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Old 25th Sep 2014, 13:32
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9 lives
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Absolutely!

95% of all takeoffs and landings I do are not at an airport, nor paved runway. I keep both my planes on my own "farm" strip, and nearly all of my flying is to others, or to lakes.

The skills development from "off airport" operations is excellent. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago, when asked by the owner to take his 182 amphibian into a 300 metre mountain pass grass runway in Norway. I did walk the runway first, and being satisfied, got the plane in and out with lots of room to spare.

The "farm" strip will generally teach the pilot the need to use exactly the intended portion of the runway, not let the plane float and drift all over the runway. Another benefit will be that for taildragger pilots, narrow grass runways provide better cues for drifting from the centerline, so you're less likely to loose perspective, and get into a groundloop. It's when you land your taildragger on a 200 foot wide paved runway it seems to go bad, as there is little incentive to keep it right in the middle. Her at home, I have seven feet from a wing tip float ot a runway marker on each side. I haven't hit one yet!
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