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Tips on getting unstuck

We deal with this issue all the time. Our practice is to come to a stop, wait a minute or so to let the skis cool, move forward a couple feet, park. This releases the film that is freezing to the skis and since the skis are cold now, no new film forms. Meanwhile, raising the retract skis is a good idea, even if the tires sink down, as it lessens the pressure on the skis. Blocking under straight skis is a good practice, too. Or sliding up on some spruce branches. If you are regularly parking on ice in one spot (such as Lake Hood) you can freeze in a couple 2-bys to park on.

The remedies and preventions of skis 'freezing down' are endless, most of which are learned first hand. Carry overnight gear, engine heater, shovel, snowshoes,

RK
 
Glenn, I carry a Wiggy's -30 bag with me and can make that work, if need be. Julie, on the other hand, will likely strangle me if we need to resort to Wiggy's...

Randy

Randy, you need to help her discover how much fun it could be. Let her sleep in the snow in the backyard some night in it. Pour a gallon of water into it first like the guy does on youtube and she'll be impressed. Lock the door so she gets the full effect.

Glenn
 
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Randy, you need to help here discover how much fun it could be. Let her sleep in the snow in the backyard some night in it. Pour a gallon of water into it first like the guy does on youtube and she'll be impressed. Lock the door so she gets the full effect.

Glenn
I can only imagine how warm Randy would be in the house......as it burns down around him after Julie throws a flaming, gasoline soaked sleeping bag through a window
 
Print this picture and look at it before you go ski flying



Glenn

I was in that same situation. Was working at the airport and my cows were calving so I would fly to work and every four hours fly home and check cows. Well I had a cow having problems so I landed to pull the calf. ( had my head up my ass) forgot about the tumbleweeds on the edge of the field five feet deep. I pulled the calf and spent the rest of the day digging
My champ out thinking how much fun ski flying is LOL


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Years ago we would put garbage bags over skis that we couldn’t get clean. Only stayed on for one takeoff, but that’s all we needed. Still carry bags with me today..

Same here, the big black ones, in fact I carry most of a box of them. Could be handy for other uses too, they for sure have helped me get "rolling" again. It's been 4 years or since I've been stuck, I chalk that up to gradually learning the warning signs of impending doom, and just blasting outa there it need be before coming to a full stop. That, and luck of course. The first 2 years I got stuck 3 or 4 times each, but that did serve to teach me some getting unstuck tricks.
 
I really appreciate this thread! Still green on ski flying experience and got a pretty steep learning curve. Got stuck today in the heavy, wet, sticky and deep stuff today. I got a wealth of info from the many posts and threads on this site and it payed off big time. Sorry no pics, was to traumatized looking at what I did and how I was going to get out of it. Big scoop shovels and snowshoes RULE! Oh yeah my 19 year old kid who made it a point to rib and tease me every 5 minutes during the entire predicament. We laughed pretty hard.
 
Yesterday, I get The Call, a flying buddy is stuck on a narrow ridge top, it seems he thought he could land it on his Airstreaks, he couldn't. Many feet deep snow, but somewhat compacted by snowmachines, he landed it OK but couldn't move it around to take off. He was wearing tennis shoes, (wet, and no heavy spare socks, I carry 2 pair always) no water, no shovel, no nothing. 8,000' and about 2 hours before sundown, so I saddled up and flew the 7 miles to find that this years record snow levels made this heretofore unlandable ridge, landable. Been seeing a lot of that this year, NEW sites, thanks to all the snow.

The landing was a bit tricky as his plane was in the way, and there was a swale, a downslope, and an upslope that complicated things. I landed it on the third pass, after getting a feel for things, ending up on the upper narrow end of the ridge, with super steep drop offs on each side. No problem but not enough width to get it turned around downhill without getting scary close to the cornice. So I stopped sideways, and an hour later after getting him tied down for the night, using my tie down ropes and buried snowshoes, we went back up to my plane and found the skis froze down. Due to the limited room I didn't do my usual, stop start stop before shutting down. A simple kick on the skis broke them loose, and then we incrementally and carefully turned it downhill (after explaining to him, it's not like ground ops, we didn't want to bend the gear/torque much on it) we walked it down to the swale, got in and fired up, and then blasted up the swale and hit the slight down slope section. I had about 4' from my right wingtip to his spinner, and 2' from some protruding rocks I needed to miss, having carefully walked the takeoff before so no surprise. Going about 30 by the time we went thru the gauntlet, then the ridge dropped away at a 60 degree angle so no problem getting off.

