James: It's an insulated engine cover that keeps the engine warm so you can start it again. If you let it get too cold while you're out playing, it's hard on the engine to restart it as it has a splash oil system for lubricating the cam lobes. I generally preheat the engine with a small electric heater inside the covered cowling overnight if it's real cold. The cover used to be black but UV fixed that.
Depth perception while landing on skis depends upon the lighting. On cloudy days the light is flat on snow and perception is bad so we sometimes make a low and slow pass on a landing site and toss out a string of spruce boughs... or sleeping bags, water bottles, parkas, or whatever is in the plane so we have some reference. On nice sunny days ski landings are the easiest of all and resemble a flat water landing on floats; you just fly it into the snow at a slow descent rate until it is on the ground...
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