New T-craft owner, couple questions

[Dusty]

Re: New T-craft owner, couple questions

Go have fun on those skinny federals if you want, but take your sat phone along.

This ain't MI - they may get 200" of snow, but it's wet and compact and doesn't pile up. There's also nowhere in MI more than 15 miles or so from a road. I get to walk 80 miles and hope the hell I catch the weekly mail plane if I try to land somewhere with crappy skis. The average snow depth where I operate is maybe 5', and you go all the way to the bottom without snowshoes. The bottom of my plane has seen a LOT of snow.

Those UWMH bottoms will curl up and eventually cost you a prop or wingtip if they hang off more than an inch or so.

12" bottoms on Federals are minimal (and remember the big engine!), and I ALWAYS drag anything I land on at least 2 or 3 times.

Seriously, take your sat phone if you plan to land in more than a couple feet of snow or on tussocks, over logs, etc. with those skis. You'll save your family a whole lot of worrying.

[Dano"T"]

Re: New T-craft owner, couple questions

The U.P of Michigan cannot be compared to the rest of Michigan...they don't call it BIG snow country for nothin' The snow does pile up and is seldom wet and compact...in fact it piles up so much on the lakes that the weight from the snow pushes water up and causes slush....a very serious problem for the ski plane pilot...you'll be packin your own runway with those snoeshoes and letting it freeze...iI don't care what kind of skis you have. As for the uhmw...it's 3/16" thick and does not curl up and has worked for more than 12 years for me without any troubles. Now if your out landing in snow that is truley 5' deep than you better bring that satellite phone for sure no matter how wide your skis are just for safety sake. I think the originator of this post just wants to have some fun flying skis and federal 1500's with 10" to 12" wide UHMW bottoms will be very servicable and a lot of fun. We got 319" of snow in 1995...1978 we got 398"! what a hoot.

[Dusty]

Re: New T-craft owner, couple questions

Lemme try this with more coffee in my system....

Overflow is evil. If you have ANY doubts, drag it a couple times - hard - and go play somewhere else for a half-hour. By hard, I mean touch at 80 (in tracks that you've already drug), go to full power, and get the tail as high as you can get it. If you see ANY color in your tracks, don't land there. Ever. I've had overflow that didn't freeze for a month, no matter how much I packed it. If you go get in overflow, keep the power on (usually lots of it) and taxi around until you find a dry place, then come back and stop in your tracks. If you stop in the overflow you're screwed.

My experience with big overhanging UHMW is on snogo skis - it's 1/2", hangs over about 4", and curls up bad. It would probably be fine if it didn't get beat up - it might work on airplane skis, but I'd not try it. Metal bottoms are fairly cheap, much lighter, and not bad to replace. Cover the metal with UHMW, of course.

I agree that there's a lot of fun to be had with about any skis on an airplane, I'm just cautioning everyone that just because you have skis doesn't mean you can - or should, at least - land anywhere someone with GOOD skis can.

Dano - just curious, what's the average temps like there? We don't get a lot of snow in Interior AK, but it doesn't melt until April. When it's warm (above 0) the snow really compacts down and gets slick - great ski flying! When it's cold, it kinda like landing on really loose sand. It's amazing how sticky snow can be when it's really piled up at -40!

[Dano"T"]

Re: New T-craft owner, couple questions

Dano - just curious, what's the average temps like there? We don't get a lot of snow in Interior AK, but it doesn't melt until April. When it's warm (above 0) the snow really compacts down and gets slick - great ski flying! When it's cold, it kinda like landing on really loose sand. It's amazing how sticky snow can be when it's really piled up at -40!

It stays very cold...from 20's to -20's or -30's for most of the winter. In Late Feb things start to warm slightly...higher 20's and low 30's which makes the best ski flying of the year. Just as you explained, the snow settles and packs nicely. Your right about sticky...People who have never gone ski flying with me wonder what the heck is going on when I rev up the R's and work the yoke back and forth vigorously just to get moving....I just love the look on their faces...they wonder if they made a mistake climbing in that ol' crate. When we come back from the ride though...they realize that THIS IS FUN.