Zzz wrote:Great post, Rogue. Nice shots. jealous here as usual.
You're on my list of ozzicanucks to visit.
It's a short list.

Haha, welcome here anytime mate! Be warned though there's a shit load of us up here, anyone would think our home country is war torn or something!

Karmutzen wrote:

Sunday afternoon at 4pm, suns going down in an hour, smart move dickhead!

So did you stay warm by spending all night stamping down a departure path? Plane looks a little frosty too. Tough to be learning it all at the school of hard knocks, but you’re enjoying the outdoors like very few others on the planet. And the rest of us can live vicariously.
Any advice on turnarounds? Some say to drag a double length if you have the room, like at Thomas Lake, then come around and land short in your tracks so you can takeoff again without turning around. Heard it’s easy to get stuck in the turn - no different than mud or sand.

You got it bud, stayed warm until 10:30 pm doing the moonlight stamp down dance and then crashed out in the back seat, so stayed about as warm as you do out there. It was actually a great impromptu adventure, another night and I might sing a different tune though!


As for advise, I’m really not qualified to give any mate, just going by trial and error. Good advise seems hard to come by as well with ski flying, I think because there's just so many variables and maybe few to no old dog ski pilots around here. It seems to me you just kind of have to get out there and develop a feel for it and your own set of techniques. Limited experience here but in my rig with generally heavy snow I’m usually either good or stuck no matter how many times I drag, once the weights down it’s hard to get on top and back in those tracks. That time I tried to motor over to where I thought it was shallower, didn’t work, did I say trial and error!

Mapleflt wrote:I spent five years flying a DH6 north of 60 on skis, as the season dictated. While it is a much heavier airplane its always wise to cool off the skis and then stop on your own tracks for the departure, it will mitigate the risk of adhesion.
Mapleflt

Great tip, any longer period of time though and I usually end up needing to break em loose whatever I do. Again limited experience here and I’m only really hitting mountain tops, glaciers and small alpine lakes. Bigger planes, long lakes, overflow and god knows what else are probably a whole different ball game hey? My back hurts just thinking about a machine heavier than the Scout, haha!

courierguy wrote:It's good to see another snowboarding skiplane pilot! I logged 2.5 hours ski flying today, and almost exactly the same time boarding, it makes for a very satisfying day.

You know it, sounds like a perfect day! It is super satisfying hey. Apart from heaters I think splitboards are the best accessory for a ski-plane ever!

A1Skinner wrote:Great to see you out Rogue. We'll have to meet one day. I'm across the rocks near Grande Prairie AB.
I'm sure missing my old 7GCBC with the nice winter flying we've had this year...

For sure bud! I shudder to think of the day I need to sell my old girl! My family wonders why the new one is taking so long to build, haven't figured out that only enough room for gear and guns but no baby seats is a huge positive, suckers!

Here's a tip I was given many years ago by others much wiser then I. With a lighter airplane carry four pieces of old 2 x 4 about 12"- 14" long and once stopped lift the tips and tails of each ski and toss a piece under to help stay on top. However I'm not sure how well that would work in the steep & deep snow that your playing in !!

Mapleflt

Mapleflt wrote:Here's a tip I was given many years ago by others much wiser then I. With a lighter airplane carry four pieces of old 2 x 4 about 12"- 14" long and once stopped lift the tips and tails of each ski and toss a piece under to help stay on top. However I'm not sure how well that would work in the steep & deep snow that your playing in !!

Mapleflt

Thanks for the tip, appreciate it! I did read that somewhere but I can't really lift the ski's, they just dig down one way or the other. I guess maybe more for lake ice or snow pack where you can get frozen stuck. I like to just stomp down my tracks a little so its easy to get going again then once moving it's usually no problems, doing some quick laps cleans off the bottom of the skis, and warms the cylinders. If they're a bit sluggish and need cleaning any further I dig a hole under them and scrap off with a wax scraper but not usually required.

