Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Airplanes Only 1000' grass runway with 800 overrun: 100hp or 150hp, both STOL, much difference?

We took our nose wheeled 150, even with wheel pants, every where the taildraggers went....................

Bill

Fred, now that you mention it I used to own a Cherokee 6/260 and I remember using it on a grass runway all the time also. the Seneca 1 was only used on asphalt but the Citabria, Cherokee 6, and the Grumman Tiger were all used on grass during the years. Also when I flew out of an airpark I used to live on (Cannon Creek in Lake City, Florida) I used the grass runway way more often than the asphalt one. It's not like my grass runway is going to be anything close to bush flying up in Michael's neck of the woods so I'm thanking everyone for their comments.

Hhmmmmm? I'm telling you the helicopter vibrations for all these years must have done something to my memory but this forum is shaking the memories loose again, lol.

To throw you a complete curve, you may want to give the Piper Cherokee 180 a look, or maybe a Piper Pacer or Tripacer.........

Bill

I did look at the Cherokee 180 and for the price of the 150/150 + $5k I can get an IFR 180 with autopilot. This is not going to be easy is it ?

Carlos,

The Cherokee 180 is a nice machine and handles turf fields well, but it's not a short field airplane. With Texas heat, 1,000 feet would be pretty tight if you're anywhere near gross weight. If you tack on any extra speed on approach, it will eat up runway on landing.

Warmest regards,
Rick

Thanks Rick. I suppose my search will boil down to a good 150/150 or a 172 with a O-360 then since they're pretty much in the same price range from what I've seen.

Carlos,

Sounds sensible. I don't know prices on the HawkXP, but I'm thinking that 195-HP engine up front would be nice to have on a hot Texas afternoon takeoff.

Warmest regards,
Rick

Even though I'm still heavily leaning towards the 150/150, my reasoning is that if insurance and maintenance isn't too much of a difference between the 150/150 and a 172/360 then I might go that route for a more comfortable airplane. I'm flying my neighbor's Musketeer for now but I'm going to go rent a 152 and a 172 to help figure that out.

And the search continues....

As for the tail dragger verses the nose wheel I'll say this: The nose wheel 150/150's work fine as long as the surface is firm. If there are any unknowns on the landing surfaces the chances of digging in a nose wheel are too great. If you always practice soft field technic you will minimize your chances but often times the problems happen while trying to turn around.
I think the 0-360 172 is capable of the 1000' strip but you will have to be very mindful of your load. As you know, there is a lot more room inside those 172's and at gross I would think the 172 might struggle on that short of a strip especially if the ground was soft.

No need to buy dirt, the dirt is already there...it just needs a bit of rearranging. A motorgrader can be used to bring dirt from the sides to the center, creating a slight ditch on both sides and crowning the center at the same time.

It'll be fun following this project.

BTW...Welcome!!!