Alton Bay, NH is, I'm told, the last
FAA approved "ice runway" in the US ! (There are plenty of ice
landings, but they are not FAA approved). It is located on the sw side
of Lake Winnipesaukee in NH---near Wolfboro; about a 20 minute flight
from my home field. ( I'm curious as to whether the Anchorage ice runway is FAA approved?)
It was closed this year(2010-11) as although the lake froze over, there was
frequent intermittent rains, thawing, freezing and conditions weren't
right. Here's some pic's from last trip:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/recei ... Ju1btWTDGg

Tundra Joe,
I have seen pics only one other time of this ice airfield but never have had a the opportunity to ask what it was like to land on it for the first time. Do you recommend braking hard? And what the heck do they need so many out houses for?

Seriously what was it like to land on this strip for the first time?

And what the heck do they need so many out houses for?

Guess you've never been ice fishing?
Landing's the easy part. It's the taxing that's tricky.

Bingo! And we don't even want to talk about crosswinds Calm winds or on the nose, a piece of cake.

Mudwagon and courierguy are right--use minimum brakes upon landing, taxi very slowly, stop if necessary, the strip has plenty of length, so takeoff slowly at first, once rudder control, hit it--walking without micro spikes or some other ice grabber is as dangerous as taxiing !

TundraJoe wrote:Mudwagon and courierguy are right--use minimum brakes upon landing, taxi very slowly, stop if necessary, the strip has plenty of length, so takeoff slowly at first, once rudder control, hit it--walking without micro spikes or some other ice grabber is as dangerous as taxiing !

....and that explains all the outhouses!