Colin wrote:DA42 pilot-owners seem to be of a uniform opinion that the plane is not for grass. And Cary had an incident at Oshkosh where they taxied him onto grass and if he hadn't shut down he would have had a prop strike. I'm trying to avoid those.
Just to add some additional info here, the wheels on the DA42 are fairly narrow so the plane doesn't do well on any grass that is not firm or has bumps/divots/holes. I was on the grass at another airport where the grass was relatively soft and the plane sunk down to where the wheel doors were touching the ground. We needed FBO help to get the plane out. I would highly recommend any DA42 owner to avoid using grass airstrips if at all possible.
P.S., my OSH incident cost my insurance $10,000 for repairs.
I have landed at Katama in a DA20. Easy. No wheel pants. The "grass" runway was as hard as a rock so I wouldn't fret the soft field aspect. It does have bumps so do be careful of the wheel pants and prop. It is probably safest to remove them first (wheel pants, not prop).