Pinecone wrote:Thanks MTV. Where I plan to go, I’m not expecting to see any other tracks. I just checked weather statistics and I can expect up to 6’ accumulation by the time March rolls around. My recollection is that there isn’t much wind packing, or melt to solidify the snow through the winter. It could be all loose pack when I get there. There’s a snowmobile stashed there if I need it to pack a runway to get out. I’ll have supplies for a week and a cabin. Helicopter is stationed 40 miles away for worst case. I’ll be looking for places in Southern Alberta to practise before I head north.

I'm sure you know this well, but if there's 6 feet of unpacked snow I hope you have a pretty good mountain sled parked there. Or a very wide tracked trail machine, but even with the wide track they can be a real bear in deep powder.

I intend to park the airplane and pitch my cabin right beside it. I’ll be putting up a bunch of firewood next month, and making sure the snowmobile starts and runs well. I have considerable experience on a snowmobile in the territory. Far more than I do in an airplane on skis. I haven’t ever seen the snowmobile, but it was flown in there specifically to pack a runway by the guy who lived in there for several decades. He was very diligent in preparing his small engines for seasonal storage, so I expect it will be easy to revive.

Hijacker's!!!!!!!

Us lower 48'ers dont need no stinkin ski's! Specially here in ARRRKANSAAASSS!

Just kidding guys good info if I ever plan on doing ski's though.

Two point and keep the wheel up= no shimmy. Thats the ticket!

Anecdotally I am only seeing 2 knots loss in TAS with the 26" tires. That makes me quite happy and that is at 2000 feet and high heat/ density altitude! I suspect it will be the same or less at true cruise altitudes of 8-10K.

As for the two vs three point landing, I have found for me and my airplane we do much better with an energy management flare with a touch of power and wheel land than 3 point. Any wind and she needs to be 2 point all the time, keeps the tail up with directional control with the rudder. With the 26's I sometimes can not even feel when I am on the ground and realize I am doing a high speed taxi, chop power, keep tail up, no wammies! I am much more confident in this approach than full flare for a 3 point and no directional control of the rudder upon touch down and marked shimmy with the 3 point. Also I find when I do 3 point, I notice the shimmy, I push forward into a wheel stance and keep the tail up anyway.
For those who want numbers, I approach at 75 mph, flare to 60 mph and usually touch at 55-60, with aggressive braking I can usually stop in 6-700 feet or let it roll until the tail comes down in about 800-1000. My goal is to continue to practice precision approaches to decrease these numbers and do so in moderate winds. I still get nervous with heavier winds. Grass is where its at! So much fun on the grass. We do have a few grass strips around here and I keep looking for more!

OK enough I feel I have successfully pulled my post back to center line.

I’m blaming MTV. If he hadn’t double posted, we wouldn’t have reached saturation and caused complete derailment!

Haha. Sorry Gypsy. Beautiful 185!

I’ll take the heat for that

MTV

Read all these posts and kinda have to wonder if all the damage issues being found in the tails is the result of repeated tail shimmy. While I’m quite comfortable in both 3 point and wheel landings, I pretty much only do tail low full flap wheel landings and push the tail up upon touchdown. I don’t let the tailwheel touch until minimal speed. Hockey sticks at $7 grand apiece scare me.

RockHopper wrote:Read all these posts and kinda have to wonder if all the damage issues being found in the tails is the result of repeated tail shimmy. While I’m quite comfortable in both 3 point and wheel landings, I pretty much only do tail low full flap wheel landings and push the tail up upon touchdown. I don’t let the tailwheel touch until minimal speed. Hockey sticks at $7 grand apiece scare me.

Yep, that’s my theory as well. Land em slow, and protect that tail.

MTV

The land em slow and keep the tail up is the answer for me too. I did fly today and have one that was a little fast, but before I flew I noticed my tailwheel seem a little low, like 9 PSI put 6 in it and it seemed to roll much better at and did not shimmy like before, I think I will stay away from the 3 point and protect the tail as others point out.
Gypsy.

Even fifteen psi is a little low for a standard tailwheel tire. I like around thirty. Using a six ply tire, which never looks flat.

MTV

Its the baby bush wheel, max PSI is 25 on it.

gypsywagon wrote:Its the baby bush wheel, max PSI is 25 on it.

Ah so. Gotta be careful not to start “trends”.

MTV

I ran about 35 psi or so in the 8" t/w on my C170,
but run about 50 in the 10" on my C180.
Seems to work well.