North East Winter Fun 22/23

I beg off today as well so what time at Gavin’s and what time for lunch at South Lake. Lunch earlier than 1:00 I hope. Long ride for me.

Jim

Made it Fred’s today

Colorguns said:

Made it Fred’s today View attachment 64986

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Tomorrow?

TcraftF21 said:

I beg off today as well so what time at Gavin’s and what time for lunch at South Lake. Lunch earlier than 1:00 I hope. Long ride for me.

Jim

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9 at Gavin's and noon at South Lake.
You get an extra hour tomorrow

Glenn

Well... There's a reason we do preflight inspections. We were going to be at Gavin's this morning.

Good catch, I think I have that part you can use and replace as able. Problem is I'm away until tomorrow.

Bearhawk Builder said:

Good catch, I think I have that part you can use and replace as able. Problem is I'm away until tomorrow.

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I'll be in touch.

For Ty

8F sunny and calm, perfect day for Gavin's ski breakfast







Then home for more gas



South lake







Back in September 2021 I posted pictures of 19 yo Teddy who bought a C90-8 Pa11 on Baumman 1500 floats. Well Teddy got his ticket last Wednesday and he took the check ride in his own Pa11 on skis.

Great job Teddy



Glenn

I ordered a replacement actuator from Datum on Monday. It made it through customs and was at the nearby shipping facility on Tuesday, but wasn't delivered due to the snowstorm. It arrived and was installed on Wednesday. Back in the air Thursday morning. Jaffrey has 20 inches of snow on the runway.

kestrel said:

Well... There's a reason we do preflight inspections. We were going to be at Gavin's this morning.

View attachment 64992

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A good reminder for this ski pilot also!

Hmm....litty breezy to fly today





Let's have a vintage wienie roast ride up on top of the hill at the old DeRonda airport



















Great day to be alive

Glenn

Ben out did himself again

Snow day

https://youtu.be/P84i1ykHkU4

Glenn

First day of spring, what to do��



Raquette lake for lunch





Ended the day on skis



Glenn

Electrically fail?

On Patrol said:

Electrically fail?

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I was asking Tyson if his actuator electrically failed.

On Patrol said:

I was asking Tyson if his actuator electrically failed.

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Broke one side of the actuator rod off. I discovered that you need about 30 psi of tire pressure. If less the tire indents on the step on the back of the ski when trying to climb back up. I had about 8 in mine for a softer ride and stripped the gears in mine.

Glenn

On Patrol said:

I was asking Tyson if his actuator electrically failed.

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If you look carefully at the picture, you can see that the split end of the rod broke at the retaining pin. I think yours may be a different design based on some pictures Dave sent me.

kestrel said:

If you look carefully at the picture, you can see that the split end of the rod broke at the retaining pin. I think yours may be a different design based on some pictures Dave sent me.

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I was wondering if that was your ski The new Datums appear to be a different design.

On Patrol said:

I was wondering if that was your ski The new Datums appear to be a different design. View attachment 65193

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When is the first flight date? Looks close.

Don't push him :lol:

On Patrol said:

I was wondering if that was your ski The new Datums appear to be a different design.

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The ski is the same/similar, but the actuator is different and also placed differently when mounting. I would expect the actuator to be different because yours is for a lighter gross weight. I wonder how much of the mounting difference is driven by the actuator and how much is driven by an interest in making the mount stronger. I think I can mount mine like yours, but it will take a little bit of thought/modification.

Are those big brakes and are they fitting with the skis in the "up" position?

...and while I have you on the phone, how is the snow holding up up north? I'm wondering if it is time to pull my skis...

skywagon8a said:

When is the first flight date? Looks close.

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Peter everday is a day closer

Bearhawk Builder said:

Don't push him :lol:

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No keep pushing

On Patrol said:

No keep pushing

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Show us a picture of the entire fuselage and the wings. Besides I'm looking forward to test flying the floats to determine if they need any tweaking. The ice is out.

