I need to learn to operate on grass. All of the Utah air atrips I have looked up are either hard surface or dirt...no grass. Anyone know where I can go tolearn and practice? My wife's family has a cottage on a lake in Norther Michigan with a 2800' grass strip 1 mile away. This year we ended up on a 2900' concrete runway 10 miles away as I was afraid to do the grass without some instruction.
Jim

In my opinion, grass is the easiest to land on out of all surfaces. A trip to ID would be worthwhile considering your location.

Jim, ...just go for it. Save your instruction money for something else. Once you go grass, that's all you'll want to land on.

I've seen people land on the, uh, grass-ish like substance on the north side of the runway at Heber. Check first though, I don't know how long the landable section is.

Shoot more for the freshly shorn lawn kind of grass and less for the needs-to-be-mowed hayfield kind of grass. The longer, the draggier. Grass is nice. It's soft. Tires don't chirp or wear. If you land a little cock-eyed, you don't groundloop. All-in-all it's the easiest, safest runway surface there is in normal, dry conditions.

A guy could have a lot of fun on a golf course in a Cub or Champ. In fact, i often have dreams about it.

There is 3 or 4 grass strips in the Morgan Valley near 42U. If you ask Joe (airport mgr.) @ 42U he can tell you where they are and who owns them and which ones you need permission to use.

The pilots up there get up early and hit all the strips before breakfast but they mostly fly cubs/husky's and PA-12's. FWIW.

Yea, there's gotta be some par 5 fairways where you are!
If you can land on the hard stuff, you can land on grass. It makes a so-so landing look great. Feels cool too.

I am based in Heber and the grass you are talking about is rough and bouncy, bunch grass. It is right alongside of the paved runway. I noiced that they were mowing some of it on Monday. I have watched the local Husky's landng on it (they bounce). Have to stop before you hit the segmented circle, about the middle of the paved runway. The Husky's do "touch n goes" inthat distance!
Jim

jmorgan wrote:I need to learn to operate on grass. All of the Utah air atrips I have looked up are either hard surface or dirt...no grass. Anyone know where I can go tolearn and practice? My wife's family has a cottage on a lake in Norther Michigan with a 2800' grass strip 1 mile away. This year we ended up on a 2900' concrete runway 10 miles away as I was afraid to do the grass without some instruction.
Jim

Garden Valley ,Idaho is grass about 2 hours north -Great place -look for Annie watering and mowing .

Just do it. You will be pleasantly surprised how nice it is to land on grass. Your fears are unfounded. I was nervous as hell on my first approach to grass wondering what was going to happen. Had a crosswind and made the corrections as though I was landing on a hard surface. It was a non event, just a bit more noise than a hard surface. I got quite a razzing from a couple of pilots about how that must have been my 1st grass strip and that it was not necessary to correct. They were right!

If the grass (graqss?) is wet, there is little or no braking. Just land in a manner that does not rely on a lot of braking.

Otherwise good grass is better than anything else.

airprakken wrote:If the grass (graqss?) is wet, there is little or no braking. Just land in a manner that does not rely on a lot of braking.

Otherwise good grass is better than anything else.

When I went to Garden Valley several weeks back they had just watered and braking was very sluggish if any.
Wet grass is the worst -mud is ok but messy. Bigger tires work better in soft conditions .P.S. Get rid of the
wheel pants !

jmorgan wrote:I am based in Heber and the grass you are talking about is rough and bouncy, bunch grass. It is right alongside of the paved runway. I noiced that they were mowing some of it on Monday. I have watched the local Husky's landng on it (they bounce). Have to stop before you hit the segmented circle, about the middle of the paved runway. The Husky's do "touch n goes" inthat distance!
Jim

I stopped in Heber Valley Valley airport on way too Idaho (had to work on P210) --------- Never again ! When the office wanted $25.00 bucks for
a overnight stay on one of there tiedowns (Bring your own ropes-none there) and a $15.00 buck "landing fee" -$40.00 bucks to land and overnight !!
Topped off with highest price 100LL in the area makes Heber ,UT. a non-stop for me.They offered to waive tiedown if I filled up with 40+gallons of there overpriced 100LL ! Nice place with great people but airport is set up for corporate jets and skiers !

