I flew up to a little funky ski area outside of Dillon MT. over the weekend, Maverick. Perfect conditions once there and also in the air on the way. Real friendly little area (one double chair, even funkier then Pebble Creek and that's saying something, but 2 K of vertical), like the one behind my place, it's fun to check out a new place every now and then. A huge amount of snow left on the higher elevations once north of Mud Lake. The next day leaving Dillon, it was too nice of air to fly directly home, so I flew to Afton to get breakfast, this took me over some high ground with even more snow, north of the Centennial Valley west of Island Park and Henry's Lake. I really kicked myself for taking the skis off the plane, all I could imagine was the tracks I could have left on the way. Plus where in the hell I would land in all that snow with wheels, next year I'll keep the skis on a bit longer.

I had rented a cheap car in Dillon for the 30 mile drive to Maverick, and the guy running the FBO (forget his name but he has a sweet setup there, and seems to keep real busy, living upstairs makes it all convenient) drove right up to HONEY with the rental, so I had about 4' to walk, made me feel like a big shot! Anyway the rental was not a big chain but a local lady owned one, so I was especially careful to make sure I didn't leave any fuel smell in it as of course I used it to haul some Mo gas. I'm happy to report my new fuel bladder, used for the first time operationally, works perfect. Super stable in transit and the two handles make it easy to carry. I put 8 gallons (2 hrs +, I actually had one stretch of about 20 minutes at 10K+ at 75 mph ind. at 3.1 gph) into it and pump right out of it into my mains using my built in floor mounted transfer pump, it takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes and I do other things while it pumps. When empty it's as flat as a pancake, very cool.



This big sloping plateau needed some ski tracks real bad.....with the set down and the turn around up at the top, with a long as possible take off track. Extending the takeoff "roll" by throttling back and pretty much snowmobiling down is great fun on the slopes, for a snowboarder ski pilot in particular.

Um, you may need to check your struts for structural integrity, they look wavy! Probably too much fun being had on the skis.

J/k, I know that's just distortion from shooting through the plexiglass.

The window was open, must have been pulling too many g's! Shot with my smart phone FWIW, some kind of weird artifact , its done it before. My next Nikon is waiting on my tax accountant......

Awesome, CG. That guy at Dillon had just started there when i stopped by in June of 2014. Nice place and nice people.

Time for me to bump this thread....after 6 weeks of NO flying due to early onset winter (crappy) weather and also doing my 2000 hour inspection ( I just like being able to say that) plus some fabric work repairing some holes in the tail picked up earlier in the year, I got my first ski flight in.

I found I felt rusty and combining that with the first ski launch of the year down the ramp, I was a little apprehensive! That went away in the first 10 seconds after launch, and especially after several landings on the slopes above. We need a bit more snow (coming tonight they say, a lot) as I got lazy and failed to make my usual late fall pass with the brush hog over the winter time ski runway. So I only had maybe 200 feet or less of clear area to work with, then I was into the taller grass but already off so no big deal, but next fall I'll mow it down better!

The reason I don't mess with the regular runway during the winter, is once we really get hammered with some good snow, the maneuvering involved to get lined up for take off is real awkward, retractable wheel skis or not. If I try and keep it plowed, the banks on the side get too high, it's just a huge PITA. I find it much simpler to use a winter time, straight out the hangar runway. I just: push the plane straight out of the hangar far enough to open the HydroSwing door,, (after clearing the concrete slab off with the tractor) then close the hangar door, and pull the plane back and do my run up while still on the wheels, then pull up just barely on the snow, and put the skis down after killing the engine, once the skis are fully in place (20 seconds or so) I think a little bit (making SURE I am ready for takeoff) and then restart. Once restarted, even at idle, now that I'm on the edge of the sloped ramp and on the skis, even idle thrust is enough to start the takeoff run. ready or not, I'm going flying, probably like a CAT launch off a carrier, committed, it tends to focus your thoughts.

