- Joined
- Dec 27, 2017
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The other day I flew to FD77. A friend of mine just completed building an RV-12 and was doing the very first flight and I wanted to congratulate him in person. I've landed there before, but the airport is under new management I believe and they've really let the runway go since I was last there. I landed on it, but the turf was very sandy and bumpy compared to my usual standards. A lot of landing gear noise when I touched down. I usually land on pavement and sometimes at 97FL, which has EXCELLENT turf runway maintenance.
I don't think I hurt anything. Steering and everything felt normal subsequently, and I flew back home with normal behavior from the landing gear. But, it got me to thinking about how much of a beating a 50 year old airframe and fixed gear structure (PA28-140) can take landing upon the occasional bad/subpar surface. Compared to my usual destinations, it felt pretty gnarly landing on this bumpy, badly mowed, and sandy "runway". It was just me and fuel less than tabs on both sides with about 20lb of cargo so I was well under gross weight upon landing.
I don't think I hurt anything. Steering and everything felt normal subsequently, and I flew back home with normal behavior from the landing gear. But, it got me to thinking about how much of a beating a 50 year old airframe and fixed gear structure (PA28-140) can take landing upon the occasional bad/subpar surface. Compared to my usual destinations, it felt pretty gnarly landing on this bumpy, badly mowed, and sandy "runway". It was just me and fuel less than tabs on both sides with about 20lb of cargo so I was well under gross weight upon landing.
