Mow the lawn!

[mhorowit]

How high can the grass be allowed to grow before landing and take-off become hazardous to your health?

What if you are not on asphalt? (sorry, I just knew someone would say something, so I had to do it)- Mike

[Dano"T"]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Just let it grow til it reaches the propeller and mow it with the plane...3 passes should get her wide enough to take off.

[alwaysoar]

Re: Mow the lawn!

It could get long enough so you couldn't taxi or might nose over

[CraigH]

Re: Mow the lawn!

The proper way to mow the grass in a Taylorcraft:

[crispy critter]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Craig,
That won't work!Trust me,I know what I'm talking about on this one.If you really what to mow grass with an airplane,first thing you have to do is be over the grass and not the black top,second thing is you have to roll her up inverted so those damned old silly wheels don't get in your way.....ya can get a much closer cut this way.

[Howard Wilson]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Well,..... out of neccessity due to an unforseen wing tank fuel feed (ahem) problem I had the opportunity to take off in waist high dry oats. They were not densely planted, maybe 20 plants /sq. ft. So the answer is: How long is the runway? You can kind of surf up out of it but it feels like you're ripping velcro apart, you can feel the drag of the grass pulling the plane back down, but the higher you get less surface of the plane is being grabbed and you can feel it surge ahead. With about 6 or 7 gal. of fuel in the nose, two guys @ about 180# each, and loaded for Alliance, 80 something degrees, a 10mph head wind, it took almost 1000 feet and 6 years off my life. (65 hp lyc.) Still had a couple handfulls of 3' oats on the tail brace wires when we landed at a real airport thirty minutes later. The up side is when you full stall land in grass like that you don't roll too far, and there wasn't any tendency to nose over.
I've also taken off on wet grass about 6 inches long and it tends to suck at the tires and prolong the take off. Your experiences may vary.

[mhorowit]

Re: Mow the lawn!

I've also taken off on wet grass about 6 inches long and it tends to suck at the tires and prolong the take off. Your experiences may vary.

OK, so if it's no higher than the diameter of the wheels, I should make it.

Making short hops in prep. for the flight to Ohio. Today I flew to Martinsburg to refresh myself on Class D ops and to see if the VOR in my handheld works. It did. Took I-81 back (IFR). Gotta look and see if I can do the same going out there. Also gotta remember to TIME THE LEGS so I know where I am - Mike

[paulp]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Howdy Mike,

Hey Mike, remember, you are flying a Taylorcraft! You don't use a clock, you use a calandar!!

[crispy critter]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Come on now....A t-craft ain't that slow.I've got a climb prop on mine and it cruises about 90mph and around 100mph with a standard pitch.

[flyguy]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Kevin,
If you check your airspeed in two directions for wind correction (average) against a GPS what do you get? Just curious as I have a -85 that seems a little slow.
Darryl

[paulp]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Howdy Darryl,

I have an 85 with the 0200 STC.(about 100 hrs since major w/new Millinium barrels) Over a measured course I average about 105 mph trued out at max throttle. McCauley climb/cruse prop 7146. It don't get much better. The big advantage is the climb performance. Today I was able to climb @ about 650fpm-field elevation(GOK) 1088' AWOS said DA was 3100'-Good enough for me!

Crispy, I still like the idea of a calander rather than a clock. I ain't in that big of a hurry!

[crispy critter]

Re: Mow the lawn!

Flyguy,
When checking my airspeed just after getting "Smurf" back in the air,I checked it over a 30kt mile course there and back in early morning calm conditions.The airspeed was showing me 89 mph both directions and my ground speed going to was 90mph and 88mph coming back.This was checked with a plotter,stop watch,and a flight computer.I was running at 2150rpm's with a metal 74/43 prop.A few days later I borrowed a metal 74/45 prop and running the same course at the same rpms I was getting 102mph but on this day it was about 10 degrees cooler.
You can play with the rigging by raising the trailing edge of the wing to give you a little more speed,at the same time you will be increasing your stall speed by about the same amount of gain,also you may notice a slight difference in climb performance.What I'm saying is if you make these adjustments you may gain one thing but loose another.The difference in speed gain could be as much as 10-15 mph or as little as 5 mph depending on the drag/anti-drag rigging inside the wings,type and condition of fabric,and many other factors.If you are flying with a non-electric C-85 then you may want to try it and see what happens,but if you have a fairly dirty finish that isn't very slick then you may just want to try a good cleaning and waxing first and see what happens.I bought a C-195 once and flying it home the cruise speed was slower that I thought it should be.However the old bird had been setting for some time and was very dirty.Just by washing,waxing,and replacing a few bulky looking fasteners and stuff I gained 15-20 KNOTS!!!!It is really suprising what a little soap and water can do to a dirty airplane.

Paul,
I was just kidding with you before.I enjoy flying t-crafts just because I do and the more days I can spend flying one the happier I am.If someone is going to buy an airplane to go places fast then they won't be looking at t-crafts.