Soft Field Takeoff and Landing techniques are good skills to have even if you have no intention of exposing yourself or your airplane to the challenge of a real soft field . Most people will learn these techniques on a regular paved runway and seldom , if ever , get to put their skills to work on a real soft field . However , you will definitely be tested on this as part of the private pilot practical test and , in the event of an emergency landing off airport , you will be glad to have this skill available .
To develop your soft field technique , visualize mud . Your objective is to maintain directional control and not get stuck . With just three small wheels and a propeller to work with , this could be challenging . Fortunately , all of your control surfaces can be of use in keeping things rolling and pointed in the right direction . Before you start your taxi , get organized and complete all necessary pre-takeoff checklists so , that at least in theory , you can keep rolling all the way to the runway and take off without stopping . Because of constraints imposed by control towers and crowded tie-down areas etc ., you probably will not get to practice this part . A real soft field taxi will require more power than usual to get started and probably more than usual to keep rolling . In a tricycle gear airplane , taxi with the control wheel control wheel The device the pilot uses to move the ailerons and elevator . Sometimes known as the yoke . held all the way back to minimize weight on the nose wheel . The nose wheel is the most likely to get bogged down , so do what you can keep it light .
In many airplanes such as the Cessna 152 , the soft field takeoff is performed with 10 degrees of flaps extended . If flaps are to be used , extend them as you taxi onto the runway . In a real soft field situation , tower and traffic permitting , you would taxi onto the runway without stopping and , once lined up on the centerline , apply full power with the control wheel still in the full aft position . You want the nose wheel to come off the ground at the first possible opportunity , but not so swiftly that the airplane rears up and scrapes it ’ s tail on the ground . Most trainers have a tail tie down skid installed to lessen the consequences of scraping the tail . As you add power and accelerate , airflow over the elevator will increase and it will become more effective at raising the nose — so much so that you will probably need to reduce the backpressure on the control wheel slightly to allow the nose wheel to lift off without the tail scraping . As you add power , you also need to add right rudder to prevent your airplane from unexpectedly exiting the runway to the left due to normal left-turning tendencies that are at their most noticeable in high power / high angle of attack angle of attack The angle between the relative wind and the chord line of the wing . situations .
The idea is to get unstuck from the runway at the first possible opportunity and then build up airspeed in ground effect before attempting to climb out . So , you accelerate down the runway with the control wheel positioned further back than for a normal takeoff . The nose wheel will lift off first and , as you continue to accelerate and maintain directional control with rudder the main wheels will lift off . This happens at a lower airspeed than for a normal takeoff and below the speed at which it is safe to climb out . As soon as all three wheels are off the ground , move the control wheel forward to lower the nose into a straight and level attitude . This allows the airplane to build up more airspeed in ground effect before attempting to climb out . Lowering the nose at this point takes some willpower , since it is not intuitive to lower the nose immediately after liftoff when very close