Trying out a gravel bar, need to go remove the 2 logs and also wait a bit for the summer so is less water, then will be able to take off from it which is what stops me from landing it, because its a bit short and I want to be 100% before I try it.
Lots of fun so cant wait.

Looks pretty short

Looks like an expensive landing area for a nosewheel .

Its not rough and rocks are quite small, but at the moment its too short I think.

The river does a great job of filtering in fines and compacting it as it recedes. The longer you wait it will dry out and get softer along with the more use it gets.
I whitnessed 2 different nose gear planes stuff their props in the rock while making sharp turns on roll out, it tends to plow and sink in the soft rock.
Looks like a fun spot!

Now that your in the states and will be hanging out with some of the wild bunch on this site, you should think about what kind of flying your going to do and adjust accordingly. A 182 is a fine ship, I owned one for 10 years and flew many more. They will go about 90% of of places that a taildragger will, but the other 10% can be hard to judge. The surface may be consolidated/compact enough and then again it may not. No way to tell really, but I wouldn't set a 182 down there if it were mine. It might be ok one day and not the next. Also those surfaces are not uniform. Soft spots abound, either too dry or too wet, or too fine... Eventually you'll find one the expensive way with a nose wheel and little tires.

If you want to play in places like that, consider bigger tires or a TW plane with large tires. Dudestickle set his up his 182 as well as they can be for that kind of surface. Just food for thought but none of us want to see you bend your plane so take heed from the above posters. They are trying to tell you something and the fact that we are all seeing the same thing should be a red flag for you.

Even flying with ABW 31" MLG (+BBW TW) and grossing @ 2150# (utility category), that "Bar" looks "hairy". I couldn't fathom it in a 182. You are definitely a test (ing) pilot! Opinions.

Its a good reality check then , thanks for the honest advice.
Since I put bigger tires and heavy duty fork I thought a 182 could do a smooth gravel bar (maybe not this one because its to short)

motoadve wrote:Its not rough and rocks are quite small, but at the moment its too short I think.

Yeah give it a few more weeks. Looks pretty good to me, but I also am of the opinion that you didn't go big enough on your tires.

The river gravel, like Terry said, can be nice and firm packed, but it can also be loose and deep. Big tires are usually associated with smoothing out bumpy stuff but they can also improve flotation on the loose stuff.

Lots of tire tracks on there - was that you trying to smooth it out?

I think that looks fine plenty big. What kind of elevation is that river at? Go with minimal gas and no load. I would land there way before some of the hairy jungle strips you blast in and out of.
Your last landing looked committed thought you were doin it. [emoji41] could always splash the water to get stopped fast. You can then move the logs.

Some of the best advice I've heard re off-airport ops:
"Never be the first to land".
Find some other darn fool to do it.

hotrod180 wrote:Some of the best advice I've heard re off-airport ops:
"Never be the first to land".
Find some other darn fool to do it.

= test pilot

Fly in a group, then let the best guy try it. Then get his/her advice over the radio or call SAR

8GCBC wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:Some of the best advice I've heard re off-airport ops:
"Never be the first to land".
Find some other darn fool to do it.

= test pilot

Fly in a group, then let the best guy try it. Then get his/her advice over the radio or call SAR

Or just go have a burger at the restaurant on the field and then float the river seated in your 31 inch bushwheel like an inner tube.

Test pilot? This shit is the spirit of this site. Larry is getting on it and exploring his new stomping grounds, good to see it. He knows how to fly that thing slow and now he's venturing into surface evaluation. Being conservative to avoid bending the plane is wise, but many of these river bars are buffed and smooth. Not a big deal. A bigger deal in my opinion is keeping your eyes peeled for wires and lines. Those are what really hurt people on the river.

Zzz wrote:

8GCBC wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:Some of the best advice I've heard re off-airport ops:
"Never be the first to land".
Find some other darn fool to do it.

= test pilot

Fly in a group, then let the best guy try it. Then get his/her advice over the radio or call SAR

Or just go have a burger at the restaurant on the field and then float the river seated in your 31 inch bushwheel like an inner tube.

