I hate to air my dirty laundry...but here goes. Ok let me set the scene for you. Student pilot, 25 hrs TT, been taking lessons @ Keesler AFB in Miss, move to Dover AFB in Del and now flying from Smyrna Apt a grass strip in Oct '84. So anyway I take off after my new instructor checks me out for solo again. Fat dumb and happy and overly confident as many students are I take to the air. Cold air that is, probably 45-50 degrees that day. So, I am doing pattern work because grass is a new thing for me after spending all that time on the paved AF runway in the south where I had not seen a temperature below 75 degrees. I am on final to RWY 9 having successfully dodged the water tower on base, glide path seems a bit low but that's no problem. Back at Keesler we had that big 500' overrun with a nice cushion of hot air to flare in. So in my mind I am thinking just flare and float and wait and it will all work out. So I flare 100 feet short and immediately settle into the newly cut corn field. Damn! Not what I expected and it got bumpy quick but that was not the worst of it. Coming up fast was the last furrow of the field and it was probably 12 inches higher than the grass runway. So all I could do was haul back on the yoke and hope it would pop over the furrow... It worked... I taxied in to the parking spot, shut her down, and promptly told my instructor what had happened. I pretty much had figured out what happened at this point but we talked about it and he asked if I needed more dual and I declined. Live and Learn
