Doh...Can't quite tell what type of plane that is. Sounds like the snow got em.

Looks like a Found Bushhawk to me.

AvidFlyer wrote:Doh...Can't quite tell what type of plane that is. Sounds like the snow got em.

I haven't done any snow work, but that looks like really shallow snow. Is that really enough?

AvidFlyer wrote:Doh...Can't quite tell what type of plane that is. Sounds like the snow got em.

Obviously not a BCP member. We know about the tires and snow mix.

Tires for dirt, skis for snow, floats for water.

G'Day

yep, its a bush hawk.. with little tires... ouch.

I haven't done any snow work, but that looks like really shallow snow. Is that really enough?

In the words of the late, great Bud Helmericks who was quoting a Lower 48 Cherokee driver who landed out in the mush of the summertime Arctic tundra....

"It looked like a field of clover to me."

Gump

Of course if this was an enroute engine failure, and he parked it the only survivable spot out there... Good job!

On the other hand... Looks shallow to me.... Oops.

Gump

Don't spose anyone can identify the people standing around can they? I think I know the gal on the far left.

Under the right conditions, wheels work fine on snow. I've landed on a lake in the late spring on a packed runway. This was in a Cessna 140 sitting on 8.50 x 6.00 tires. An experienced pilot was on the ground to judge the conditions, and I was landing before the heat of day. Also landed when a packed runway was not available. The snow was as hard as concrete. This is something that I definitely would not do without a trusted observer on the ground.

Of course I did have a close call one time. I went to pick up someone from a cabin. The conditions were supposedly good, but I got a bit of a late start. Everything was fine until I was slowing down through about 10 MPH, when the wheels started to hit soft spots. I was able to stop just fine. I tried to taxi back to firm snow but I wasn't having much luck. We ended up towing the plane by snowmachine to a firm area. I took off , but without the passenger. I returned the next morning, landing at the next lake over. Picked up the passenger and headed into town.

There are quite a few accidents involving wheels and snow. Hard saying not knowing if this Bush Hawk was planning on landing (or taking off, or even just taxiing) or was dealing with another situation. Hopefully everyone is ok.

-Nate

How bout some shuda chained up jokes

I think the tires are 29X11X10s those look like 10" wheels.


I seem to remember that plane from this summer. I think he had a buddy in another plane just like the one in the pic. Not part of our crew. Beautiful planes!!

G'Day

Kinda reminds me of long ago, when I went into the on-field FSS at Laramie (that dates it, right?), for a briefing for an early morning take-off. Joe, the FSS specialist, asked me if I'd had the Suburbanites installed on the Skylane yet. I said "no", and he said, "Well, you better, because anything without Suburbanites or chains on it isn't going anywhere in the morning." He was right--we had one of those 3-day blows that closed all the roads and made getting anywhere in town impossible, except in 4WD or chained up.

Don't I recall Gary nosing over his 180 a winter or two ago, down by Pagosa, landing in deeper snow than he thought it was?

Cary

hard to say on the wheels... wheels look like 10 inch but the tires might just be 8"50 x 10's...

One afternoon, I got a call indicating that a co worker had landed a rental 172 on Big Minto Lake, west of FAI, and was stuck. I had to hear that twice, cause there was a shitload of snow out there. Snow in FAI wasn't all that deep, but deeper where he landed. Two of us loaded a snowblower in a 185 on skis, flew over there and made a runway for the 172. That snow was a little over knee deep, and well settled.

Pilot said it looked fine, and he was just going to drag his wheels in the snow to see how deep it was. That didn't work......

I've landed in more than a foot of brand new, fluffy interior Alaska snow on wheels, but only because I knew EXACTLY what the snow conditions were before I landed.

I've also seen snow of four inches that i wouldn't have wanted to land a wheel plane in. Unless you really know the conditions, landing in snow on wheels is a bit of a crap shoot. Just like every other off airport landing.

MTV

.....and sometimes too much of that new, very dry, light, fluffy snow makes you wonder if you'll need to go on instruments during roll out...

Thanks for the input guys! Guess I'll have to upgrade to insurance that will cover me on ski's when the time is right.

I find getting back into the air can be equally dangerous, with skis, as landing. Soft snow can dangerously extend the take-off slide, if I don not realizes the proper distance.

Just like floats, getting out maybe more dangerous than getting into the lake (or snow).

rw2 wrote:Thanks for the input guys! Guess I'll have to upgrade to insurance that will cover me on ski's when the time is right.

My insurance said it didn't matter if I was on wheels or ski's. The only time the rates went stupid is when on floats.

BTW, if there has been snow falling with wind/drifting before the nice new "straight down" snow-be careful to land only where you KNOW the lay of the land. A few flyovers in this circumstance will not reveal a 4 foot deep irrigation ditch/gully/etc. that has drifted over-and Is not even visible on the ground from a short distance away.
It doesn't have to be perpendicular to your line of landing to ruin your whole day.

Sumpin'else to think about aimed at "Ski Nubies".....

akavidflyer wrote:

rw2 wrote:Thanks for the input guys! Guess I'll have to upgrade to insurance that will cover me on ski's when the time is right.

My insurance said it didn't matter if I was on wheels or ski's. The only time the rates went stupid is when on floats.

Same here...no increase for skiing but, big premium for the floats.