Thanks STOL, thought about stopping at Heber on my next trip to SL#2, but not now. Tail draggers and landing fees just don't mix
HC

182 STOL driver wrote:

jmorgan wrote:I am based in Heber and the grass you are talking about is rough and bouncy, bunch grass. It is right alongside of the paved runway. I noiced that they were mowing some of it on Monday. I have watched the local Husky's landng on it (they bounce). Have to stop before you hit the segmented circle, about the middle of the paved runway. The Husky's do "touch n goes" inthat distance!
Jim

I stopped in Heber Valley Valley airport on way too Idaho (had to work on P210) --------- Never again ! When the office wanted $25.00 bucks for
a overnight stay on one of there tiedowns (Bring your own ropes-none there) and a $15.00 buck "landing fee" -$40.00 bucks to land and overnight !!
Topped off with highest price 100LL in the area makes Heber ,UT. a non-stop for me.They offered to waive tiedown if I filled up with 40+gallons of there overpriced 100LL ! Nice place with great people but airport is set up for corporate jets and skiers !

Boy, that's a lot different than my stop at "Red Eagle FBO" in Kalispell City airport Montana. Nice overnight tiedown (free), good Gas prices, and courtesy car if needed.

I've landed at Heber many times and have never had to pay a landing fee. Of course, I'm not staying over night either. Never buy fuel there, it is always overpriced. The FBO is nice, but I think you are correct that they want to cater to business jets and big money airplanes. There are always jets and twins parked on the ramp, right next to a few taildraggers and gliders. Spanish Fork (where I'm based) is decent on fuel prices, and Nephi (30 miles south) is usually the lowest, but Provo will sometimes match or beat other local prices for local pilots.

182 STOL driver wrote:

jmorgan wrote:I am based in Heber and the grass you are talking about is rough and bouncy, bunch grass. It is right alongside of the paved runway. I noiced that they were mowing some of it on Monday. I have watched the local Husky's landng on it (they bounce). Have to stop before you hit the segmented circle, about the middle of the paved runway. The Husky's do "touch n goes" inthat distance!
Jim

I stopped in Heber Valley Valley airport on way too Idaho (had to work on P210) --------- Never again ! When the office wanted $25.00 bucks for
a overnight stay on one of there tiedowns (Bring your own ropes-none there) and a $15.00 buck "landing fee" -$40.00 bucks to land and overnight !!
Topped off with highest price 100LL in the area makes Heber ,UT. a non-stop for me.They offered to waive tiedown if I filled up with 40+gallons of there overpriced 100LL ! Nice place with great people but airport is set up for corporate jets and skiers !

In all fairness I got PM from line service Manager at Heber - as follows but I'm still not dropping in again. Bill Reid 182 STOL Driver





""Re: Graqss Strips in Utah

Sent: Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:25 am
From: OK3AIR @ 36U
To: 182 STOL driver
In regard to your recent visit to 36U, I'd like to repsond with the following;

As the Line Service Supervisor of OK3AIR in Heber City, UT, I'd like to appologize on behalf of the company for not meeting your expectations and leaving you with a less than satisfactory memory of the Heber Valley.

If you'll allow me the time, I'd also like to address the charges you mentioned. For a single engine airplane, we do charge $20/night for tiedown space (cost not to exceed $75/month - we charge the lesser of the two depending on the duration of the stay).
One night of said tiedown space may be waived with a minimum fuel purchase of 35 gallons. (If your stay has already exceeded into the $75/month category, no credit can be issued.)

The $15 "landing fee" is something I've never heard of. In the nine months I've worked for this company, I've never heard of anyone being charged a "landing fee." If this was the circumstance in your case, I personally appologize for the misundertanding.

In closing, I'd like to thank you for you time and personally invite you back to the Heber Valley airport.
Should your future travel plans include a pass by the Heber Valley area, I personally encourage you stop back by and let us make it worth your troubles.

Please allow myself and OK3AIR the opportunity to redeem any wrong doing or injustice you may have recieved on your previous visit.



Best Regards,

Alan Eldridge
Line Service Supervisor
OK3AIR Heber City, UT (36U)

http://www.ok3air.com ""

Thanks but no thanks BR