Test pilot? This shit is the spirit of this site. Larry is getting on it and exploring his new stomping grounds, good to see it. He knows how to fly that thing slow and now he's venturing into surface evaluation. Being conservative to avoid bending the plane is wise, but many of these river bars are buffed and smooth. Not a big deal. A bigger deal in my opinion is keeping your eyes peeled for wires and lines. Those are what really hurt people on the river.

Agreed. But, I have seen many flatbed trucks and trailers carrying Cessna Aircraft from backcountry strips who jammed a nose wheel or worse. Even a 180 by an excellent "pilot".

I recognize that stretch of river, beautiful.

One very real threat in that particular spot is Kenmore's training supercubs buzzing down the river doing touch and goes.

Also, once summer gets going those bars are going to be covered in yahoos on their atvs. Better get your landings there in sooner rather than later.

I can't speak to the take off performance of your 182, but judging by your video, you had the landing nailed when you rolled the strip. There will always be 100 people telling you not to land here and "you'll bend your airplane"... One day they may be right! However, your skill-set as a backcountry aviator REQUIRES that you be able to make the land/don't land decision based on your experience and instinct. Never let anyone else tell you where you can or cannot land YOUR airplane. That being said, I'd totally land there!

Flying rivers on floats is teaching me about beavers (Oregon) They can swim fast with massive logs, branches, bushes across a river. If you see flotsam moving, look close it could have a beaver attached to it!

This video has a beaver pulling a BIG log across the ops areas in the Yaquina River...

1:45 minutes:

Zzz wrote:Test pilot? This shit is the spirit of this site. Larry is getting on it and exploring his new stomping grounds, good to see it. He knows how to fly that thing slow and now he's venturing into surface evaluation. Being conservative to avoid bending the plane is wise, but many of these river bars are buffed and smooth. Not a big deal. A bigger deal in my opinion is keeping your eyes peeled for wires and lines. Those are what really hurt people on the river.

Amen....

And so what if something gets tweaked. Fix it, learn from it, and try it again with a bit of newfound experience.

How is off-roading a Cessna or Super Cub that much different from rock crawling a Jeep, blasting across the desert on a sand rail, or pushing a personal limit while improving your motocross skills?

Can ya get hurt? Yeah.

Can you get killed? Yeah.

Can it be really expensive? Yeah.

Same risks as a lot of other fun stuff in life. Last I looked, BCP exists to promote this kind of flying and encourage folk to go out and learn some outside the box skills. Contrast here with the store clerk mentality on the AOPA forums.

I'd much rather be here.

PS: What was said earlier. Be the SECOND one in for your first trip to a new to you technical spot.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:

Zzz wrote:Test pilot? This shit is the spirit of this site. Larry is getting on it and exploring his new stomping grounds, good to see it. He knows how to fly that thing slow and now he's venturing into surface evaluation. Being conservative to avoid bending the plane is wise, but many of these river bars are buffed and smooth. Not a big deal. A bigger deal in my opinion is keeping your eyes peeled for wires and lines. Those are what really hurt people on the river.

Amen....

And so what if something gets tweaked. Fix it, learn from it, and try it again with a bit of newfound experience.

How is off-roading a Cessna or Super Cub that much different from rock crawling a Jeep, blasting across the desert on a sand rail, or pushing a personal limit while improving your motocross skills?

Can ya get hurt? Yeah.

Can you get killed? Yeah.

Can it be really expensive? Yeah.

Same risks as a lot of other fun stuff in life. Last I looked, BCP exists to promote this kind of flying and encourage folk to go out and learn some outside the box skills. Contrast here with the store clerk mentality on the AOPA forums.

I'd much rather be here.

PS: What was said earlier. Be the SECOND one in for your first trip to a new to you technical spot.

Gump

+1

A little philosophy...

I bought my Scout from Bob Hannah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hannah !! Bob is a backcountry guru in Idaho. His sister is Red Dory. I went to Bob to learn, I realized I will never be Bob.

I admire the best. But, we can not all be "Bob."