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Ski Rigging

stewartb

MEMBER
I always look at ski planes in flight and notice the ski position relative to level flight attitude and as often as not I'm surprised to see skis rigged very tip high. In the past couple of days I've seen a Cub and a 185 on Airglas hydraulic skis that were in excess of 15* nose up in flight. And a 206 on straights that was worse. I don't get it.
 
I always look at ski planes in flight and notice the ski position relative to level flight attitude and as often as not I'm surprised to see skis rigged very tip high. In the past couple of days I've seen a Cub and a 185 on Airglas hydraulic skis that were in excess of 15* nose up in flight. And a 206 on straights that was worse. I don't get it.

Me neither.......must like going slow.

MTV
 
Don't necessarily blame the owner/operator as others often get involved - ski manufacturers, maintenance personnel, and assorted "helpers". The one situation that nose up can help are ops at speed on uneven packed snow that wants to raise the ski tips and really tighten the rear safety cable. I bent an AERO 3000 tip up once hitting a snow drift. The rear upper cable thimble was flattened but held. My fault and an exception. Normally +0-2* up is plenty.

Gary
 
I always look at ski planes in flight and notice the ski position relative to level flight attitude and as often as not I'm surprised to see skis rigged very tip high. In the past couple of days I've seen a Cub and a 185 on Airglas hydraulic skis that were in excess of 15* nose up in flight. And a 206 on straights that was worse. I don't get it.

I asked the local guy that has a cub and 180 each on the new Airglass hydraulic skis. He said the factory specs have them very nose up with the wheels down. When they retract the wheels, the skis flatten out.
 
Recently a gentleman stopped by to have a friendly chat at our tie down at PAMR we got to discussing ski flying and the GLH3000 setup we have on our Cub. As we were shooting the breeze a Cub took off with the exact same setup as ours. With the wheels down those skis ride way nose up. The gentleman immediately stated “that’s why I don’t like those skis” and went on a rant of why the hell would someone fly around with their skis like that. He also failed to notice they were being deployed as that pilot was climbing out and probably had the doors closed by Ship Creek. Point is I get comments frequently on how odd my skis look angled up like that....but those comments have one thing in common. I’m wheels down takeoff/landing on a non ski op surface.

When we first installed them I questioned the Airglas rep about the wheels down ski tip angle. He said the skis are prerigged to ride with very little nose up once they are deployed. So I just live with it. Besides I deploy them on climb out and retract while on downwind on a paved return. If people don’t like the way they look then maybe they should look away:lol:. I really like the GLH3000’s and appreciate Airglas and their products.

I have heard of people modifying the rigging to ride more level with the wheels down.....what’s the point your over snow anyway why not just deploy and leave them down.


Back to stewartb’s original question. I too am curious, last weekend I saw 3 straight ski planes with really high ski tips in flight.....unusually high. Does it help that much in really deep snow? super drifted areas? Personal preference I guess. I need to have my skis deployed otherwise it’s too draggy.

On the flip side is some have told me my skis need more up angle when they are deployed. Besides when you touchdown in a tail low attitude it brings the ski tip angle up a bit. I think my skis look about right.
 

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Yep- the GLH series are very nose high in wheel mode- you put them in ski position for cruise. Interesting how little it actually changes the flying- even when one is up and one down it really isn’t much of an effect. On a cub at least- haven’t flown them on a Cessna.
 
I have adapted a pair of Fluidyne SkyLite 3000 for my Exp SuperCub. I fly them ski down.....:-? hahahah!!


Skis up:
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Skis down:
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I fooled around with the rigging on my Datum retracts for days, but have not changed it in 10 seasons now. It's all a compromise, and the terrain you operate on and the way you fly may make one setup a bit better than another? Right now my rear cable thimbles are slightly flattened, but that happened long ago, probably the first time I hit my ramp getting back to the hangar, and nothing has changed. Making them longer would of course affect the cruise flight AOA. Taxiing up and down my ramp is no doubt the main stressor I deal with. Overall, the skis and 6:00 tires seem to offer about the same amount of drag as when I'm on the 29" Airstreaks, if there was a huge drag hit I'd play with things some more.
 

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Sometimes, the perspective of the viewer may be the reason skis may not look accurately rigged...how does the rigging look here? F3E82D8C-FA34-426B-9D9D-B2774867E595.jpeg
 

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