He's getting a ride up this morning on a snow machine, and the slightly freezing overnight temps plus our tramping and packing we did should firm things up. He has about 50' or so before he gets to the 60 degree falloff, which I assured him would not be an issue as long as he kept the nose down as he goes over it, didn't stall off it. He's done steep off airport before, but nothing quite so steep. I told him the steeper the better, since I'm an old hang glider pilot. The tendency can be to pull back on the stick as you near the drop off, that is the wrong move! I can't help today, or watch, have to work, but this will all of course be on video, my rescue plus his takeoff.
 

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Yesterday, I get The Call, a flying buddy is stuck on a narrow ridge top, it seems he thought he could land it on his Airstreaks, he couldn't. Many feet deep snow, but somewhat compacted by snowmachines, he landed it OK but couldn't move it around to take off. He was wearing tennis shoes, (wet, and no heavy spare socks, I carry 2 pair always) no water, no shovel, no nothing. 8,000' and about 2 hours before sundown, so I saddled up and flew the 7 miles to find that this years record snow levels made this heretofore unlandable ridge, landable. Been seeing a lot of that this year, NEW sites, thanks to all the snow.

The landing was a bit tricky as his plane was in the way, and there was a swale, a downslope, and an upslope that complicated things. I landed it on the third pass, after getting a feel for things, ending up on the upper narrow end of the ridge, with super steep drop offs on each side. No problem but not enough width to get it turned around downhill without getting scary close to the cornice. So I stopped sideways, and an hour later after getting him tied down for the night, using my tie down ropes and buried snowshoes, we went back up to my plane and found the skis froze down. Due to the limited room I didn't do my usual, stop start stop before shutting down. A simple kick on the skis broke them loose, and then we incrementally and carefully turned it downhill (after explaining to him, it's not like ground ops, we didn't want to bend the gear/torque much on it) we walked it down to the swale, got in and fired up, and then blasted up the swale and hit the slight down slope section. I had about 4' from my right wingtip to his spinner, and 2' from some protruding rocks I needed to miss, having carefully walked the takeoff before so no surprise. Going about 30 by the time we went thru the gauntlet, then the ridge dropped away at a 60 degree angle so no problem getting off.

He's getting a ride up this morning on a snow machine, and the slightly freezing overnight temps plus our tramping and packing we did should firm things up. He has about 50' or so before he gets to the 60 degree falloff, which I assured him would not be an issue as long as he kept the nose down as he goes over it, didn't stall off it. He's done steep off airport before, but nothing quite so steep. I told him the steeper the better, since I'm an old hang glider pilot. The tendency can be to pull back on the stick as you near the drop off, that is the wrong move! I can't help today, or watch, have to work, but this will all of course be on video, my rescue plus his takeoff.
Not sure about a buried snowshoe to hold a wing down that can develop upwards of 1000lbs of lift????
Better hope the wind never blows over
15/20.....???
For example I used to secure my Cub to a full 55gal barrel of fuel under each wing. Came back lots of times
and found it had drug the two nearly 700lb (total) drums all over the place?
To include 150' down into the tundra;
below Togiak at Ossik Spit in only a 4 0mph breeze! Unless the snowshoe was frozen rock, there probably would be a lot of false confidence, hooking onto a snowshoe in a few feet of snow. If the wind came up over 25mph I would expect to loose the plane.............
As an old guy told me 40 years ago.
You see the cowboys ride into town to local saloons and pull up to the Tethering poles, jump off and flip the reins around once and strool in for a cold one! He says " you can fool a horse; BUT you cant fool an airplane![emoji6]

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I really appreciate this thread! Still green on ski flying experience and got a pretty steep learning curve. Got stuck today in the heavy, wet, sticky and deep stuff today. I got a wealth of info from the many posts and threads on this site and it payed off big time. Sorry no pics, was to traumatized looking at what I did and how I was going to get out of it. Big scoop shovels and snowshoes RULE! Oh yeah my 19 year old kid who made it a point to rib and tease me every 5 minutes during the entire predicament. We laughed pretty hard.

Absolute best medicine to getting stuck on skis....laughter! If you can’t laugh about it, you’d best make a nice warm camp and prepare for the duration.

