Icey Runway

Today was the first good day for flying in 3 wks. My home runway was clear enough so I decided to do a stop & go at a nearby airport. It had ice on maybe half its width - estimated afterwards. Everything was going reasonably well til I got slow enough that my rudder lost effectiveness. Even with the tail wheel down there was enough crosswind combined with a lack of braking to result in a gentle departure into the grass on the side of the runway. I couldn’t have been going much faster than walking speed at this point and was able to power it back on the runway - snow was only an inch or two deep. No damage done except to my ego.

Anyway lessons learned:
1. Avoid icy runways.
2. I should have switched from a S&G to a T&G as soon as things started to go south.

PS: The rolls between the two airports were fun.

I flew out of KTEW this morning and the runway was pretty clear but the taxi way still had some ice on it. I learned one thing today - make sure you are on clear pavement when you do your run up. It can get interesting pretty fast!!!

It was nice and smooth once I got to 2800' - a little squirrely with crosswind and bumps from the takeoff up.