Landing at Deadwood Dam

That is very nice. I am curious if the glassy water created any issues on maintaining proper approach altitude.

That is a classic glassy water setting for a float plane and knowing when to flare in those conditions is really difficult.

skymaule wrote:Bonanza Man, You didn't say hi when we flew by Billings this year! The Hot Springs you asked about is at Lower Loon. About a half mile hike up Loon Creek.

Don't recall you flying by. Thanks for the info on the hot spring.

TomD wrote:

Landing at Deadwood Dam

That is very nice. I am curious if the glassy water created any issues on maintaining proper approach altitude.

That is a classic glassy water setting for a float plane and knowing when to flare in those conditions is really difficult.

I think as long as you are doing your flaring over the ground it shouldn't be a problem.

It would come into play if the engine were to quit and you found yourself heading for the water instead of the dirt. You generally can't tell how high you are so if you flare it is only an educated guess where to start the flare. Flare to high and you stall. Flare to low and the water can be as hard a concrete.
Because this is basically a one way strip so you have to approach over the lake and take of towards the lake.

Because a lot of pilots fly only wheels they are not taught about glassy water they might not know the approach should be high enough to let you land in the water along the shore so you have reference for your flare if the engine quits.
On the takeoff a turn should be made and the plane should fly along the shore until there is enough altitude to cross the lake within gliding distance of the nearest shore.

A float plane has to follow the same rules as a wheel plane here. Just because it has floats doesn't mean it you can ignore these basic rules. If the engine keeps putting out, no problem. If it quits it is a different story. Mostly you will see float planes approach and land along the shore just in case the cooling fan quits.

A glassy water landing is done with power and there is no flare (at least with the elevator). You can set your approach nose high and a decent rate of 500 feet a minute (or more) to start with. You trim the plane to your touch down speed maybe 50 mph in a lighter plane. As you get closer to the water (using the shore, ducks, pollen, cottonwood fluff... for reference) you would change your rate of decent with power maybe down to 50 feet per minute. You set yourself up with a decent you would like to touch down with. If you have a large enough lake you can come onto the power and slow your decent to a few feet a minute and grease it in very smoothly. For a new float pilot it is difficult to not use the elevator to flare. Set it up, then you then just keep the wings level until you touch the water. The only changes are power settings.
With no power gliding towards the centre of the lake you can't slow your decent with power so the only choice to arrest your decent is to flare with the elevator, and when to do that is a guess. (See Above)

My pucker factor tells me I would have approached this strip high closer to a power off glide angle of decent. Or along the shore with a turn to a very short final with the angle of decent in this video.

Very nice setting and video though.

Gerry

The Staggerwing takeoff sunday morning:

What Matt doesn't say is that he was 30 feet off the deck in a tree when he snapped this shot:


Or how crumbly this little pillar was:

1SeventyZ wrote:The Staggerwing takeoff sunday morning:

When you pause it at 26-27, it's almost as good as Vicks Skywagon picture.

thinwing wrote:hey Grassstripp...you missed all the excitement at seeley lake last monday night thunder storm with hail ...we watched under the wing of a 310 we were trying to protect with bedding,sleeping bags,etc while the poor old bird got hammered...fortunately no real damage...than discovered the joys of hangering the following night after at bozeman...car windows hailed out...thin

Oh man, that doesn't sound good. Glad we didn't have to do that. I like my bedding around me keeping me dry and warm.

mountainmatt wrote:I'll add a few more.

High above JC

Someone ate their Wheaties. That is a long way up!

Matt and Bryan, great videos. I think that is the first I've seen of Deadwood and Lower Loon. Joe and Mark, great pics. We are headed up again next week for some more fun.

GSP

Very jealous, Cory! You have a wonderful time with Dee and the Kids! Here is a Muvee video I did last night. I'm not thrilled with it , but what the heck. Take a look if you like.

Very cool Mark. We'll be thinking of you while we are up there. I'm still working on my vid. The captain I was flying with on the transcon was too chatty last night to get much work done on it.

One more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwuzbrKllMc

Nice work Matt. It looks like there are small logs across the dirt strip or are they shadows or ??

I like it lots.

SixTwoLeemer wrote:Nice work Matt. It looks like there are small logs across the dirt strip or are they shadows or ??

They are rubber weather strips to keep the dirt from eroding away the center of the strip. They are about 3" high and 3/8" thick. You can't tell they are there with the plane, but with the recent work on the strip, they packed dirt next to them and it is a little mounded up (>1" though). 85U is in a LOT better shape than last year, someone put a lot of work into it.

here's a few pics of my short trip to JC.

Lookin kinda dark.


Very cool view.


Arriving JC while most were out to breakfast...and didn't get to see my stellar landing


Flew over Mackay Bar with Z and his dad somewhere out in front...


Wilson Bar and a couple cubs


Mile Hi. taildrgfun, emflys, Avidflyer, and another guy are in this shot but you can't see 'em. They all just took off and were heading to dewy.


Cabin Creek.


Lots of puffy clouds indicating my ride home would be rough and miserable...which it was.

mountainmatt wrote:
They are rubber weather strips to keep the dirt from eroding away the center of the strip. They are about 3" high and 3/8" thick.

Don't they do a similar thing on logging roads in the west, also to prevent erosion? Does it seem effective? How much is buried in the ground? It it perpendicular to the fall line or slightly angled?

Thanks

OK, OK, I can't stand it....I missed this year, but I just bid my vacation for next year. You can bet I will be there, don't have a clue what I will fly.

denalipilot wrote:

mountainmatt wrote:
They are rubber weather strips to keep the dirt from eroding away the center of the strip. They are about 3" high and 3/8" thick.

Don't they do a similar thing on logging roads in the west, also to prevent erosion? Does it seem effective? How much is buried in the ground? It it perpendicular to the fall line or slightly angled?

Thanks

Slightly angled to the downhill side. No idea how deep they go, but I'd suspect 6"+ deep, they seem pretty solid.

Cool, AvWeb liked it. No blue ribbon but I'll take it - 4th pic down. Good press for bcp.org too...

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/potw/PictureOfTheWeek_202879-1.html