Turbines & Grass Fields
 

I'm hearing conflicting reports. I was under the impression turbines can't be flown on grass fields because of the possability of debris in the intakes. Is this true or do some of you out there fly from grass fields? I think this is dependant on the type of jet and the placement of the intakes but I've always wanted a turbine F4 Phantom and if you can fly on grass fields this may be a possability for me.

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

well one of the blokes at our feild flies his turbine which is mounted on the back of his plane and we have a 100mtr grass strip, no probs as far as i can see

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

use "FOD" screens on your engines. Grass will not hurt the engine, but dirt and stones will!

Smooth grass fields are OK for turbines. The biggest problem is breaking the "Gear and Gear mounts" on rough Grass fields.

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

I've got a Byron F16 I'm refurbishing and I fly on a grass field. I hear this model can be fitted with a turbine due to the size of the fusalage but even if I just use a DF system I would like to strenghten the landing gear (Spring Air Retracts) any Suggestions?

Grass fields
 

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

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

Your field and the types of aircraft your flying off it sound great. Maybee I'll take you up on that offer my flying buddy has a Cyclone that we've had a lot of problems getting airborne due to the rough grass on our field. If your members don't mind maybe we'll take a road trip :)

Fond du lac Field
 

Anytime Rich.

Our field is very jet friendly as Dave Elsinger is our club president and happens to be a Turbine C.D. and I am club Treasurer and Board Member....

Drop me an email if you can work it out. I'll send you an email with our phone #

Tom

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

An Isobar is a great grass field plane, as long as you build light.

Grass take off
 

Check this:

http://www.funsonic-turbines.com/Infos/MOV10100-1.MPG

Re: Grass fields
 

Really?




I have seen a Yellow Starfire go off grass also, afterwards you could see some grass blades in the FOD screen, so its a good idea to put one on!!!

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

I have flown my Bandit and Bobcat off grass but I doubt I would fly my Phantom off the grass unless it was smooth as a golf green.

Phantom on Grass
 

Hoping that Ad or his son would post on this thread. I bought his almost new AMT 280SP as he was updating to an AT-400 due to his high density flying. At that time we talked about flying his 4 off grass. Apparently they have a very nice field.

David, after seeing Vernon do the deadsticks at FJ with his 4, and having the gear, and in fact the whole plane survive relatively unscathed, flying off our field would be no sweat. While not a golf green, it is almost as nice as the short cut on an Augusta fairway...:>)

The only thing that I have ever done bad to my Bandit was crack the NG flex plates, while learning how to land it in a moderately strong headwind. They really are way to easy to break for grass ops, so I have switched to the metal NG plates. The intrinsic spring in the metal plates, since they have no forward attachment like the C/F ones aids in the shock absorption. They appear to be a cast material, since I broke one on my old Bandit, so they still offer fracture protection in a really bad N/G hit.


Tom

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

We fly T33s, P80s, Firebirds, F86s, etc. off of 2 grass fields and will do it some more if it ever quits raining every other day!!!
There are very forgiving but tend to spoil you........

Roger

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

take a Mick reeves Reaper, a microjet Engineering panther restricted to 9.5lbs thrust instead of 14lbs thrust, take one grass field and this is what you get http://62.49.156.230/microjetfiles/takeoff.wmv

this might not work at certain times but do keep trying

grass is not a problem with this ship...ugly as it is

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

if that link above doesn't work checkout this link on my site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wendy.jackson/vulcon.avi
now thats long grass!

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

Tom,

You must not have seen the second deadstick landing. The thing that would conern me with the F-4 is not the mains, but the NG it is rigidly mounted and in one off road excurcion I took a couple of years ago with my first one it ripped the NG out and took a chunk of fuselage with it. Of course I managed to do a lot worse to that particular airplane in subsequent flights!

Phantom
 

I saw and HEARD both of them David. I did not stop over to see the damage after the second one though.
But that was a very hard hit. If that would have been my Bandit, it surely would have taken the nose cone clear off.

You are right though. Any solid mount can do bads if you really clunk one..........but that was your "What not to do with a Phantom" test plane anyway, wasn't it?

Tom

F-4/Grass
 

Just got an update Rich. Ad Clarke has not flown his Phantom off grass.

Looks like it only flew at SM 2002 with David Schulman at the sticks before I bought the 280SP that was in it.

So I guess your original thread question is still unanswered about Phantoms and grass. Probably not a good idea from other experienced Phantom drivers. Nose gear hits could be a serious problem.

Tom

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

I did everything I could to kill the first one Tom. And finally succeeded on the bleachers down in Texas. I know that several people have flown their Phantoms off grass but I just don't think I will be one of them.

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

Turbines & Grass Fields
 

Tom,

What are your thoughts on the Yellow F18 and or F4 Ducted Fan (My two favorite planes) on Grass fields?
Shaun from Yellow says he's flown his F18 on grass I was wondering if you knew anything about the performance?
Hey Shaun ! If your reading this do you have the scale retracts on the F18 ?