Always wanted to do this.
Found the right spot, very shallow water, about 3 inches, and a short section of it in between gravel bars.
Flame suit is ON .

First I have no experience water skiing or making water assisted landings, but after watch the video several time you just landed on a portion of the gravel bar covered with shallow water, rather than hydroplaning on the surface. Of course with my lack of direct experience I could be wrong.

Tim

bat443 wrote:First I have no experience water skiing or making water assisted landings, but after watch the video several time you just landed on a portion of the gravel bar covered with shallow water, rather than hydroplaning on the surface. Of course with my lack of direct experience I could be wrong.

Tim

This is exactly what I did, it was a very shallow section between gravel bars, only a couple of seconds of hydroplaning, and then slowed down by the water.
With a trike , its all I am willing to do, still fun though.

Cool. Was there a noticeable increase in drag when the nose wheel penetrated?

Joe

twflyer wrote:Cool. Was there a noticeable increase in drag when the nose wheel penetrated?

Joe

For sure there was quite an increase in drag,it slowed me down pretty quick as soon as the nose wheel got in the water.

Oh whatever, you just landed short of your intended touchdown point and decided to call it "water-assisted".

I jest. I am wondering though, did you have enough room to takeoff?

I understand the wow factor; or at least I did when young. Landing in unknown depth could be too exciting. I bent a prop once wheel landing a C-140 on a runway that was wetter than I thought. I landed on good stuff and hover taxied across a ditch to more good stuff on a precautionary. Be careful.

Contact, I landed it first on the gravel bar, the dry part,to inspect the section of it that was covered in water, it was very shallow and flat.
Perfect condition to do it, so went and did it, water depth no more than 4 inches, its a trike, no water skiing for me , just couple of seconds of hydroplaning and do a splash assisted landing, which actually was lots of fun

Well done! And close enough to water skiing for me.

Alpine Wyoming has an old highway that appears when the Palisades Reservoir lowers, and you can line up on it and ski right up onto it, about the only ski up road I've found. My light S-7S with the 29's can go amazingly slow while staying on top, how slow I only found out in a couple inches of water, the best way to find out.

Beautiful work!

Thsi is one of those, "Don't try this at home, folks" kind of things...

motoadve wrote:Contact, I landed it first on the gravel bar, the dry part,to inspect the section of it that was covered in water, it was very shallow and flat.
Perfect condition to do it, so went and did it, water depth no more than 4 inches, its a trike, no water skiing for me , just couple of seconds of hydroplaning and do a splash assisted landing, which actually was lots of fun

Great way to do it, assessed the risks, conditions and pucker factor first, made the call and nailed it, congrats!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/136557813204682/permalink/668672469993211/#

Here's another nosewheeler without a safety net.

FWIW, I did the same a few years ago, landed and surveyed on foot a "safe" area to progress from - long, flat, few inches of water sloping up to dry gravel. Third landing I was working on getting progressively slower when I felt the tires start to porpoise, then the tail came up, way up, just before I ran onto dry gravel. Didn't go over but scared the hell out of me.

Karmutzen wrote:https://www.facebook.com/groups/136557813204682/permalink/668672469993211/#

Here's another nosewheeler without a safety net.

FWIW, I did the same a few years ago, landed and surveyed on foot a "safe" area to progress from - long, flat, few inches of water sloping up to dry gravel. Third landing I was working on getting progressively slower when I felt the tires start to porpoise, then the tail came up, way up, just before I ran onto dry gravel. Didn't go over but scared the hell out of me.

While I appreciate his skill, I wouldnt try that with my plane, mine was just a section of the gravel bar covered with shallow water.

Sadly this Zenith and pilot are no more with us, they had an accident this year on their way to Oshkosh while on IMC conditions, took the pilot and his wife's lives.

Okay, I will be the ass. This is just plain silly. I understand it is your ride and you have acknowledged the risks. I just don't get the reactions of "cool", anyone can go land in a deep puddle and get the same results, he is not hydroplaning just plopping down in water.

Headoutdaplane wrote:Okay, I will be the ass. This is just plain silly. I understand it is your ride and you have acknowledged the risks. I just don't get the reactions of "cool", anyone can go land in a deep puddle and get the same results, he is not hydroplaning just plopping down in water.

Sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting hydroplaning 200ft into a gravel bar, I wont do that in my 182.

Its just about having some fun, as you said , anyone can do it, you never rode your car or bike thru water making a splash?
Makes for good footage, and in case of the airplane the challenge is to touch down exactly on the spot and smooth, couple of seconds of hydroplaning and splash. was lots of fun, and yes it does slow the airplane down considerably.

"Makes for good footage"

I hate to say it, but ever since the invention of the GoPro, those four words have done an awful lot to hurt people, bend airplanes and damage GA's reputation among many non-pilots.

Just sayin'...

Cannon wrote: "Makes for good footage" ...

That's the modern version of "hey watch this"...
the three most dangerous words in aviation.

hotrod180 wrote:

Cannon wrote: "Makes for good footage" ...

That's the modern version of "hey watch this"...
the three most dangerous words in aviation.

In this case its an easy one, anyone can do it.....

Good for you Moto for going out and having fun in your airplane! I don't get the negative responses. Yeah you could bend metal on any off-airport landing. So what? You could also die at home of obesity and boredom from not doing anything risky. Regardless, your passion for backcountry flying shows through.

Actually I would consider this landing as good and prudent training for landing on a runway with lots of water on it. There are lots of runways that might pool a few inches of water just after a rain squall. This once happened to me at KSMO after an intense rain event. I wish I had some practical experience as to what it would feel like when other conditions were OK. Just like the dust & sand strips in Mexico which are more like landing on snow.

Re 'the hold my beer', I once decided many years ago to fly through some virga to wash my plane. Actually I don't know what I was thinking... I won't do that again and don't suggest anyone else does. You will get a roller-coaster ride down so luckily virga occurs fairly far up. LOL

Blue skies,

Tom