Our historical process of pulling the airplane out at the marina; then towing it up the road to the airport, is getting cumbersome. The marina and town are getting busier each year, we have to get the airplane in there the night before(long tight taxi, must be light winds), the tow has to take place at 0530 on a Sunday...

We have a decent 1500' grass strip at the airport. Does anyone have experience with landing straight floats in the grass? If so, please share your thoughts. We have a good floatplane trailer, so picking it up after landing will be easy.

Cessna 180, Aqua 3190's.

Thanks!

No direct experience but when I rented a Supercub on straight floats the owners routinely landed it on grass when they needed to reposition the plane for maintenence, etc. As I understand it it's harmless. I would imagine its a short 'rollout'...

Did it all the time in the dirt with mine. Then trailer launch off the runway when done with whatever maintenance you're doing.

Use ground effect to slow down, touch relatively flat with power to keep the elevator effective. Slide to a stop.

Gump

Yes, I've done it. Not a huge deal, short run out, and pretty rough, but...

It helps if you're able to land during or right after a rain or watering if they have sprinklers- plane slides a little easier.

MTV

Careful landing if it's too wet and muddy. It gets sticky.

Also, pavement works just fine and doesn't hurt a thing. You'll actually slide longer on the hard surface. Just be careful of edges and curbs. They act like can openers.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Careful landing if it's too wet and muddy. It gets sticky.

Also, pavement works just fine and doesn't hurt a thing. You'll actually slide longer on the hard surface. Just be careful of edges and curbs. They act like can openers.

Gump

Gump, does this depend on the type of float? My mechanic has a pair of Aerocet amphibs sitting on his ramp with a fair bit of damage from a wheels up landing.

I commented that it made me feel a bit better about the toughness of my EDOs. He wisecracked that if I was a decent pilot that knew when to use wheels I could upgrade to composite floats. I replied that if he wasn't so damn expensive I might be able to afford composite floats.

I have landed my M5 Maule on straight floats on grass a number of times.

Set up a glassy water landing descent rate and grease it in. Once the keels are in the grass it keeps pretty straight.

I would strongly suggest walking the grass strip to make sure there are no rocks hiding. Where we live there are lots of glacier rocks mixed in with the dirt; therefore, inspection is key.

If your first time...

Check with your mechanic about the materials/condition of the keel/hull before touching anything not water. Some floats do not have a steel keel to save weight.

Gump, does this depend on the type of float? My mechanic has a pair of Aerocet amphibs sitting on his ramp with a fair bit of damage from a wheels up landing.

What kind of surface did they land on, and how? A gentle landing shouldn't do anything to the keel. Any more than pulling up onto a cement or gravel ramp. Just be aware that there is absolutely no shock absorption in the floats or gear/spreader bars. It is stiff, and you want smooth, with minimal vertical force when touching.

As for composite floats, always outta my price range, and age I don't know what they use for keel material.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Careful landing if it's too wet and muddy. It gets sticky.

Also, pavement works just fine and doesn't hurt a thing. You'll actually slide longer on the hard surface. Just be careful of edges and curbs. They act like can openers.

Gump

I'm sorry, this is insane. Landing on asphalt or concrete surface in any float, they all have aluminum as the keel material, will absolutely damage the float! Just like taking a 60 knot grinder to the keel.

I personally repaired 2 sets of wiplines and one set of EDO amphibs that were landed wheels up at Boeing field in Seattle, those floats were seriously damaged.

There's several videos of people landing floatplanes on the grass on YouTube, looks to be a non-event. This has the story I've heard from the old timers for years, I wouldn't hesitate to try it on wet grass.

We never saw any real marks on the keel from asphalt. And actually had more dings in the dirt from rocks.

I guess it depends on weight on the floats, and speed touching.

Gump

My 2100As are built with the option of a hardened steel keel. It weighs a lot. I was given breif guidance that steel could handle a pavement landing in limited capacity. But, not recommended!!

Never done it and God willing never will.

Halestorm wrote:

GumpAir wrote:Careful landing if it's too wet and muddy. It gets sticky.

Also, pavement works just fine and doesn't hurt a thing. You'll actually slide longer on the hard surface. Just be careful of edges and curbs. They act like can openers.

Gump

I'm sorry, this is insane. Landing on asphalt or concrete surface in any float, they all have aluminum as the keel material, will absolutely damage the float! Just like taking a 60 knot grinder to the keel.

I personally repaired 2 sets of wiplines and one set of EDO amphibs that were landed wheels up at Boeing field in Seattle, those floats were seriously damaged.

My thoughts exactly... there is no way anything light enough to fly can survive "undamaged" from scraping along tarmac / concrete / asphalt for any distance. I bet steel would last a long time, but still...

I figured Gump was just kidding!

Nope, never saw a gouge or big scrape.

I'm wondering if the amphibs with wheels up float damage were from hard landings breaking or bending the floats, or the wheel up position damaging the gear attach points and then the floats, or hitting something sharp on the edge of a runway.

I always used dirt, but I helped trailer several asphalt landings for annuals, and no one hurt anything. The old timers I flew floats around always said it was a non-issue.

Gump


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A buddy of mine just finished rebuilding his floats from a dead-stick landing onto a grass field, they were written off by the insurance company the damage was so bad. His plane was also damaged. Because floats no suspension, the grass surface and touchdown both need to be very smooth.

Of course this landing was into a random field with engine failure, not a controlled landing onto a prepared runway surface.

But the point of the example is to reinforce what's already been said. It's not without risk.

I've done it in three or four different aircraft into the grass dry grass no big deal. Just do a glassy water landing and land right on the step. Add power as you start slowing down and full aft elevator. Just nail it and keep it straight, many a plane have been lost to sidetrack....

Too big a gamble. I tried to talk myself into it last year, but hauled it home from the lake on a flatbed again.

Can you find a facility within a couple hours flying that would do your change-overs, and store your off season gear? If they'll schedule and deliver while you wait change-overs, that would be the way to go. You need a runway adjacent to a lake. Perhaps another member knows one near you.

I found a great deal on Aerocet amphibs. I miss the speedy and light weight CAP floats I ran two previous years, but I'm never going back! Fuelling at airports, putting the airplane in a hangar when I'm home, and landing after dark on my way home from a trip I didn't want to end are all worth the lost payload, and expense.

Make sure to video this.

Like this?

https://youtu.be/MR483bK_6Js

8GCBC wrote:If your first time...

Check with your mechanic about the materials/condition of the keel/hull before touching anything not water. Some floats do not have a steel keel to save weight.

I've never seen any floats with steel keels--what kind of floats are you referring to?

I've landed a set of amphibious floats (aluminum, including keels) on the keels on asphalt twice due to gear failure in transit. No damage, though did scrape up the keels a bit, which was to be expected at that point. A chat with the manufacturer said to measure the remaining keel depth, and if it met a spec, and no other damage, pedal on.

This was Kodiak, and no grass runways anywhere near, or I'd have gone there. But, no big deal in any case.

MTV