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Nice looking airplane. What's hanging off the ass end?

Forgot to untie the tail.

Thats called a "I dont have bas tail pull handles yet" rope.

That's a ski rope. The big question is ... what happened to the skiier? the pilot musta shook him off with the old "crack the whip" maneuver from the Compleat Taildragger book (skiplane edition).

Eric

That's a sharp looking 170. I like the paint scheme.

Banner towing hook? Snow anchor?

I told ya-- ski rope! See the handle?

its for moving the plane to break frozen skis loose when you are parked, they heat up just enough from landing friction to freeze down as soon as you stop moving unless its way below zero, so one yank on the tail and you are good to go! woody

I thought you're supposed to put little sticks 'n' stuff under the ski's to prevent freezing to the snow. But I never operated on ski's, what do I know.

Eric

Looks like Aero skis- 3000's?? Have you compared ground handling with and without a tail ski? I've got a 170B on Aero 3000's and have always installed a tail ski along with the mains. Lots of powder here, so for horsing it around by the BAS handles, it seems to help keep the tail on top better, but I've never tried without. I've got the standard 145 HP- I think I saw that you've got the 180 conversion?

Happy skiing,

-DP

Woody,

Be very careful using that much leverage to break skis loose. As one person noted, it sure helps to put something under the skis to keep them from sticking down. In a real pinch, use a trash bag over the tip of each ski, then taxi forward a bit.

Pushing or pulling sideways on the tail puts a huge amount of torque on your ski axles, which by the way, are the weak link in a cessna's landing gear. It doesn't take much to start a fracture there, and after that, you're looking at a wreck.

On Aero Skis, I remove the center "wear strip" (some people call it a skeg, but a "wear strip" is designed to be replaced, neh?) and replace it with a comparable size strip of either 1/4 inch or 3/8 if you can get it UHMW. You can use the same flat head machine screws to attach this plastic strip. This gives you great directional control, PLUS there just isn't much on the bottom of the ski to stick down now.

With skis thus equipped, I generally just walk up to each ski just prior to boarding, and give it a gentle kick to the toe of the ski--just enough to move the ski sideways a tiny bit. This shearing force is plenty to shear the frost off the bottoms.

As is, your metal wear strips just sit down there and gather frost, and will stick you down bad if not propped up.

Lose the rope--I can guarantee sooner or later, you or someone trying to help will do some damage with it.

Take care,

MTV

hello, i also use it to pull it backwards into the barn, been using a rope on my ski planes for 40 plus years with no ill effects, if i stop for more than a few minutes i always put short sections of 2x4 under the skis to prevent freeze in..thanks for the concern and warning. never used a tail ski.. I like the braking effect of planting the tailwheel on our short home ice strip.
Trolling for Perch

Now I'm a newer ski pilot but do have prob 40hrs from last season and my feds w/ plastic were awesome and really never stuck up too badly, including many differing conditions. Now I know you're not a real skiplane pilot until you have spent a day getting your plane unstuck and snowshoeing out a runway, but do most people have dramatically better experiences w/ plastic. Also my skis were done extremely well, by UP_M5 who i bought them from last year.

Mike

wwingsong,

Good deal. I just use a winch in the back of the hangar, and the hook on the winch cable simply slides over the tailspring. Whatever works. I've seen enough axles broke, it always makes me nervous when people talk about breaking skis loose. My apologies.

How does that trolling do?? My experience has been limited with that....

electricsnail,

If your question is does plastic bottom material help prevent the skis from sticking down, the answer is yes. They'll still stick some, under some conditions, but you've never been stuck till you've been stuck on a set of all aluminum skis...

MTV

I had to bounce my ass up and down in the left seat to break it loose after just shaking the wings before climbing in. gotta mebe try some snake oil or break down and buy some pam.

Which lake you on Woody?

is taken on the dead sea aka ;Mille Lacs lake north central mn., big ass lake full of walleyes till the native bands netted them out of existance. woody