Flew down to one of our other farms to steal some parts off another tractor. About a 15 minute fly each way, but still fun. Got to polish up on my 20G25 crosswind landings/takeoffs, one of them being in the rain. Still worth it though.

You Canadians know how to Farm A1Skinner! John Deere and Skywagons two of my favorite things!

Hendo wrote:=D> You Canadians know how to Farm A1Skinner! John Deere and Skywagons two of my favorite things!

Haha. Thanks! 2 of my favorite as well! I was stealing a part off the case for another case. Usual occurrence. Quite frustrating.

Or you could have pulled the case around with that nice looking Cummins...........just sayin'

Steelroamer wrote:Or you could have pulled the case around with that nice looking Cummins...........just sayin'

If only it was a Cummins. It's a gas job, and not a very good one at that.

First time I've noticed the "hats" on your tires...
That the last harvest of the year? You must be getting frost now.

Karmutzen wrote:First time I've noticed the "hats" on your tires...
That the last harvest of the year? You must be getting frost now.

We got our first frost in august in the lower areas. A lot of the harvest is done, just a couple days left. We finished at our location 2 weeks ago, and are now putting NH3 down.
I put the fenders on for rainy days. Don't like getting my wings dirty if I can help it. Haven't noticed any handling or speed differences yet.

Curious about them fenders. Manufactured part or home-made? STC'd?

hotrod180 wrote:Curious about them fenders. Manufactured part or home-made? STC'd?

You are not the first to ask. They came with the plane when purchased. Couldn't honestly tell you if they are manufactured or home made, though I'd venture to say the latter, as no one seems to be able to find them.

Flew some laps around Clarksville with some friends. Got to take my buddy's wife for her first light aircraft ride! She took a bunch of pics from the day so I'll post some later.

Thought you'd appreciate these pics Skinner. The first one is of very bad day for an Arkansas Farmer a few weeks ago. Wish I could of gotten closer, but it was out in the middle of his property. Looked like it burned several days prior, but the bin was still smoking. The last one is of my Dodge with the correct motor in it. I made the gasser mistake once as well, but I try not to admit it in public forums. Sorry for the thread drift Zzz. Now back to airplanes!

you learn something new everyday........ I thought gasoline was just for airplanes and outboards

Man, you guys and your dodges... I'm a Duramax guy myself. Haha.
I took a couple buddies wives up for there first plane rides.

I have been working in Lander Wyoming this past week and decided the weather was just too nice not to go for a flight. I sat at the airport debating whether or not to head to the Wind River Range, there was an AIRMET for turbulence forecast over the area but the wind was calm at the airport. I had gotten lucky a few weeks before and flew into the Wind River Mountains when it was calm but didn’t get to fly over Gannett Peak, (highest point in Wyoming) which I have wanted to see and get pictures of. I figured that I’d start flying toward the mountains and if I encountered rough air I would turn back. I started getting into the mountains at around 11,000’ and the air was still pleasant, but I knew I would begin to encounter turbulence from the wind spilling off the leeward side of the mountains at some point. Since I was starting on the leeward side of the mountains I knew this was going to be an uphill battle… Once in the mountains I began looking for signs on the water of the high mountain lakes as to what the winds were doing. I knew there was definitely wind because my ground speed was looking pretty bad, but the water told the biggest story.



All of the water I could see had whitecaps as well as wind gusts brushing across the water, and at one point I saw a lake that had a continuous flow of gusty winds hitting it somewhere near the center and pushing out in opposite directions. As for me… nothing, no turbulence at all. I was climbing through 12,500’ at this time and I could start to see the other side of the mountain range so my plan was to head to the windward side of the mountains and gain a little extra security from downdrafts. I have to admit I was on high alert waiting for something to happen with regard to turbulence or up or downdrafts but still nothing. When I crossed the pass to the west side of the mountains I was at about 13,000’ and was feeling pretty comfortable with an out if I were to start sinking. I headed north toward Gannett Peak even crossing directly over some gnarly peaks in an effort to see if I could confirm my suspicions and somehow tempt the winds.





Getting closer now I had Gannett Peak in sight, I knew I would have to get on the leeward side of some rough mountains to get the visual I intended so I was being careful in the chance I found the nasty winds I expected. Once at the peak I crept closer and closer so I could scratch that itch and fly over the top. To my surprise I had not encountered any rough air. The most I felt was during my attempts at getting photos of the peak and picking up speed while trying to multitask. It was worth it, Gannett peak was stunning (13,804')






I saw some beautiful and humbling country on this journey. I was really surprised I didn't get more of a "washing machine" ride considering all things. I'll take those kind of surprises any day...






My groundspeed going back to Lander was great with the descent and a tailwind. I saw this waterfall on my climb into the mountains, I had to get a shot of it on my way back. While descending to get this photo I finally found the turbulence I had been expecting but by this time I was almost out of the mountains and below 9,000'.




After all that fun I had to clean the tires!



On a side note, the time prior to this adventure when I had journeyed into the Wind River Range I was poking around not really knowing the geography and found which I later learned was Mammoth Glacier (I had no idea there were glaciers in Wyoming). If you zoom in on the glacier you can see a 182 that had crashed.


Here's what it looked like from the ground


I'm not sure what really happened in this scenario but they lived and were ok.

My 3-year old went with me to exercise the plane. He demonstrated pretty good control touch considering it's his first time piloting the Stationaire.


https://vimeo.com/142208318

All that concentration earned him some crew rest



Brett

Great video, Brett!

Sweet video! Looks like he's a natural pilot.

Bill Rusk brought his Javron Cub up for a couple days to fly the lakes:



Looking at another Javron







Frank's "new" Cub:

Best looking Cub I have seen. (nice floats too)