One additional “trick” when sorta stuck, but thrust just won’t quite get you going: IF you have a constant speed prop, run up max power, then pull that prop control all the way to the coarse pitch stop, then shove it all the way to fine pitch. It’ll generate an impressive surge of thrust....for a short time, but many times just enough to get going.

MTV
 
TurboBeaver: We used what we had! Nothing else available up there...., and actually, the shoes offered a fair bit of surface area to the compacted snow. Angled out a bit, they held better then nothing, which was his other option. With an entrenched high pressure system, and real calm conditions, I at least slept OK that night, good timing, lucky timing actually, with that.

At work today, I expected to get a text from him around 8 or 9, saying he had made it out. By 11:30 I was starting to think the worst. Then he texted and said the delay was due to a tailwind, so they waited as long as possible for it to die, which it did, but not long enough for it to soften up again. I'll get the blow by blow account plus see the video in a few days, should be a hoot.
 
Absolute best medicine to getting stuck on skis....laughter! If you can’t laugh about it, you’d best make a nice warm camp and prepare for the duration.

One additional “trick” when sorta stuck, but thrust just won’t quite get you going: IF you have a constant speed prop, run up max power, then pull that prop control all the way to the coarse pitch stop, then shove it all the way to fine pitch. It’ll generate an impressive surge of thrust....for a short time, but many times just enough to get going.

MTV

After the “What the hell did I just do!” Evaluation. Before any digging commenced I got in by myself to “Maybe” power out of it. Surprised it moved almost 3 feet by cycling the prop. Then it wasn’t going anywhere. The prop was just barely off the snow to start with as well as resting on the belly with one wingtip a couple of inches above the snow. Amazing it even moved at all with most of the skis and gear/suspension and belly pod under the snow. Not to mention those GLH3000 skis had that huge weight of wet snow piled in front of the tire. Nonetheless it was a great learning experience. If any of you happen to be up at Alexander Lake near the outlet and notice that it looks like a truck buried itself on the shoreline........I know the individual involved.LOL Did I mention BIG scoop shovels are cool.
 
TurboBeaver: We used what we had! Nothing else available up there...., and actually, the shoes offered a fair bit of surface area to the compacted snow. Angled out a bit, they held better then nothing, which was his other option. With an entrenched high pressure system, and real calm conditions, I at least slept OK that night, good timing, lucky timing actually, with that.

At work today, I expected to get a text from him around 8 or 9, saying he had made it out. By 11:30 I was starting to think the worst. Then he texted and said the delay was due to a tailwind, so they waited as long as possible for it to die, which it did, but not long enough for it to soften up again. I'll get the blow by blow account plus see the video in a few days, should be a hoot.
I know what your saying! Guys gotta do what ever he can...........
Good thing you were around to save his butt. Flying around landing at those altitudes, in jeans n sneakers???
Sounds about the same as what guys are doing around here as well???? I can only imagine the only back up plan; must be
to wait for US Govt to come and save
their sorry as×....????
Glad it all worked out for him this time.[emoji33]
E

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….. I used to secure my Cub to a full 55gal barrel of fuel under each wing. Came back lots of times and found it had drug the two nearly 700lb (total) drums all over the place?....

One airport I fly into pretty often has a guy who regularly ties his airplane(s) down to 5 gallon buckets filled with concrete.
Worse than not tying down at all IMHO but they're his airplanes. :roll:
 
My buddy who I helped out returned my snowshoes and car I had lent him today while I was at work, but not my tie down ropes and fuel jug.?? He needs to realize those are my lucky ropes, (they've never left me down) I've used those same 12' long 1/2" dacron ropes for front spar tie downs longer then he has been alive, no kidding. I don't want to hear from anyone here about how some newer type rope is better for tying down, I just want my lucky ropes back. Never used outside for extended periods just on flying trips, so not UV worn. My tail tie down rope, is my original hang glider harness rope from 1972, that you clip your harness into, and I don't lend that out ever. Not that I'm superstitious....I just want my damn ropes back.
 
My buddy who I helped out returned my snowshoes and car I had lent him today while I was at work, but not my tie down ropes and fuel jug.?? He needs to realize those are my lucky ropes, (they've never left me down) I've used those same 12' long 1/2" dacron ropes for front spar tie downs longer then he has been alive, no kidding. I don't want to hear from anyone here about how some newer type rope is better for tying down, I just want my lucky ropes back. Never used outside for extended periods just on flying trips, so not UV worn. My tail tie down rope, is my original hang glider harness rope from 1972, that you clip your harness into, and I don't lend that out ever. Not that I'm superstitious....I just want my damn ropes back.

