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Bushwheels - Land on Pavement + 100 foot taxi vs Land on Gravel + 2500 foot taxi?

N

Narwhal

PATRON
ANC
If you hypothetically had a Supercub with 31" bushwheels and these were your two choices:

Land on a Gravel Runway then taxi ~ 1/2 mile on pavement to get to your parking spot

-or-

Land on an asphalt runway then taxi ~ 100 feet to your parking spot

Which you would you choose for wear and tear on your tires, assuming wind/weather no factor (Runways are almost parallel)? How many cycles do you think the tires would last in each scenario?

Thanks!
 
Land on an asphalt runway then taxi ~ 100 feet to your parking spot....

IMHO....After you fly the bushwheels you will instantly forget about how many cycles they'll last and you'll replace them without a second thought.
 
I guess I’m too cheap as near the end of life on my current wheels. Until I can spin up my wheels prior to landing to eliminate the tire skidding on pavement before getting the inertia rolling, I do everything I can to avoid pavement.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
Like looking for landing areas near where I can get mogas, avoiding pavement is a complicating factor in my flying too, as I like babying my Airsreaks. I have embraced these two factors though, as the payoff is great and they just make a flight more interesting and challenging! You have the right attitude, balancing out the taxi time V. a hard surface touchdown, and don't forget about landing in the area between any taxi way and the runway, or on the gravel, if any, on the edges of the runway. Obvious hazards exist there, more challenge!

One thing I have tried, though I have no idea if it helps, is when faced with a long pavement taxi, to do it briskly, getting some of the weight off the tires and into the wings, usually tail up, more challenge.....though it is probably not worth wrecking the plane to save a little rubber, I do it anyway. Just get some Herculiner bed liner, and wear that off instead of the virgin tire, there is no really downside to the stuff. Or, just don't worry about it, it's only money.
 
Hard call but I'd say land on gravel and taxi the distance unless you can consistently do super slow stol style landings on pavement or there is a gravel/grass threshold on the runway you can touch the tires in before rolling on pavement. Really it's the scrubbing the tires on pavement to get them spinning that does the bulk of the damage.

180Marty, how often do you have to apply Herculiner?
 
Thanks for the responses! The 100 foot taxi is a high speed taxiway turnoff from a 4000 foot asphalt runway which leads right to the hangar door - no 90 degree turns except for the pushback into the hangar. Taxiing from the gravel runway would be 2 90 degree turns on the paved taxiways.
 
Drifting the thread a bit, what sort of life does one get from the BW's if: a) very frequent TO's on asphalt; b) infrequent landings on asphalt; but c) regular, gentle turn taxi of that 1/2 mile to parking? Prolly 80 hours / year.

Time has come to replace (or at least think about it) the tires on the -12 and looking into the BW's. I can mitigate the turns and can fly to gravel strips for fueling, etc, but always have to come back to Merrill and either land on 33/15 (asphalt) with short taxi and at least 2 sharp turns or land on 23 (gravel) with the longer taxi but ability to make relatively sweeping turns. I can swallow the price of BW's, but don't want to switch every 3 years as per some of the horror stories I've heard.
 
Around 1000 hours would be my guess. Bushwheels are well worth the price going off field especially in AK. Get the heavy option it is only 200 bucks more and I believe 1/3 more rubber over the cords. Well worth the price. DENNY
 
What really wears bush wheels is running them at lower psi (to where they show a “paunch”) and driving on asphalt.
This is what causes the “crown” profile that becomes more apparent as tires wear out.
As the tire rolls along, the shoulders (the little paunch) “scrub” on the asphalt and wear a lot faster then the center line of the tire.
Sharp turns are relatively infrequent therefor contribute little to overall wear, as do landing “chirps”.
There’s really no way to avoid rapid wear if you operate on asphalt.
Awhile back I did the math when flying a Maule on 31”s.
came out to about $15/landing when operating primarily on asphalt.
Maule is a bit heavier, around 300 hrs average lifespan.
 
That 1000 hours was on a regular set of Bushwheels. Lots of factors affect the life of Bushwheels, low pressure brake locked turns and trying to stop short on tar are some of the worst things.
DENNY
 
If the run ways are parallel to each other land on the gravel short of the turn off and cross the pavement.
 
I take off and land on grass where able. Mow two grass areas at our local airport. I don't risk my plane trying to land in unknown areas at other airports trying to save my tires and I try to pre-plan wide sweeping turns. At the end of the day I gotta pay to play and from previous experience Bushwheels allow me to play where I want. I do exercise due diligence to make them last. I'd say land on the gravel.
 
Remember when you had to get out and push the airplane onto the runway and me half-looped behind you?

Steve Pierce said:
I take off and land on grass where able. Mow two grass areas at our local airport. I don't risk my plane trying to land in unknown areas at other airports trying to save my tires and I try to pre-plan wide sweeping turns. At the end of the day I gotta pay to play and from previous experience Bushwheels allow me to play where I want. I do exercise due diligence to make them last. I'd say land on the gravel.
Click to expand...
 
Land on 25 and taxi to the hanger. No need to go through the gates and the long pavement taxi from 23. I'd only land 23 if you're parking in whiskey
 
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