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After another 15" of snow fell on Friday and Saturday...I decided yesterday that I was putting my floats on anyway......I hope this gets spring moving.
I'm here in sunny Iron River, MI Robert.....Hey Dan...my wife said something similar yesterday.....my neighbors must have been bored though.....I ended up with a 5 man crew after my neighbor and I set up the scaffold around my plane. we used a chainfall to lift.....they were all curious I guess.
N43336 went to surf side yesterday along with the floats. I think the ice will be out at the seaplane base before the end of the week!!! Now to have them get her on Floats so I can try her out.
Use it!!! Those floats will do just fine on the snow!
John
I hear ya John....It's kind of hard to steer on the snow though...harder than on skis for sure. It also gives a pretty rough ride if the snow or ice is not real soft and if there are little snow drifts. I can wait.....it is supposed to be in the 60's this week...so I'll keep my fingers crossed...the good thing is the floats are on....it's already at the lake, and I can sit on my deck with a cup of coffee and enjoy the view....a plane in the yard by the water is a nice view....I'm sure you agree
Bob Munro (Kenmore Air Harbor) used Beavers and SeaBee's on snow with floats (on the Beavers) for years to fly off glaciers. http://www.hymet.com/docs/scglacierexp.pdf
There's a great book about him and that operation, Success On The Step.... if you haven't seen it, it's well worth reading.
I got to meet him a few times when I was working over there...we built round engines for them (they had no crank press or any tooling for the bottom end, so we built the bottom ends and they assembled the rest) and he was a really nice guy. One thing that always impressed me about him was that he always recognized me and would go out of his way to talk.
Anyway.... the T looks good, even if it's just sitting there....and you're right,
"a plane in the yard by the water" IS a nice view!
John
Bear Lake is 6 miles north of town, and that is the nearest freshwater that is useable. At the very south end is a small bridge that connects state roads to a private house. Just east (20FT) of eastersn edge of bride is a nice turn around for public use...most visiting aircraft park there on floats or skis.
IF you call ahead...I will provide a spot on the nice t dock 100 yards north of said point listed above. Two cessnas, one tcraft and a citabria...
Hey, i Met AKBREW today as he flew into seward...He got to see the wings on the 12 we are painting this weekend.
Pics coming!
P.S. You also have the harbor but they are not appreciative of aircraft....callme and land at bear lake, Ill pick you up.
BYE THE WAY, HOW MUCH TO PARK IN HOMER FOR A WEEK? Got a job there next week.
Dan,
Tanks for the info on Bear lake. I'll probably pop-in this summer with my Stinson. I am now "outside" and I don't have any idea what transient parking is in Homer. Our airstrip (Anchor River Airpark AK00) still had about a foot-and-a-half of snow on it when we left five days ago so it will probably be well into breakup before it is usable for wheel operation. If you're on skis you are welcome to come down and use the airstrip. I can arrange for you to have a place to park and arrange for transportation. Call me on my cell if you like at 907/399-7437.
Bob
Bob Picard
N48923 L-2B Skis/Wheels
N6346M Stinson 108-3 Floats/Skis/Wheels
Anchor Point, Alaska TF#254
No....This picture was taken just after I removed the scaffold I used to lift the plane for the float change....the tailwheel is off now and the cables are all hooked up....it's ready to go now. This was the first time I put the floats on right in my yard....it worked very well.
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