NO tie downs rope yet, plus he still has my snow shovel that comes apart for easy storage in the plane. I guess it's up to me to come get them, the least I can do. Oh wait, I let him know yesterday I was going to fly over there to his town, on other business, and as he said he'd be around I assumed I get could my stuff back then. So I fly in, right at the time I had mentioned, get my bike out and run a few errands, and then go over to his hangar and he is gone and it is locked up. Via text, the next day, he told me he had had to leave, but apparently didn't think to leave my stuff where I could get at it. No problem, it's good to know my gear is safe, locked up in his hangar, instead of rattling around in my plane. And, I understand, he was too busy to let me know he'd be gone. And my SUV I loaned him, that has less fuel in it now? Well that just saves weight for when I next drive it. As does the lesser gas weight in the plane after I flew to get him off that ridge top. It's just good to know how it is supposed to work, when you put your butt and aircraft at risk and use your fuel, time, and equipment to help someone out, the least you can also do is round up your gear later yourself and buy your own gas, I guess I had it wrong. The last time I needed similar help, I filled the helper pilot's plane fuel tanks without thinking things through, this guy has taught me a lot.
 
NO tie downs rope yet, plus he still has my snow shovel that comes apart for easy storage in the plane. I guess it's up to me to come get them, the least I can do. Oh wait, I let him know yesterday I was going to fly over there to his town, on other business, and as he said he'd be around I assumed I get could my stuff back then. So I fly in, right at the time I had mentioned, get my bike out and run a few errands, and then go over to his hangar and he is gone and it is locked up. Via text, the next day, he told me he had had to leave, but apparently didn't think to leave my stuff where I could get at it. No problem, it's good to know my gear is safe, locked up in his hangar, instead of rattling around in my plane. And, I understand, he was too busy to let me know he'd be gone. And my SUV I loaned him, that has less fuel in it now? Well that just saves weight for when I next drive it. As does the lesser gas weight in the plane after I flew to get him off that ridge top. It's just good to know how it is supposed to work, when you put your butt and aircraft at risk and use your fuel, time, and equipment to help someone out, the least you can also do is round up your gear later yourself and buy your own gas, I guess I had it wrong. The last time I needed similar help, I filled the helper pilot's plane fuel tanks without thinking things through, this guy has taught me a lot.

At least you know to not answer next time he gets stuck


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NO tie downs rope yet, plus he still has my snow shovel that comes apart for easy storage in the plane. I guess it's up to me to come get them, the least I can do. Oh wait, I let him know yesterday I was going to fly over there to his town, on other business, and as he said he'd be around I assumed I get could my stuff back then. So I fly in, right at the time I had mentioned, get my bike out and run a few errands, and then go over to his hangar and he is gone and it is locked up. Via text, the next day, he told me he had had to leave, but apparently didn't think to leave my stuff where I could get at it. No problem, it's good to know my gear is safe, locked up in his hangar, instead of rattling around in my plane. And, I understand, he was too busy to let me know he'd be gone. And my SUV I loaned him, that has less fuel in it now? Well that just saves weight for when I next drive it. As does the lesser gas weight in the plane after I flew to get him off that ridge top. It's just good to know how it is supposed to work, when you put your butt and aircraft at risk and use your fuel, time, and equipment to help someone out, the least you can also do is round up your gear later yourself and buy your own gas, I guess I had it wrong. The last time I needed similar help, I filled the helper pilot's plane fuel tanks without thinking things through, this guy has taught me a lot.

Suck it up, your like me, you'll do it again because you have to. It's in your DNA

Glenn
 
You get them everywhere - and I’ll bet that if the roles were reversed he wouldn’t be out there helping you. Quite a lot of descriptors spring to mind but I won’t share them - other than churlish knave.


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I have carried a rope come-a-long but have not had the pleasure of trying it yet in the plane, I don't think you need all the force of a cable model and you don't have to re-rig as much when you run out of cable. Has anyone thought of taking the Kevlar replacement cable for winches and using it to replace the cable on a regular come-a-long? Would that get more length on there? Seems popular in the ATV world but they obviously have more capacity to begin with. Even a length of the Kevlar cable would be handy to have for an extension.
 