Rogue wrote:

Mapleflt wrote:Here's a tip I was given many years ago by others much wiser then I. With a lighter airplane carry four pieces of old 2 x 4 about 12"- 14" long and once stopped lift the tips and tails of each ski and toss a piece under to help stay on top. However I'm not sure how well that would work in the steep & deep snow that your playing in !!

Mapleflt

Thanks for the tip, appreciate it! I did read that somewhere but I can't really lift the ski's, they just dig down one way or the other. I guess maybe more for lake ice or snow pack where you can get frozen stuck. I like to just stomp down my tracks a little so its easy to get going again then once moving it's usually no problems, doing some quick laps cleans off the bottom of the skis, and warms the cylinders. If they're a bit sluggish and need cleaning any further I dig a hole under them and scrap off with a wax scraper but not usually required.

Rather than lugging around lumber, I generally just parked, after cooling the skis as noted, then dug the snow out from under the front and backs of the skis, leaving a "pedestal" of snow right under the axle, and the very aft tip of the ski touching the snow. That allows air to circulate under the skis, and they'll usually slide nice when you're ready to go. Sounds like a big deal, but only takes a few minutes with a small shovel.

MTV

MTV, Great Idea

Rather than lugging around lumber, I generally just parked, after cooling the skis as noted, then dug the snow out from under the front and backs of the skis, leaving a "pedestal" of snow right under the axle, and the very aft tip of the ski touching the snow. That allows air to circulate under the skis, and they'll usually slide nice when you're ready to go. Sounds like a big deal, but only takes a few minutes with a small shovel.

Mapleflt

Mapleflt wrote:MTV, Great Idea

Rather than lugging around lumber, I generally just parked, after cooling the skis as noted, then dug the snow out from under the front and backs of the skis, leaving a "pedestal" of snow right under the axle, and the very aft tip of the ski touching the snow. That allows air to circulate under the skis, and they'll usually slide nice when you're ready to go. Sounds like a big deal, but only takes a few minutes with a small shovel.

Mapleflt

Yep definitely makes sense, I'll give that a try thanks.

I carry a box of the big black trash bags all winter. They weigh nothing and take up little room, and have saved me or at least helped get out of tight spots and sticky snow. I just slip them over the skis, and though I never litter, I have used this method twice. Now that I think of it, it's been 4 or 5 years since the last time, I guess I am getting more suspicious and less trusting of the snow conditions and pre-emptively getting the hell out of there if it doesn't feel "right." They also have all kinds of other uses in a survival situation, especially winter survival.

I never bothered with an outside thermometer on my plane, now I don't know how I'd get along without one, a must have for ski flying. The other day was the warmest yet I've flown in this season, clear blue and 46 degrees, and after landing on a rare flat area, the takeoff took about 8 or 900', instead of my usual 1 to 300'.... no surprise thanks to the cheap digital termometer with an outside probe I now have, the best $3.00 I ever spent!

courierguy wrote:I carry a box of the big black trash bags all winter. They weigh nothing and take up little room, and have saved me or at least helped get out of tight spots and sticky snow. I just slip them over the skis, and though I never litter, I have used this method twice. Now that I think of it, it's been 4 or 5 years since the last time, I guess I am getting more suspicious and less trusting of the snow conditions and pre-emptively getting the hell out of there if it doesn't feel "right." They also have all kinds of other uses in a survival situation, especially winter survival.

I never bothered with an outside thermometer on my plane, now I don't know how I'd get along without one, a must have for ski flying. The other day was the warmest yet I've flown in this season, clear blue and 46 degrees, and after landing on a rare flat area, the takeoff took about 8 or 900', instead of my usual 1 to 300'.... no surprise thanks to the cheap digital termometer with an outside probe I now have, the best $3.00 I ever spent!

That's sounds like a good trick, worth carrying a few around just to dump wet gear into! Agreed with cheap thermometer, very handy, cheap, accurate and takes about a minute to install.

The most winter flying I've done this year has been to put hockey laces in my BCP hoodie