The International Cessna^® 170 Association

This post if for members to post a photo of their airplane or off airport airstrips they have landed at. This photo is my family and our 170. We landed on a grass strip with a couple of inches of snow. The strip is in Baker Valley OR. The Mountains in the background are the Elk Horns. It was a great winter day to fly!!!!

Here we are at Boulder Junction, WI on Dec 10, 2006- First day with Skis! There was about 8" of snow on the runway and we had to chase some snowmobiles off before we could land. Not a great picture because I forgot the camera and used the phone instead.



Paul
N3458D

Hi Paul,
What type of skis do you have ? Are they Fli-lite 3000s ?
Looks vey nice.
I am just N.E. of Toronto , no snow.....yet.

John

They are Schneider Wheel Penetration Skis. I hope to "perfect" my ski flying technique as it took a while to get out of Boulder junction - though we had a number of factors against us (40+ degrees, full fuel, no winds, sticky snow, two large guys, and runway tore up from snowmobiles). I also am thinking of re-pitching the prop - it is stamped as a regular pitch but the person I bought the plane from said this is a cruise prop. I am thinking of bringing the prop to a prop shop, having it tested, and re-pitched if needed after the holidays.


Paul
N3458D

Is this a common problem at airports....snowmobiles on the runway?
Are these public airports? Isn't there an airport mgr or authority that can be shown the FAR's, liability, and common sense as to damage to the landing surface?
Don't you guys carry shotguns and grenades?

(This seems like the equivalent of kids "mudding" with vehicles on a wet, sod/turf runway. The airport authority should find themselves answering to the local county attorney for allowing a public facility to be misused and damaged. When the city of OCH got notice from their underwriter that their liability insurance was in jeopardy because the city had not enforced the terms of the policy,...failure to contol access.....{a certain group of , ahem, college kids shooting rabbits with deer rifles across runways,..} ... man, it took only about 30 minutes for the cops to have a car out there writing warning citations and posting them on the airport entrance signs.)

(Of course, being 1967 and the protest-movement being in full swing, it only took us errr, I mean, those college kids, a moment to make another sign placing a bounty on cop car's gumball machines.)

But the "unauthorized activity" came to a stop pretty quickly.

George,

Boulder Junction Airport (BDJ) is just two turf runways out in the boonies of northern Wisconsin, an area of lakes and forests where recreation is king. It's unattended, with no services, no airport buildings, and no aircraft are based there. When I used it, it didn't look like they even mowed the runways in the summer. The Wisconsin airport directory notes that it is unattended May through November, and closed December through April.

We can share with the snowmobilers if there's enough snow!

John

Jeez John - Had to let the world know I landed at a closed runway
I didn't even think to check. Most of the grass strips put a snow fence across the runways - I'll just claim I was running one of them there fancy snow machines with wings
And you are right - it is in the middle of no where. Be a long walk to town if we had gotten stuck. One of the things I love about the area is the abundance of lakes - been here all my life and don't see any reason to leave. I just keep discovering new and interesting hobbies!

Paul
N3458D

Paul-WI wrote:... I hope to "perfect" my ski flying technique as it took a while to get out of Boulder junction - though we had a number of factors against us (40+ degrees, full fuel, no winds, sticky snow, two large guys, and runway tore up from snowmobiles)....

I put skis on my J3 for the first time last winter, and had exactly this experience -- except that since I was at my home field, I gave up trying to fly and put it away. I had flown it two-up just the day before, but the weather had warmed up and the the snow was just too sticky.

Having put floats on the Cub last summer, I now have a climb prop to use for the skiing season. It makes a huge difference, along with the 90-horse engine, which, on a J3 that's normally 65HP, is like putting a 180-horse Lycoming on a 170.

The lesson from my very brief experience with skis is that with an "underpowered" airplane like a stock J3 or C170, it's best to be pretty cautious, and always fly in groups. (I have that luxury; there are three or four friends at my airport who fly Cubs on skis together. )

I have a pair of Fly-Lite 3000 wheel skis for the 170 that I haven't put on it yet, partly because I think it's going to be a real handful with an O300 and cruise prop. I probably should just sell them and stick with the J3 on straight Federals.

Best Regards,

John