I have carried a rope come-a-long but have not had the pleasure of trying it yet in the plane, I don't think you need all the force of a cable model and you don't have to re-rig as much when you run out of cable. Has anyone thought of taking the Kevlar replacement cable for winches and using it to replace the cable on a regular come-a-long? Would that get more length on there? Seems popular in the ATV world but they obviously have more capacity to begin with. Even a length of the Kevlar cable would be handy to have for an extension.

Test your rope come along BEFORE you need it. Had used many with no problems. But the last one I got from amazon with rope included slips on the included rope. Need to buy some of that yellow rope and retest( that’s what we always used to flip planes over)


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If you ever drop a ski through an ice layer you’ll want a real come-along. The scope of the line is flat and the plane has to be lifted, which in this case comes from getting the tip(s) on top and hoping the aft check cables hold as you pull the plane with the skis tilted toward the sky so it can climb on top. It’s a chore. I carry a Pack Mule come-along and a couple of hundred feet of Blue Steel line. The problem with dyneema rope is it requires a thimble and splice to terminate. It breaks on itself if you use conventional knots, but conventional knots are all I know. At least the backlash isn’t lethal like with steel cable. If you do get by with a regular knot and the line has had a load? May as well cut it because that knot isn’t coming out. I guess them’s the breaks for using bad judgement, or so I’ve heard. ;)
 
Old manila rope works with rope come-alongs. Sticks to the sheave better.

If stuck cut a 4-6" pole and kick under the ski tips with them pried or lifted up. Hook the puller to a screw anchor in the ice. Once it comes up some put more logs and brush or spruce limbs if available under the skis and pull the plane up on that hopefully dry platform. Clear out a path forward with snowshoes and shovel in front of the skis and especially the prop. Get in the plane and gas'er trying not to pick up slush if present with the prop tip. Ice on the prop kills thrust. If it won't go then just put up camp for the night and leave the plane sitting above the crud on a pad. Pack a trail ahead that will set up and freeze. Use your 1 KW generator to make heat for you and the plane.

Gary
 
I'll pass on one trick I used in 1970- I had a 7AC with an 85 hp on wooden skiis. I foolishly tried to go flying at -30F. I pre-heated the airplane over night, but discovered I couldn't taxi 1 inch because of frost on the bottom of the skiis. I remembered a trick I had read about- I put each ski into a garbage bag. It taxied without a problem and on takeoff the bags ripped off and went elsewhere. (Today I would taxi until the bags ripped, then I would pull them off of the skis before flying.) I learned to carry two small 2 x 6's to lift the skiis up after stopping. We were dressed for -30F but found at 1500 feet or so it was a balmy 0 degrees. Today I argue with myself about going out into the heated garage when it's cold outside...
 
In the last 2 years I have changed my "unstuck kit". Still snowshoes and a good scoop shovel with a fiberglass handle, but no more come-along. I have found that my little stihl electric saw with a fully charged battery is more useful. I am always amazed at the power and longevity of that saw. You can almost always work out some way to lift a ski and get something under it, then build up snow (overflow) or pack it down to eventually get out.
 
I'll pass on one trick I used in 1970- I had a 7AC with an 85 hp on wooden skiis. I foolishly tried to go flying at -30F. I pre-heated the airplane over night, but discovered I couldn't taxi 1 inch because of frost on the bottom of the skiis. I remembered a trick I had read about- I put each ski into a garbage bag. It taxied without a problem and on takeoff the bags ripped off and went elsewhere. (Today I would taxi until the bags ripped, then I would pull them off of the skis before flying.) I learned to carry two small 2 x 6's to lift the skiis up after stopping. We were dressed for -30F but found at 1500 feet or so it was a balmy 0 degrees. Today I argue with myself about going out into the heated garage when it's cold outside...

Used garbage bags on the skis many times, also in the 70’s and 80’s.... Worked well, also worked great as improvised rain coat with arm holes cut out.....
 
In the last 2 years I have changed my "unstuck kit". Still snowshoes and a good scoop shovel with a fiberglass handle, but no more come-along. I have found that my little stihl electric saw with a fully charged battery is more useful. I am always amazed at the power and longevity of that saw. You can almost always work out some way to lift a ski and get something under it, then build up snow (overflow) or pack it down to eventually get out.

?? You replaced your come-along with an electric saw? Please explain. Is there a winch head or power block on the saw? If so, sounds interesting. More info please.

Jim
 
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