Nope. Missed seeing him let the smoke out of the tire. Sweet plane. I'm on the far north end between the Forest Service and sky divers.

WilgaBeast wrote:.....I'm just hoping you didn't see his landing! yeeeehaw! Smoked the right tire a bit!

There goes another $20.

SkySteve wrote:...Missed seeing him let the smoke out of the tire.....

Are tires like avionics? Those run on smoke, you know-- you let out the smoke & they don't work any more.

Tadpole wrote:

robw56 wrote:I think your Wilga 35 needs some 35" bushwheels to go with it! There has been a red Wilga in Canada that's been for sale off and on for a while on barnstormers, it might still be there. He had 31" bushwheels on it. I'd call and talk to Wup at AKBW and I'm sure he could answer some questions for you.

Here it is...
http://www.barnstormers.com/classified_ ... +2000.html

Cool, that's my brother standing beside our old plane!!
That is a really fun plane to fly. We only owned it for a few weeks, took it on trade, and before I really got to put it through its paces properly, a friend walked through the door and it was love at first sight. I have it listed again for sale because the he needs an amphib, and the wilga was never certified on amphibs. He absolutly loves it though. I have never flown an aircraft that had as nice of control harmony as the wilga.
Those 31's sure were smooth, especially when combined with the long travel trailing link gear.
I've got some pretty cool pics of it if anyone is interested in seeing them.

hotrod150 wrote:

SkySteve wrote:...Missed seeing him let the smoke out of the tire.....

Are tires like avionics? Those run on smoke, you know-- you let out the smoke & they don't work any more.

LOL. Yea, they're pretty much the same but tires have "back up smoke" so if you just let a little out at a time you can get several "smokes" per tire.

Pics Of Wilga on BW YA that would be awsome!

Rob wrote:This one used to be in Flagstaff...
Nicest looking Wilga I ever saw... I have never heard of anyone who actually used their BW's say they wish'd they were smaller ...

This planes are just so crazy looking!! I like it!

I've run a Wilga now for about 10 years in Alaska, on floats wheels and skis, its a good performer in all configurations, but my favorite is floats. Anyway I run 29" Air Hawks with Gar Areo adapters. these tires hold up really well,stronger sidewall than bushwheels which is necessary for these heavier A/C. The bushwheels are only good if you can run them around 7 psi or less. With heavier A/C like the Wilga to keep them round they need about 10 psi, now you have a basketball with poor side loading capabilities, and with the trailing link gear alot of weight is easily transferred to one gear leg which just compounds the issue. Alot of Beaver drivers in AK are moving away from the Bushwheel for some of these reasons. Angle of attack is already out of control with the Wilga, why make it worse with a 30" plus tire, fwd visability is everything in bush landings. And yes you need to make new axels and go cleavland wheels and breaks while your at it. My two cents.

If new axles need to be made, 1mm=.03937".

Ken,

Didn't I buy some tires from you? In any case, I've decided to NOT do any bushwheels. The trailing link gear is good enough for rough surfaces, and I don't land on anything really super soft with this heavy thing... I'll ping you in the future if I ever decide to do so though!

Cory.

kenhillak wrote:I've run a Wilga now for about 10 years in Alaska, on floats wheels and skis, its a good performer in all configurations, but my favorite is floats. Anyway I run 29" Air Hawks with Gar Areo adapters. these tires hold up really well,stronger sidewall than bushwheels which is necessary for these heavier A/C. The bushwheels are only good if you can run them around 7 psi or less. With heavier A/C like the Wilga to keep them round they need about 10 psi, now you have a basketball with poor side loading capabilities, and with the trailing link gear alot of weight is easily transferred to one gear leg which just compounds the issue. Alot of Beaver drivers in AK are moving away from the Bushwheel for some of these reasons. Angle of attack is already out of control with the Wilga, why make it worse with a 30" plus tire, fwd visability is everything in bush landings. And yes you need to make new axels and go cleavland wheels and breaks while your at it. My two cents.

Yes thats me, Im glad to see your still in the Wilga business. Ken