Slipping and Sliding....

David-aviator · #1 01-20-2007, 02:15 PM

A form of aviator cabin fever has set in due to recent ice storms. It's been 17 days since the last flight. The local turf runway finally shed its coat of ice yesterday and one neighbor blasted off in his Bonanza this morning so I figured it was time to kick the tires and light a fire in the RV.

Take off was a non event. At 34F, the thing came off very quick. No hint of anything unusual about the runway condition. There's a calm in the air - another storm due tonight - and the flight was a delight. A stop at a local airport for some hot beef stew topped it off.

The landing was something else again. Turns out, frost in the ground with the top quarter inch or so melted ice makes for a very slippery situation. Another neighbor flew his Commanche and said with nose steering all was well, but when he hit the brakes there was nothing but a tendency to slide. That's what the RV did when attempting to steer down the center of the runway after landing. For a time it was not clear how it would end but I figured it would stop by itself before going off the 2200' field and it did. But there was not much steering and no braking.

Lesson - the airplane will go straight ahead pretty much by itself and differential brake will immediately cause the beginning of a skid. Without prop blast, the rudder is almost not there. A runway may look good, feel good for a take off but don't count on it for landing.

This time of the year it would be nice to have a hard surface. With 5-6 inches of snow due tonight, it may be six weeks until we can fly out of here again....bummer. Come on spring!

robertahegy · #2 01-20-2007, 06:18 PM

Hey Dave,

We have a grass strip at Air Troy. We get a few people with tractor mounted snowblowers and blow our runway clear. Our's is a 20 hp Toro Wheelhorse with a 44" 2 stage blower. I have actually done our 1700' runway myself. It works well as the blowers get most of the snow and the sun sublimes the rest away. You need to organize a group that's willing to help out.

Roberta

David-aviator · #3 01-20-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robertahegy

Hey Dave,

We have a grass strip at Air Troy. We get a few people with tractor mounted snowblowers and blow our runway clear. Our's is a 20 hp Toro Wheelhorse with a 44" 2 stage blower. I have actually done our 1700' runway myself. It works well as the blowers get most of the snow and the sun sublimes the rest away. You need to organize a group that's willing to help out.

Roberta

Thanks, I will check this out.