Here we go again

[Richard Flanders]

I know, I know... I just can't help myself. These trips are such a kick! Today was cold though. We don't usually go down this early. It was -5deg with a "brisk" breeze that cut through whatever one was wearing so we just snowshoed around a bit and came back home. No basking in the sun on this trip.

[ron belanger]

Beautiful pictures...were there skis on those craft or did you land with just wheels?

[Richard Flanders]

We're on skis. The C180 has wheel skis; mine has straight. No way you could land on wheels in that soft snow.

[charlie cleveland]

as always some mighty beautiful views..i m gona get to see some of alaska in may..been wanting to see this beautful land for most of my life....charlie

[Steve McCarty]

Aaahhh; what happens if the thing won't start?

[Richard Flanders]

The chance of that is so slim as to not be an issue. The engines have two spark plugs in each cylinder and dual magnetos, each of which fires one of the plugs in all 4 cylinders. Much can go wrong but they will still start. I've never had one that had gas and spark not start. Up there if one won't start you get into the other and go home for parts to fix it. We do like to take two planes up there but I've been known to go up solo.

[Brent Francis]

Richard, very nice. Is that the brooks range?

[Bob Hardison]

Richard:
Could not take the wind and -5 deg but am happy for you. Absolutely wonderful photos and thank you for sharing them:cool:. We here in the southeast never see that type of beautiful scenery:crying:. Have enjoyed time in Alaska during the August fishing peaks but it is not the same scenery. Have enjoyed many post from you and please keep them coming. Thanks Again, Bob

[Phillip Carr]

Having spent my career in aviation, and loving the outdoors I just love the pictures and adventures you post. Keep them coming.

[Richard Flanders]

Brent: We were in the Locket basin of the Black Rapids Glacier in the Alaska range south and east of Fairbanks.

[Steve McCarty]

The chance of that is so slim as to not be an issue. The engines have two spark plugs in each cylinder and dual magnetos, each of which fires one of the plugs in all 4 cylinders. Much can go wrong but they will still start. I've never had one that had gas and spark not start. Up there if one won't start you get into the other and go home for parts to fix it. We do like to take two planes up there but I've been known to go up solo.

Just after the VN War, just for grins, I landed my Taylorcraft in the desert east of Palm Springs. I got out and walked around and noticed bomb craters. I had landed in a bombing target! The engine, a leaky Continental 65 hated to start when it was hot. So I sat there waiting for the engine to cool hoping that some A-7 wouldn't roll in and drop a bomb on me.

Got it started and took off. I'll never forget it.

[Gary Laudermilch]

As a pilot and shotgunner I just love your photo posts. Keep 'em coming.

[Steve Cambria]

BREATHTAKING!!! Magazine quality shots. What was the altitude (ballpark) where you set down? Thanks so much for sharing.

[Richard Flanders]

Can't remember for sure. I looked at my altimeter when I landed and was going to remember but you know how that goes.... It's somewhere between 4000-5000 feet. The next basin up that we ski in is around 7000 ft. It's a long takeoff roll I can tell you. That C-180 can take almost a mile to get off the snow sometimes.

[Jeff Christie]

Can't remember for sure. I looked at my altimeter when I landed and was going to remember but you know how that goes.... It's somewhere between 4000-5000 feet. The next basin up that we ski in is around 7000 ft. It's a long takeoff roll I can tell you. That C-180 can take almost a mile to get off the snow sometimes.

Wow!! I would have thought it would jump off the deck in yards if not feet. What is the density altitude in that cold? Or is it that cold? What is it like in ground effect with the snow. I guess the real altitude trumps the cold air density factor.

My father flew C-124's in Antarctica and said they would white out pretty much as they entered ground effect on landing. When they reversed props things really got spooky. And the cockpit deck was 38 feet from the runway.

[Richard Flanders]

It takes some time and experience on glaciers to get on and off them successfully. It was -5 that day so the snow was a bit more like sand than slippery corn snow but we didn't sink in far so takeoff wasn't too bad. We certainly had nice dense cold air. Took Chris about .5 miles, me about 1500ft to lift off. We land up hill after making a drag downhill to check the snow conditions and park facing downhill and on a slope so we can get going. Chris had to throw his passenger and all their gear out of the plane before he could taxi uphill at all in that spot after he had landed too far down from me. I repositioned to get beside him, but could barely taxi up that minor slope in that cold snow. We lean a fair bit on takeoff for more power at that elevation, which helps. Up there his C-180 and my PA-12 have about the same payload - 2 people and gear. I've seen him go down glacier for over a mile and have to give it up and taxi back up for another try in his tracks. That day he had two passengers and the snow was deeper. I was off in less than 1000ft using his tracks. He has wheel skis which don't have the square footage of surface per plane weight that my straight skis have and just don't work as well, but he can fly up there in the summer when my skis are long off and the snow is warmer, coarser and wetter and thus very slippery. It's a tradeoff. I remember having a C-130 trying to takeoff with a load in fresh snow from one of my Antarctic camps. The strip was 4000ft long and he made 3 aborted attempts before finally making it off. I have some awesome video of that one.

[Jeff Christie]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Very enlightening. Definitely not for the faint of heart.