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Thin Ice

RedEye

Registered User
Side Lake , MN
thin_ice.jpg


Who and where is not important. What is is the fact that there was 6"s of ice in one spot and only an inch where it fell through. Just a reminder to be very careful on the lakes as ice conditions vary greatly at this time of year !!!!
 
Great reminder photo.

It seems to happen every year.

The worst I ever saw was one April up at Lake George. I saw a cub broke through up to it's belly. The next day there was another plane next to it. The original cub was up it's spinner. And then there was a third plane next to it shortly thereafter. It was like fly paper. I guess the other guys though that if the land a bit away from the first guy they would be ok.

No one got hurt and all planes were rescued via helicopter. Hopefully they got a quantity discount.

Jerry
 
Hey David,
Is the pilot okay? Do you know if the pilot went out the windshield or the door?
 
OUCH!! I kind of know the feeling of going through the ice. :eek: And its not a good feelin to have! :crazyeyes: :crazyeyes:

Greg
 
This happens sometimes during overnight parking or during drastic temp changes.

You will note that the propeller seems to be ok, as are the wing struts on the visible side.
You will also note that there is a layer of ice frozen around the aircraft.

So, it sank without the prop moving, probably without much or any, forward movement. Then it re-froze in place while being partially submerged.

Some guy showed up here yesterday and landed on the lake ice with a 180 or 185 in straight floats. I guess he is seasonally confused or had it pulled out on the shore at some other location and just brought it over here after everything was good and solid.


xx
 
Good pictures David. Vermilion completely iced over yesterday. About 15 years ago a friend had his Stinson in Canada on wheel skis for some late ice season trout fishing. Early April as I recall. One moring they flew from a large lake they were staying at and landed on a small lake with the wheels down (hyd skis). They were fishing about a 1/4 mile from the plane, and as the day warmed up, they looked over and the plane was in a pool of water about 6 inches deep - the ice was slowly settling. They ran to the plane, and pumped the skis down to try to dissipate the weight, then got two small boats from an outpost cabin on a nearby shore and drug them over to the plane. They were unable to pull the plane to shore as they were beaking through themselves. Just as they got a boat under each wing the ice gave way and the boats stopped the plane from going completely under. They were able to winch it back to shore by cutting out the ice to shore, and they put it up on a beach. They walked 30 some miles back to the lake they had departed from, and waited about 3 weeks before the ice went off that lake to be rescued by float plane. Flew the floats in on the side of an otter that summer, mounted them up and flew her home. He said it was an awful sick feeling seeing the plane slowly going down and being completely helpless to stop it. Have you heard when Bell Lake is happening? Russ
 
Airplane falling through ice yada yada yada… Speaking of which when’s the first ski plane fly in this year? Just couldn’t help but laugh...

Lippy
:lol:
 
Theres a picture of a cessna i think, in the photo gallery with just the wings and tail sticking out, that should be posted on here. i have dial up so it would take me a year to find it. anyone else. doug
 
I will officially pronounce the ice on Lake Vermilion unsafe. Yesterday I dropped my 4 wheeler through right next to shore in about 2 feet of water. Where it went through, about 6 feet out from shore, there was and inch and a half of ice. About a hundred yards away, 75 feet out from shore, there was 6 inches of ice. A small bay that has been frozen for three weeks had about 3 inches on it. I wouldn't put a plane down anywhere yet - not even on the smallest of lakes. David - any word on the Bell Lake ski plane fly in? Russ
 
We ice fish on Ft. Peck in Montana and we fly and land on the ice allot.It seems that the natural thing to do is land close to shore,but I've seen four wheelers and vehicles drive down the lake for miles and fall in at the waters edge. My policy generally is to land away from the bank and take my auger in closer and see what its like close to shore. I avoid landing around pressure ridges also. I would put a few pics in but I haven't figured out to get them in with the post.
 
Thickness is about 3-5 inches on most of the smaller lakes here in central Minnesota. I heard about a guy who rolled his wheels on the ice yesterday, checking the strength. He didn't see any water behind him afterward...

There are quite a few small fish houses out and a few 4-wheelers. I'll wait 'til I see cars & trucks out on the ice before I land.

The big lakes are still open in the middle.

Jon B.
 
Thanks Dave for the info on entering pics. Here's a few walleye I caught on Ft. Peck. Were just starting to get some ice in the bays.


DSC00067-1.jpg
 
JB - there was more than one airplane rolling wheels on the ice yesterday... :D

(No I didn't do it - was out looking for a hard to see wire across the north approach to Crooked lake that a friend hit square on the tip of the spinner of his beater PA-12 about 20 years ago. Obviously it'd been replaced by somebody as there were now 2 of these almost invisible wires. They're a good 100+ yards across the one low opening to the north lake. Yikes! talk about your perfect airplane trap. I can't imagine why they didn't put markers on these things. The poles are hidden in the woods on either side. :-? )
 
We've got 8" of ice in some places and as little as 1" in others. Just too inconsistant yet to land on for my taste.

Russ,
No word yet on Bell Lake . As soon as I hear anything I'll let you know as well as post it here.
 
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