I am fairly familiar. Had a friend that was building one. Two A&P buddies have helped recover crashed ones. I personally would not own one, but I still like them. My point was that a grass strip, if maintained properly, is just as good as a paved strip. Maybe even better.

I built and fly a Lancair ES-P and I believe its nose gear and engine mount are essentially the same as the IV-P, except the nose gear is locked down. The ES-P is pressurized and has an IV-P fuselage and engine, but it has larger flying surfaces plus fixed gear. It's a great plane, by the way.

But if you push sideways on the nose of my plane, the aircraft has impressive side to side sway. The nose gear is tied into the engine mount, so I sure hope Lancair carefully modeled the engine mount loads. Well, there have been modifications to the engine mount over the years due to cracking..

I've decided to never land my ES-P on grass or any rough strip.

I suggest you do the same test with your IV-P. Push sideways on the nose and see how much confidence it inspires. I've actually never done this with an IV-P....

I am fairly familiar. Had a friend that was building one. Two A&P buddies have helped recover crashed ones. I personally would not own one, but I still like them. My point was that a grass strip, if maintained properly, is just as good as a paved strip. Maybe even better.

IMO, a smooth grass strip imposes lower side loads on the gear if there is any drift at touchdown.

Landing your Eclipse on your grass strip would be a violation of the aircraft limitations for landing surface and also a violation of the aircraft limitations for runway length.

Aside from that, it might have been great. And then again, maybe not. Here's what another fellow did to his Eclipse when he decided to land in violation of the published runway length limitation:



It took you until "the last moment" to reconsider a landing attempt in violation of two different aircraft limitations?

Ken

Hey, I wanna be a test pilot too. I have often thought about doing things in my airplane that I haven't done. I find the problem is doing things in my airplane I haven't THOUGHT about

Landing your Eclipse on your grass strip would be a violation of the aircraft limitations for landing surface and also a violation of the aircraft limitations for runway length.

Aside from that, it might have been great. And then again, maybe not. Here's what another fellow did to his Eclipse when he decided to land in violation of the published runway length limitation:



It took you until "the last moment" to reconsider a landing attempt in violation of two different aircraft limitations?

Ken

Todd, I think you are missing my point. I never said I have flown a IV-P. I only said that I am familiar with the gear. Show me one instance where I have stated how to operate one. And if you read my post, I believe a grass strip is more forgiving than asphalt if it is maintained correctly.
We are not talking about going bush flying here. Jeesh, lighten up man.

Man these Lancair owners are a prickly bunch....I imagine their owners forum must be an interesting place!

I do agree that the nose gear should not be side loaded on a Lancair or any airplane. I inspect everything for cracks prior to each flight. You must be very careful towing it.

A Beech gear should not be side loaded either and I always come close to a stop prior to turning off the runway.

I still maintain that a grass field is less likely to side load a landing gear than a paved runway. On grass, the gear would be more likely to slip than pavement.

The landings on grass are always smooth, it's the exiting the runway that can get exciting!

I was severely admonished during my 340 initial for making a turn a little too fast. I agree with you, grass will allow the tires to slide.
This is not always a good thing. The only time I ever dented an airplane was an aborted takeoff here at my house. Slid off the end of my runway on wet grass.

Some local kids in a ratty side by side Aeronca Chief ran out of gas and landed really long on our grass strip. The pilot intentionally ground looped it with no damage. We gave the kid 10 gallons of gas without a lecture (unnecessary). I don't think it would have worked out damage free on pavement. He learned his lesson. After he left, 3 airline pilots all told stories of similar bad judgement in fuel management while learning to fly.

But, back on topic, perhaps there is an engineering solution for Lancair IV landing gear to strengthen it? Surely it can be reinforced?

Is any of that addressed with the new wing mod?