Coming back, I slow fly with full flaps up the "runway", landing as close to the ramp bottom as I dare, and fast taxi (but not too fast.....) any remaining distance and once starting up the ramp juggle the throttle just right so I don't run out of momentum, but at the same time once I crest the top of it not being going so fast that I run up onto the bare concrete slab, that's hard on the ski bottoms and their attach brackets, hard on everything actually. Done right, I slid to a smooth stop while still just barely on the snow, and not through the hangar door) and then I hold position with throttle (as I can still slide back down the ramp if I kill it) put the wheels down, then finally roll onto the slab to the paint marks I made for the main gear. That gets the tail ski pretty much off the steeper part of the ramp, and with the tires down and the parking brake on, I can then get out of the plane. Then I can open the hangar door back up, it just clears the spinner by 12" or so if I've parked correctly. Then all I have to do is grab the tail and pivot the plane 180 degrees and pull it back in the hangar and close the door. Simple But, the fun of ski flying makes it all worth while!

Living the dream! Good on you!

Very cool!!!

looking forwards to some good pictures! Did you get the snow you needed?

fun read, great pictures!

We got 36 to 40" of snow up high out of that last storm, waist high in places anyway! Super light fluff too, with no wind. I was up at the ski area that day, (flying came second, best day up there ever) and then the wind picked up and blew 30+ for a day, moving all that snow around. The good thing is it wind packed it, and I had no problem staying pretty much staying on top of it today. I flew for an hour and never got further then a couple miles from home, "working" the hillsides above me. I'd land one area, then since I now had something to aim at, come in again and try and nail my first touchdown spot, great practice and FUN. Once turned around and aimed downhill (10 to 16% grade) with 1500 to 1700 RPM at the prop, I let the slope relaunch me, then would 180 back around for another landing. It was energy management all the way, letting the slope do most of the work, but with the thick (must be near sea level, 6500' and 20 degrees) air I had 1500+ fpm climb any time I needed it. I am so lucky living where I do, having this terrain literally in my backyard, "I could walk home", applies here.

Watching the lifties at the ski area rake the area near the chairlift get on point, I realized I needed a rake like that. Turns out they are asphalt rakes, and just right for easily moving snow around also, the construction supply house I bought it at today was a little surprised to sell one this time of year. I'm using it to massage my ramp, getting it just right, or at least manageable.

Here's one of the long take off tracks, just letting the hill do the work. The snow here was just about perfect, I only sunk in about 6 to 10" at worst. Note the lack of other tracks, just mine

I have paint marks on the slab (if they're not covered by snow) and I was on them in this pic. The tail ski just barely on pretty much level snow, and the spinner just clearing the door, it's tight but to make it bigger would mean a lot more earth work and this works just fine and I enjoy the challenge? Once the door's open I just grab the tail and spin it around and bam, it's back in the hangar with a minimum of screwing around. This was my first twofer of the year, that's when I snowboard half the day and fly later. I decided to make it threefer, and rode the electric fatbike 3 miles to get my mail, those tires grip great and the snow and ice packed dirt road is no problem. That pretty much killed the day.

Tom, you refer to fuel bladders above. I probably missed the mention of which ones you have. Inquiring minds need to know!?!?
Thanks, OSO LOCO (Cal)

Search for NAUTA marine fuel bladders. Not cheap, but very high quality and they don't leak around the cap, or anywhere else. One caveat: they are not designed to pour out of, you need a way to pump them dry. As I already had that all setup they were perfect for me. I still have two of the ABW gas bags, and as I long as I keep them upright so fuel doesn't dribble out the caps, still use them.

I had a great flight last weekend, starting off with a flight to Soda Springs. I needed to use the loaner car at the unattended airport to drive to a job site a few miles away so I could tell the homeowner that if I didn't get paid for crane work done 3 months ago, I was filing a lien on his home . I overflew the rural home first, too many trees to land anywhere close enough, thus the need for the car. It was totally snowed in, 4 ' drifts all around it, and of course the keys were in the visor, and it fired right up! The city of Soda Springs doesn't seem to gives a rats ass about the airport, too bad.