Yeah John, let's see the wings

Glenn

Sounds obvious as heck, but check to make sure the brakes are not actuated/on, while sitting there with engine running! I still find myself doing so from time to time. I've stripped the older style actuators never their mounting structure. They can use much heavier duty actuators but of course there is a weight, cost, and electrical draw factor to consider. I also learned not to make the actuator pull " uphill", by having the ski tip run up on a berm for instance.

Are those big brakes and are they fitting with the skis in the "up" position?

Yes, they work with the double puck brakes using 700-6 tires puffed up pretty hard. Smaller doesn't work. The calipers have to be clocked as far up as possible on the Bearhawk gear and the brake line needs to come out of the top but they work. The new style cut out is just big enough if you're careful with side to side spacing, wish it was a little bigger.

VT Glenn and Judy wins best breakfast ever award " again "

I had already eaten 1/4 of it



Glenn

Due to a combination of factors (super flat light, with an approaching snow squall causing a pretty stiff and sudden 90 degree cross wind) while on short final for my mountain strip I, in retrospect, was so intent on trying to correctly ascertain where in the heck the surface was, I drifted off what I laughingly call the centerline of my ski strip. The flat light resulted in me failing to note the cross drift, or at least I didn't notice the wind was cross when I flew over the windsock at the bottom, but after landing saw the wind turbine up top indicating such, briskly too. So either I failed to note it, or it was a sudden gust (that also stopped as sudden, by the time I got out of the plane), or both. No big deal, except the ground slopes off to that side, besides the usual uphill component. So now I have a slope falling off to my right, while the cross wind was from the left, no problem I thought, after a good landing after the initial difficulty in finding the surface, and while still moving a few MPH I gave it 100% power and full left rudder in order to get lined back up with the ramp leading to the hangar. Further complicating things was the side slope I was getting pushed towards, is south facing, and the snow there was rotten/mushy, and the sideways drift putting pressure on that side's ski made it punch thru and that was all she wrote, stuck! The first time in 8 or 9 seasons.

The wind turbine tower was lined up with the plane's centerline, so after postholing up the slope and gathering up my 200' of 3/4" muletape, some old crane rigging and misc. rope, I managed to cobble up about 350-400' of line leading to my rope comalong. My cub style gear has 1.5" hollow axles, and I had previously drilled the inboard sections with 1/4" holes and had been carrying for the last 10 seasons a tow kit, short lengths of chain and 2 bolts. The chain pinned into the hollow axle stubs, and my two tie down ropes acting as a bridle, so the pulling force was in about as structurally good a place as possible. Than I started winching, it took a lot just to get all the slack out of that much cobbled together rigging, nothing moved, I was still at a severe tilt, and worse, aimed about 30 degrees off from my ski ramp. After about an hour of work, being careful not to stress the gear fittings of course, I managed to get it out enough to at least sit level side to side. Then I got out my emergency fuselage handle, which unlike the usual ground handling handles on the LE of the hor stab, pins into the bottom longeron, making it possible to lift the tail up higher while standing in deep snow, and I incrementally was able to get the nose lined up with the ramp, finally. The wind had shifted 180 degrees and it was snowing lightly while this was going on.

Then I unrigged from the tower base, knowing the rotten snow would at least keep the plane from sliding backwards on the 14% grade, got the Kubota tractor out and up on the concrete slab leading into the hangar and rigged to it. I could back up about 35', all the room I had, and then I'd rerig again, and gain another 35'. It worked great...., slow and gentle all the way, didn't get in a hurry. Got it back in the hangar, and decided this year's ski season was finished, but, it went out with a whimper. But I did learn that the muletape I had been packing around for years, unused, worked great, it held knots while also being easy to untie them. The pass thru comalong had already proved it self this year, pulling the snowbike out of holes, it worked like a champ. The stub axle bridle tow point and the lower longeron handle also did their part, as planned, or at least hoped for. The Datum skis are fine.Careful examination showed no tweaks to the skis or gear, and as the next morning was perfect flying weather, I decided to end the ski flying season on a high note, landing this 8600' site on the way to breakfast. Just overnight, my runway has gotten compromised by the warm wind, I'm done. Unless it snows again.