Backcountry Pilot

[Skystrider offline]

Okay, for regular turf and hard runways I use small tires. For big rocks and sand it is big tires. For water you put on floats. For snow you add skis. What the heck do you use for mud?

My runway has been mud for a couple of weeks and we are getting 3 to 4 inches more rain today and tomorrow. I want to fly!

[mr scout offline]

Do like we did
Soil Cement then an oil coating

[Zzz]

Plant some turf!

[onceAndFutr_alaskaflyer offline]

I think Heliodriver found the rig for you:

phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=605&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

[Skystrider offline]

That just might do it!

[skybobb offline]

Have you thought of tire chains?

[patrol guy offline]

a few years ago at Oshkosh, there was a Cessna 150 with 3 sets of rubber tracks, something like a snow mobile uses.

[Renegade offline]

I think Heliodriver found the rig for you:

phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=605&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

Does this thing really fly?
Is it a joke?
Is it a non flying Display?
Photoshop?

Been tryin to figure this one out for a while

[M6RV6 offline]

Rod,
Back in my prior life with the Maule and 31" tires on the mud flats you make sure the brakes are locked up because they grow at an alarming rate the slower you get !!!!Also when they turn it soon becomes hard to see as the windsheid turns this opaque brown or black rather quickly . Use power with care as that will keep the tail behind you.

[onceAndFutr_alaskaflyer offline]

I think Heliodriver found the rig for you:

phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=605&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

Does this thing really fly?
Is it a joke?
Is it a non flying Display?
Photoshop?

Been tryin to figure this one out for a while

http://www.aero-news.net/SpecialContent ... 5f9&cat=11

[denalipilot offline]

Before hyraulic wheel skis and wheel penetration skis, when straight skis were all there was, the ski planes in Alaska used the tidal flats at low tide as S.O.P. Or in Fairbanks they were known to water the ball fields etc... until they became mud, so the ski planes could depart for the glaciers and so forth.

[skybobb offline]

I fly out to a ranch occassionally that is called Mud Flat. They named that for a reason. When that soil gets wet it wants to leave the country. Now, it doesn't care how it gets out of there. It will ball up on your feet so you can't walk. I asked the rancher way he parked his horse trailer way out in the flat? He told me that was as far as he could drag it with all the wheels sliding from the build up of mud. I won't land there if it looks like it has been raining much. Bob

[Hammer offline]

This doesn't solve your problem for now, but if you're in an area where you can get tree services to dump their chip on your property, you could create a pretty good all-weather runway surface.

Wood chip mashes into the soil and makes a really nice, firm surface. Lay down 12 inches of wood chip, and a year later you have a four inch base that would be perfect to land on. It will also last for several years. You'd need a tractor to move that much wood chip, but I figure if you have a runway, you probably have a tractor. Lots of tree companies just want to dump their chip wherever they can so they can continue working.

I guess hay would also work, though it wouldn't last nearly as long. Either way, slinging mud all over an airplane that I personally own doesn't sound like a great idea.

[wayne offline]

Hey Rod, you should put your name in down at Easton for a hanger if its not to far from your home. Being they have grass and asphalt. It may take a little while and cost a little more but a least you can fly all year.
I guy told me ABE rents hangars cheap if you can stand dealing with C airspace. I know Queencity put up like 25 new hangers maybe two years ago also but the drive might be to far.

I'm up to a little over 60hrs on the new M-7 sence middle of Oct. Hope you can get out of the mud bog soon.

[Skystrider offline]

Hey Wayne,

Originally I was at Braden's but almost all their hangars open out onto the turf. Same problem!

The runway at Pegagsus (50PA) is actually good turf and raised in the middle to allow runoff. I have a great hangar there and can just about coast down the hill from my house to the field. We normally only have a couple a weeks a year we can't fly. This year though we are about 6 to 8 inches of rain ahead of normal! Uhhhggg....!

It has been so wet I think there is moss growing on the north side of my plane!

[Skystrider offline]

Does this thing really fly?
Is it a joke?
Is it a non flying Display?
Photoshop?

This is one cool plane. It was written up in Sport Aviation a year or two ago. If I recall correctly it is powered by a 750HP Turbine. The front dual wheels came off a F-101 Voodo and the rear tires and rims are from a Hummer. The three air horns came off a train, which got some real interesting comments by airport neighbors when they fired 'em up before landing. (Where's the train?)

It is a father/son project. They got matching helmets and stenciled "Daryl" on BOTH of them! I have no idea how they kept an airworthiness certifcate or who they paid off to get STC's!

[wayne offline]

Should be drying up in a couple weeks I hope. I haven't been into any of my buddies grass fields either for at least a month being its been so wet. I'm getting tried of landing asphalt my self.
Give me a call Rod when you can get out of there. I'm starting my IFR this week at ABE and I'm going to try and get it done the next few weeks.

[hotrod180 offline]

..........It is a father/son project. They got matching helmets and stenciled "Daryl" on BOTH of them! I have no idea how they kept an airworthiness certifcate or who they paid off to get STC's!

You got that wrong, they're brothers not father & son. They used to be on a TV show with Bob Newhart but I didn't know they were into airplanes....