Then I headed towards Greys Lake, where I had a solar customer who wanted me to check up on his unattended system, though I had landed in his pasture before in the summer (after running the cattle off) this was the first in snow. Nice clean snow, much better then the summer cow crap. I made sure to leave some good tracks before shutting down, landing parallel to the road, the longer tracks are the feeling it out tracks, the shorts ones the takeoff. I didn't bother to takeoff in my longer tracks, as the snow was "good". I had to snow shoe over to the battery room and dig it out, all was well, so I blasted back off and headed toward Afton for breakfast.

Once at Afton, I found it fogged in, so I set down on a nearby ridge at a bit over 8K to wait a while. I used a snowmobilers track to ensure I'd get back off, why not, it was right there! This was pretty wind packed, though about 3' deep at least. After a half hour I took off again, and circled a bit over a hole but the airstrip was still fogged in, so I flew on to my next stop. On the way, I flew past Alpine, because I didn't expect to land there, and the cafe is too far to walk to and I had neglected to bring my e bike, thinking I was eating at Afton. Nobody said life was going to be easy...

I had yet another solar customer, who wanted a system check up. After being told by the owner of the property that the snow was "much too deep to land a ski plane in, he wouldn't even land his ski equipped Super Cub there", (with the emphasis on Super Cub, like if IT couldn't do it, what chance did my S-7S have ) I of course made it a point to prove him......., let's call it, "mistaken." He's a long time friend, he should have known better, to throw down that gauntlet! It was a piece of cake. I had counted on the snow setting up a bit since he was up on the property, which overlooks the Snake River, and it had, almost too hard, and wind drifted. I came in from the left this time, and after inspecting the system (all was well) took off to the right, over the river, it's a cool place to fly into during the summer, even cooler in the winter. Looking at this picture, I see my tracks are real hard to see, so take my word for it. I finally ended up eating breakfast, about 3 in the afternoon, after landing a couple dozen random sites on the way to and back from this "work" flight. We are having a GREAT snow year here!
[URL=http://s649.photobucket.com/user/simkot/media/1-22-17%20005_zpsbndurkdz.jpg.html][/url]

+1

Wow.

Stunning images and a fabulous thread.

Thank you for posting .

It's mid 90's outside, so a great time to post a few pics on this last winter's ski flying, got AC in the house, and thanks to solar power free electricity so it's cranked down.

This is a peak I land in the summer, one of the real interesting things about ski flying is how it changes things, by that I mean many of my summer sites can be pretty much the same, some much easier, some impossible (that no brake thing), and some easy in the winter but nearly impossible in the summer. It really mixes things up. The landing here was pretty easy, (approaching from the left), it was the stopping and getting out, while also keeping in mind the turn around and blast off. 8600'.


The Datum skis have skegs of course, to keep them tracking straight I guess, and also helping to keep parked on a side slope. I waited a bit before shutting down, then waited a bit more, with my hand on the starter key, then once out of the plane waited a bit more before venturing further away. Having the plane take off without me would be not good.


Looking towards the takeoff area, (which is out of view in the first pic, it's about 45 degrees) it gets real steep real quick, all the better to get back in the air, didn't need much throttle once I got moving to a snowboarder/former hang glider pilot it feels just right.


A few weeks later, I was screwing around in the undulating terrain above my place, with my guard down, point being. The hillybumps kept me from having a clear site line of this melted off area (so much snow this winter, when the melting started springs were popping up all over) until I was right on top of it, no excuse for not seeing it while still in the air, I just got a bit too casual being a few hundred yards from home, but had just enough speed to fly over it. Hell, the next day I noticed I could see this melt off out the kitchen window!

Last winter, down range a bit from my compound. Nice and cool that day, unlike right now.


NOT stuck, oddly enough, good snow that day.


Yesterday, canyon flying (carefully) in Copper Basin, last winter's snow still hanging in there, on the left. The smoke makes its hard to see. Taken from 8500'.

I see photobucket is ransoming my previous pics, mine and everybody I guess. Screw them! I went to look at some past pics, and poof they're gone. Oh well....

