When I read the thread title, I thought it was about this website.
A lot depends on the airfield. My base hasn’t lost a days flying in 8 years.
Same here, but of course we are blessed with almost perfect weather here on the “Scottish Riviera”.
The lack of a crosswind runway is the biggest problem.
Not a problem here in the sunny south west. We have one long grass/gravel runway for landing (21) and the opposite one for take off (03). It’s enough for a docile taildragger.
We operate from grass and factor in up to three months written off due to waterlogged ground. This is based on history and If we have a particularly bad year we will do some ground running so that the engine gets turned over. Not ideal but the tarmac alternative with hangarage is not available at a financially acceptable price for us locally. We arrange to have our annual carried out during the bad weather time of year so that we don’t have maintenance biting into the good weather flying months.
One of the downsides of grass is cleaning the aircraft afterwards: if it’s not mud in the winter it’s insects in the summer. In the winter my fingers don’t like the sponge and bucket of cold water. If it’s muddy, short trips or a local aren’t worth it because cleaning time exceeds flying time, and after a long flight you just want to go home.
Grass runways can suffer from more wildlife and especially rabbit holes. On the other hand, my near-deerstrike was on a large tarmac runway.
Grass is definitely more forgiving, especially if tailwheel and/or crosswind. Maintenance might be less because you didn’t have a runway excursion… I’m sure everyone has a few anecdotes 
Avoiding grass runways does limit the amount of possible destinations, and smaller grass aerodromes are usually nearer to town centres if you want to walk there for lunch. They’re also better for grass roots e.g. the annual tailwheel fly-in at Paray-le-Monial LFGN
I have never landed on grass since there are very few grass strips around where I flew so far. There don’t seem to be many private grass strips in Germany, though I know a few club-run ones.
Tarmac is all the same. Grass can vary a lot. From hard dry soil, with short grass, to soft soil, mud spraying onto topside of wings, and long wet grass. Knowing the field on the day is as important as knowing your aircraft, perhaps more so.
MedEwok wrote:
There don’t seem to be many private grass strips in Germany, though I know a few club-run ones.
That is because they are verboten.
MedEwok may I suggest a subscription to the very good value easyVFR flight planning gps map app? It shows around a dozen grass fields, albeit some are UL/Super Cub like, within a fifteen minute flying radius of EDDV.
My Katmai 182 is set up for soft/wet grass strips. Big tyres, upgraded undercarriage, big engine, 31 knot stall speed etc. My strip is wet and soft in winter but with years of surface draining the strip is usable 363 days of the year from a water logging standpoint.
The big tyres are the key. With standard tyres the strip would be out of action at least 4 months of the year.
The big tyres cost me 12 knots of cruise speed so there is a cost.
Taking off is never an issue, wet, dry, hot, cold. 300 to 500ft is all that’s required. Even at max t/o weight.
Cleaning the aircraft after using the strip is also an issue in the winter as was mentioned above. My strip is at home so it’s easy to find the time to clean the aircraft.
By far the biggest issue is landing on a wet field. Stopping the aircraft is a BIG issue. Even with a 45 knot approach speed it can be tricky. With 300 HP, go around is instant but it’s not good to have to do it. The aircraft has to slow down itself without brakes. Touch the brakes and you ski and go around is the only option because the big wheels inertia mean they are reluctant to start rotating again so you ski on. In 10 years of operation into my strip I’ve have two moments when I can say I was lucky and got the plane stopped in time. My strip is longer now so the problem, albeit still a problem, is less than it was.
I could not safely operate in and out of my strip in a standard aircraft. Jacko’s Maule was fine but that has huge tyres.
The Katmai hates Tarmac, the big wheels need careful balancing or it rattles your teeth out on Tarmac. On grass, no issues at all.
Conclusion, the aircraft has to specified for a soft wet strip or forget it.
Can the big wheels not be balanced?
