AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2016 - 116
P&E
NEVER AGAIN
Slip slidin' away
Super Cub versus ice pressure ridge
BY MARK M. OWEN
116 | AOPA PILOT August 2016
Since it was about midday, the camp was empty. After a quick
snack, I did a quick walk around the airplane, climbed back in,
started up, and did a magneto check while sliding along the track.
Once I had negotiated the circle at the end, I departed.
About 10 miles north of town I checked in with the flight service station for weather and traffic advisories. The wind was out
of the southwest at a few knots. The runways (one is paved, the
other gravel) run more or less east/west and north/south, but
both were clear of any usable amount of snow for landing. There
was no reported traffic, so I stated my intention to land on the
ice between the runways. This was the same area from which I
had taken off-an area allowing at least 2,600 feet of ground run
in any direction.
JAMES CAREY
EARLY MAY IN KOTZEBUE, ALASKA: Snow
still covers the grave markers on the hill
just east of the main runway. The nearby
water is still frozen, mostly. Hungry Arctic
grizzly bears begin leaving their dens.
Hunters engage professional guides
to assist them in taking trophy grizzlies in
the spring. These hunts require extensive
logistical support, and small aircraft are
one of the principal means of getting the
hunters, their guides, and supplies to and
from the hunt locations.
I was new to flying on skis, with a few
hours of instruction from an experienced
guide/pilot and a few solo operations for
practice. As a result, my activities were limited to moving equipment and supplies to
and from the camps.
Flying out in my ski-equipped Piper
Super Cub one day, I snaked my way
through valleys and around various
peaks. On a blue-sky day such as this
one, the effect of the sun was dazzling.
The reflected ambient light, even in the
canyons, rendered the terrain nearly
featureless for a lack of contrast and
shadows.
Nearing the camp I was to visit, I examined an open area along a frozen stream
adjacent to the camp that had served other
pilots as a place to land. This involved
making several low passes from different directions to get the benefit of varying
light angles and shadows while looking for
logs, rocks, brush, and black ice. Once that
had been accomplished, the recommended
practice was to make a very low pass along
the intended landing line and gently touch
the skis to the snow to leave a track, but
not actually land-then go around and do
it again, building up a good, visible track.
After a couple of passes, I landed.
Abeam the camp, I shut down the airplane
and unloaded the supplies I was carrying.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2016
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