I have over 10 hours of ski flying now, still not much snow but what little we got had a dense consistency plus it stayed real cold, also more is on the way. The first launch of the season down my ramp in front of the hangar and the sloped runway is always a little disconcerting after not doing it all spring summer and fall. But I quickly got back in the groove (literally), remembering how one of the coolest things about ski flying is being able to SEE your tracks, so you can then come around and try to land precisely in them again. Also all the wildlife tracks, in it's own way there is a lot more to look at then in the summer!

Coming back from a Sunday breakfast in Afton on the season's second ski day, on a familiar route but for some reason (sloppy flying, just gawking out the window and aiming vaguely towards home, in no hurry) I was a bit more north then normal and spotted this ridge, (amazed I had never noticed this LZ before, been flying the area for decades) and went over JUST to take a look. After several passes, like 10 or 15, and after I determined there was no reason NOT to land it, I changed my mind. It was easier and safer to just land the damn thing then to continue circling over it at very low level. The air was so calm, my vortices were hanging around forever. Like most of my off airport landings, the touchdown is anticlimactic, the way they should be. I had a ton of room.

My turnaround was clockwise, away from the depression to the left, I couldn't see any particular reason to come to a full stop so didn't. A bit over 8600'

Looking out the kitchen window today at the little bump about a 1/4 mile away I like to hit right before I land my place, I noticed something unusual. The summit of the little bump is usually smooth as a baby butt, there is nothing to cause any drifting. Later I skied over and am glad I did as the mound of snow was big and hard enough to take out my prop, if I had: 1. Failed to notice it on short final 2. Landed on the 13 degree slope like I usually do 3. NOT been able to see it on short final BECAUSE the hill itself would block my view. I could have, again as usual, topped the slope onto the small but level summit at a slow walking speed, and then realized I was headed right towards it, no brakes remember.

It wouldn't have been dangerous, just expensive. Short of Lonnie Prince somehow setting this all up just to get me to buy another prop (that hardly seems cost effective on his part) the only thing I can figure is someone was building a snowman or something. Not my property, but my rancher neighbor's, but he allows me and others to "recreate" on it except for when the grass gets too tall, as they cut and bale it for their cattle operation. The thing is, except for the time I'm not home, this area is in my direct line of sight and I would have noticed if kids were there. I don't think anyone was trying to set me up for a crash, but in 12 years of living here that bump is always smooth, just shows to go to never let down your guard I guess when ski flying, even 1/4 mile from the hangar.

Winter finally hit, in early March, 30" of fresh powder or so over 2 days, then followed by two days of perfect flying weather. Even better I didn't have to work those days so I hit it hard, now I can go into spring not thinking I got robbed this winter, which was really lackluster previously. I almost took the skis off a couple weeks ago!

This remote area always has deep snow, with no drifting as it's sheltered withs ridges on either side, I used the tops of the fence post for some visual reference so I had some clue as to when I was about to touch down, and then got to practice my turns around a point. This pic shows how cool it is to have a visual history of your landing and takeoff, it can help you do it better next time and really helps you learn how tight or not you can turn. This was moderate tight, no burst of throttle just enough to keep moving, so pretty much all tail ski turning, I love my tail ski (except for the severe shimmy on pavement, no problem I just do wheel landings and then taxi with the tail up, problem solved) and wouldn't ski fly without one.

courierguy wrote:Winter finally hit, in early March, 30" of fresh powder or so over 2 days, then followed by two days of perfect flying weather. Even better I didn't have to work those days so I hit it hard, now I can go into spring not thinking I got robbed this winter, which was really lackluster previously. I almost took the skis off a couple weeks ago!

This remote area always has deep snow, with no drifting as it's sheltered withs ridges on either side, I used the tops of the fence post for some visual reference so I had some clue as to when I was about to touch down, and then got to practice my turns around a point. This pic shows how cool it is to have a visual history of your landing and takeoff, it can help you do it better next time and really helps you learn how tight or not you can turn. This was moderate tight, no burst of throttle just enough to keep moving, so pretty much all tail ski turning, I love my tail ski (except for the severe shimmy on pavement, no problem I just do wheel landings and then taxi with the tail up, problem solved) and wouldn't ski fly without one.

Great read. Your Courier is gorgeous as are your photos. Thanks for posting!