Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

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drmiller
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Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by drmiller »

Used to own DA40, want an NG, but also have occasional need to land on a rough dirt private strip in NV (not Burning Man!). Realize a tail dragger safest and best for this; but can the Tundra Star safely handle a rough dirt strip, with some big rocks sticking up a few inches? Nothing written on this I can find anywhere. Will aircraft insurance for a Tundra Star cover landing on a private, rough dirt field?
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Colin
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Re: Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by Colin »

You can insure anything for a price. My insurance specifically says that I am not insured for off airport landings, which covers a lot of rough strips and certainly fields.
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
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Mjwatlanta
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Re: Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by Mjwatlanta »

I think that rough strips are the entire point of the Tundra Star.
https://www.australianflying.com.au/new ... undra-star
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drmiller
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Re: Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by drmiller »

Thanks. That 2014 article doesn't give info on how bad a field it can handle, and surprisingly I find nothing googling on the Tundra Star on a rough field. I'd have thought a tail dragger magazine would have done some comparison, or some videos showing it on a bumpy dirt field (almost none showing Tundra Star, and all on level grass, fields a normal DA40 could easily handle). Need to know if this plane can take an uneven, some big rocks sticking up a few inches, real dirt field (not a river bed, but a rough dirt field with rocks). Hoping someone here has seen or flown a Tundra Star on a really rough field and can advise.
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erchegyia
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Re: Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by erchegyia »

drmiller wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:32 pm how bad a field it can handle
Sorry, but what kind of answer do you expect for that question? On a scale 1-10? :lol: It obviously depends on a lot of factors, including your flying skills
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drmiller
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Re: Can Tundra Star safely use rough dirt strips?

Post by drmiller »

hoping to find someone who has flown one on a rough field or some video that shows a Tundra Star on a real rough field, not the grass at the Diamond Star airport in Austria. Supposedly 50 of these built for Russian use on rough fields--but can't find a spec of info on how they have done and how rough the fields. A Diamond Aircraft salesperson just said not a single Tundra Star has been flown or delivered to the U.S., wonder if that's true.
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