Im considering building a jet in a couple of years. Can a model jet takeoff from a grass airstrip or is it very different than other models and require asphalt? FOD damage? Will the engine on say a F-16 or Eurofighter suck debris from grass, rocks, seed, etc into the engine(Ducted Fan)? Microturbine? Thanks

the answer to your question is yes they can,
however they really arent meant to. Debris from grass or any other source of course can damage the turbine, fan etc. Best to stick with prop for grass. Jets werent meant to fly off of grass.

xtech,

I've heard that some of your more rugged designed jets and landing gear can take the abuse of grass, but for the most part I would agree with VF-84. Go to a jet fly in sometime, and look at the speed some of these guys come in for landing. I think some of them land hotter or have higher stalls then a small Cessna full size aircraft!

I would not recommend attempting to taxi or flight without a FOD screen in any jet with bottom intakes such as the Eurofighter or F-16. Not when a screen will only cost $20 to save a $3,000.00 + engine. As for the cost of the screen vs the investment of the engine, I'll personally use a FOD screen on any plane it will fit.

See Jetcat link :

http://www.sitewaveshosting.com/Merc...uct_Code=A1045

Mike

I think if the grass is well kept and free of debris you can fly all kind of jets off grass. Topgun was a good example

Some jets fly quite nicely from grass. Obviously, the smoother, the better.

Having said that, some of the concrete runways I have flown off, are rougher than the grass field I regularly fly from (and it is rough). The advantage is that they are 1000's of feet longer.

The newer generation jets AV8R, Super Reaper, Facet, Reaction, etc are probably better suited to grass than the zippy sport models

A FOD guard is a must in my books. My turbine sucked a passing bug out of the air the other night, but the screen stopped it from going through the engine....

There are actually quite a few jet guys flying off of grass. All of the trainer types are able to fly off reasonably well kept grass runways. The Eurosport works real well as do some other scale type jets. In Europe they fly off more grass than pavement.

Check out the KingCat at BVM's website. This plane was designed to fly off grass. I watched it fly this weekend and it is incredible. K.

My buddies and I have well over 600 flights off grass fields...

Planes we have flown include:

Bandit/P-120--My current Jet--about 80 grass flights now. No problems with gear ......
Maverick Pro/BVM .96
Regal Eagle/O.S. .91
TopGun F-15 and Mig-29/O.S. .91
Avonds F-15--D/F and Turbine/P-80 & P-120
AD F-16/Merc SP--marginal. Now has a P-120
Kangaroo/P-80
HotSpot and Blade/P-80/P-120
Yellow F-4 /O.S. .91
EuroSport Scale/P-160

2 Major requirements.....adequate power to weight for liftoff and beefed up landing gear mounts....

Used to be a little scary with the D/F on hot summer days with our old short field....about 400 ft usable, but now our new 200X750 ft of smooth grass is no problem for any turbines we fly...agree with the FOD screen for turbines...got one on bypassed jets with low intakes like the Bandit and F-15/F-16/EuroSport...but don't find they are necessary on the Roo or HotSpot.....Also sucking a little grass into a D/F never seemed to be much of a problem.......blows right thru...

Tom

Over here in the UK a flying club with a long concrete runway is pretty rare - most of us have to make do with a grass strip however, there are still plenty of guys flying turbines successfully. As others have said the length of the grass and the strip itself will play a fairly major part in the choice of your model but my EuroSport gets off in about 150ft but could easily get off in 100ft if I wanted it to.

http://www.mark.schroeder.dsl.pipex....o/take_off.mpg

Don't let grass put you off buying a turbine - they're awesome!

Oh yeah - grass or concrete and wherever your intakes are - fit a FOD guard. Don't make the mistake of refusing to pay $30 for a "glorified tea strainer" - you'll kick yourself when you ingest something into that $3000 engine

i have only flown my Mick reeves Reaper from a grass strip without any problems at all, this strip is a little bumper too which actually seems to help a little.
try a super reaper to get the feel of jet flight, from what i've heard/read you can fly it from any strip and you can bolt any gas turbine into it from 12lbs to 30lbs thrust, although you won't want to fly it with 30lbs straight and level.

see my site for some pics of the reaper, i'm getting a super reaper very soon.

The main problem with grass runways are they tend to be short.
You can usually take off ok, but you need a longer distance to get the thing safely back to earth.
Our grass runway is 120yards. I have a Hotspot with a 17lb Simjet. I know it will take off ok, but it is gathering dust as I am wary of trying to land it in this distance.

Flying off grass is about the correct choice of air frame, it's no use trying to fly an F18 with the in takes underneath and behind the front wheel, then wondering why it's hovering the runway
F15's are fine, things with the engine on the top ect.

I put a RAM 500 turbine in my Y/A A-4, it has no problem rotating off grass. I have video of the takeoff, can someone post it here on RC universe?
Chris


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Have any of you ever seen the inside of a model jet engine that has regularly taken off from a paddock? :stupid:
Quite interesting assortment of seeds and bugs to be found, dried out in the diffuser area, and cooked, grilled or cindered, dependent on where you look further in!

But the particular engine (a TJT 2500) was quite happy again after removal of flora and fauna.

Xtech- You should check out the Jet Model Products Hustler at their website. (jetmodelproducts.com
I've seen the model fly off of grass. As a matter of fact I lost a bet to a friend in that the model actually took off in less space ( about 150' ) than it did off of pavement. The landing used up about the same distance.
The landing gear on this plane is strong and will take all the abuse of a rough field, and the engine intake is shielded by the bottom of the plane to avoid FOD damage.
Check it out

Marty O

My Rafale with a D/F, grass was no problem.