are forced to tackle them on narrow hard surface at the Jet meets..:>)

We do use FOD screens made out of tea strainers to keep the grass and other crud out of the compressor. If you don't use a screen of some sort, eventually the diffusors start to plug up with mashed green grass after a few dozen flights on low intake engines like the Bandit or F-15, but not a problem for the Roo or HS. This is especially noticeable right after a fresh cut with lots of loose grass on the runway.

Ad Clarke up in Kalispell, MT, flies a BVM Phantom off 900 ft of grass even with high density altitudes in the summer.

Tom