Soft Field Landings – It’s one thing to practice them on pavement but I was surprised to find how many students have only “simulated” soft field landings! Simulated? Why not get out there and do it on a real grass strip? Follow along on my flight as I land at a grass strip and talk you through a proper soft field landing
What’s Your Soft Field Experience Like? Tell Me Below!
Text Transcript
Hey everyone. Jason Schappert of MZeroA.com here. Cam’s up on the dashboard today and today I’m going to show you guys a little bit on soft-field landings. We’re entering on the downwind right now towards a private little strip and I actually have a student so I’m talking to you guys at the same time here.
I’m just gonna talk you through a soft-field landing. Now, in one 12 Romeo, we have a carburetor so we in turn don’t use any CARB/HEAT. CARB HEAT is simply that unfiltered air coming off the cowling so we strip off dirt and stuff like that. We don’t want that on the carburetor. So soft field landing, the whole purpose is we want to protect the nose-wheel. Let me go and make a base radio call quick.
We’re gonna make that base turn here. We want to protect that nose wheel. So I’m going to come in and you know what, sometimes I even carry a little bit of power because I wanna touch down on the mains first and really hold that nose wheel off until the last second. You also want to really avoid braking.
The key to a great soft-field landing is all about managing your airspeed. So technically your speed needs to be a tad bit slower but not necessarily always the case. So I’m gonna come in actually at the regular 70 miles per hour. So here I am on base, just hanging out here. Check that your final’s clear, add another notch of flaps, when we’re at level flight. Alright so we’re gonna turn on final here.
A beautiful, 6000 foot grass strip. Here she comes in the view of the camera. No runway markings. We gotta know where centerline is at. Here we are, we’re coming in, my airspeed’s pegged, I”m keeping that nose keeping down pitching for power and altitude. I feel the wind beating me up a little bit. And check this out here. I got the runway in and I’m just gonna hold it here.
Here I am, as I am talking to that guy, holding this nose pretty well. There you have it, there goes the nose wheel, avoid braking, and there really are no taxiways here so I just gotta get off where I can and avoid people’s yards. This is all I have for you guys today, and guys most importantly, get out there, get to a private strip and practice some soft-field landings.Hey, guys, remember a good pilot is always learning. Catch you guys later.
