A couple other S-7 "pilots" and I along with a videographer who has a real trick tracking camera mount shot this for John Roberts, the person fabbing the aftermarket cub style gear for the S-7. Check out 2:28 for some severe bushwheel deformation in a turn. Nothing too radical on the rest of it, a little waterskiing and some fairly short gravel bar landings with some obstructions on both sides. Some guy from California and the straw hat guy gets pretty tiresome, he just goes on and on.... https://vimeo.com/46696651

Nice work Tom! Emmet!



Cool video

It turned out good! John's got more stuff coming that will move beyond just the S7. Pretty cool. Here it is embedded.

Well done vid... made me wanna go out and buy big tires and gear...

Hottshot wrote:Well done vid... made me wanna go out and buy big tires and gear...

And a really big tent!

Looks like Oregonmaule's Johnson Creek vacation home.

HA! I had that one and I sent it back, it made me take 2 trips to get there.... and I had waaaaaaay to many people show up with out a tent.

I have a few of those big tents....The cold weather version...

Just got a chance to watch the video (couldn't at work), nicely done!

robw56 wrote:Just got a chance to watch the video (couldn't at work), nicely done!

I was able to watch it at work Shhh, don't tell my boss

No really....... Great video! Nice interviews with Tom and Emmett and excellent footage.

While mostly, yet not completely off topic, does anybody know anything about the experimental tailwheel-converted Cessna 172 at the Willow airport (PAUO, AK) that is sitting on Super Cub gear? I always thought that Cub gear on a 180 or 185 would make it a near perfect aircraft, (along with a clamshell cargo door, more shoulder room...the list goes on) and I was thrilled to see someone actually tried it on a Cessna. If I ever win the lottery I'm going to exhaust every good and bad idea there is developing new Cessna STC's, starting with that!

Well as Emmett wasn't kidding when he said I had something in the works. We had it out on Joel Milloways plane a little over a week ago. A few people came out to see it. After the headache of going through the patent process I am ready to let everyone in on it. Here is a picture of what I've been working on. Hint: Look closely at the landing gear...

So cool John. I got a very short text from Joel "It was AMAZING". I think you should describe the test. Even better, just get a couple short unedited vid clips!

Very cool idea! But are those fox floats??

It's AWESOME! We are working on some video. I have a short clip of Joels reaction after working with it that is definitely worth viewing. Jonas is working on some more in depth video, we should have it soon. Joel was dropping it in and we were trying to get some good video with a camera on the side of the landing area but the gear just kept eating it up. Made it look tame. We need to find something more EXTREME for the real good footage. He dropped it 2 feet with me in the back and it felt like hitting a feather bed. Truthfully all I could feel was the bouncing of the tailwheel. At one point we ran it over a large bump, 10-12 inches anyway, Joel had gone over it before and took me over to show me what happened.. I braced and nothing... We couldn't feel the bump in the cockpit. We went over it again with the other side just to make sure we weren't imagining things. Yes those are Fox's.

After thinking about it I think the fox float should work pretty well in this setup. It sucks as a snowmobile shock but on landing gear with bungees it ought to be pretty good.

I plan to BETA test a set of the new shock struts on my wheel skis..... ski flying can be very demanding on gear (think drifts, poor depth perception, and deep soft snow combined with hard frozen, much more dynamic potentially then summertime flying). Plus you can freeze when you screw up off airport, which of course is what ski flying is all about.!

Tom,
Not sure if this is of any consequence but I am curious as to how well they'll work in extreme cold. Shocks generally have fluid in them and can be quite stiff, almost solid, when the temps drop way down. I know my vehicles ride pretty stiff up here in Northern Mn. when the temps drop. Seems like it takes a few miles of bumps and bounces before the shocks loosen up enough to really work. Maybe there is a fluid in them that isn't affected by temp. Just curious.......
Keith

For those not familiar with the Fox Floats they are an AIR Shock, ..... I thought they worked pretty well myself

born2flyak wrote: While mostly, yet not completely off topic, does anybody know anything about the experimental tailwheel-converted Cessna 172 at the Willow airport (PAUO, AK) that is sitting on Super Cub gear?....

Like to see a photo of that.