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Gravelly Valley-Lake Pillsbury, CA

14 posts in this topic

Posted

This morning I blasted out and met up with some guys from another forum who were camped at Gravelly Valley. It took me an hour and 15 minutes to fly the 90 some miles up there. I popped over the ridge at 7000 feet and could see the fog bank over the lake from 15 miles out. I was able to fly around the backside and find a hole to sneak in under the fog deck. It was a pretty sporty approach. It burned off shortly afterwards and we went out and did some playing on a few gravel bars. I logged 3.6 and stopped counting at around 15 landings.

Onto the pics

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Not long after I parked you can see the fog

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Was greeted with the best Huevos Rancheros ever!!

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Aaron is his big tired 140

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The campsite

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Pretty sweet shot of Bryans Mooney

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The Avid in it's favorite spot...Surrounded by brush!

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A 182 blasting out

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Overhead shot of camp

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Rob in his 170

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Got my camera out just a little too late

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On approach to a gravel bar

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DUCK

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There was a bald eagle flying around overhead during this shot checking me out. One of those spots that makes you just look around and realize how lucky you are.

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The only Backcountry Mooney Pilot I know. Yes this airplane has retractable landing gear.

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On my way home

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Posted

Gosh, Your pics are making me wish I had my Avid flying already. Can't wait to hit the skys again this summer.

Thanks for sharing

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Posted

Joey, once again GREAT pics! Brian flys the shit out of that plane, can you imagine getting him in a cub and the places he would go then???

High Country, are you the same guy on BCP huh.gif

BC.gif

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Posted

High Country, are you the same guy on BCP huh.gif

BC.gif

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Posted

BCP= Backcountrypilot.org

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Posted

Nope not me, but i will have to check it out though

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Posted

Love those pictures Joey! Quite the mix of planes; must be tough to fly together. I am amazed at the places some of those guys are willing to land; especially the Mooney

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Posted

Just bumping some old threads. This picture of my buddies Mooney that I took made Avweb's pic of the week. They receive a lot of submissions every week so this was quite an honor.

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Posted

He is proof positive that for 99% of the time the $5000 cartoonish balloon tires are not needed.

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Posted

Depends on the pilot. I'm going to say about not needed 30% of the time with myself. Then again I wouldn't consider the Nanco's "Big" tires. This guys Maule on 35's is a bit ridiculous. He has them because he can. There are very very few people out there that could fully utilize this set up. The big rocks long props guy is about the only one I can think of that really needs 35's on a Maule.

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Posted

He is proof positive that for 99% of the time the $5000 cartoonish balloon tires are not needed.

I would say that depends on where you fly... I would say that 99% of the places we go up here, that money would be helicoptered out in a nice big sling load of unusable parts.

Some may think the big tires are only over compensation for a little dick, however, the first time you fly off the rocks or bumps with them, you will see how much easier it is on your plane. Yes, I could land alot of places with 800 or 8.50's that I do now with the 24" tires, but I also have to wonder why the guy that had the plane before me folded the gear TWICE going into gravel bars with the 8.50's. The first time you land on the rocks with big tires and you dont hear you gear legs slapping the shit out of the seat truss you may change your outlook on big tires :lol:

:BC:

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Posted

I'm running Grove gear now. No more worries about the bungee truss and it's inherent design flaws.

I doubt I will ever land on a rock bar like you describe, on purpose at least. My 21x8.00x6 tires are plenty big for anything that I will ever do.

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Posted

I've seen planes with Bushwheels landed on true tundra and was just amazed they could do it without going into a hole that would put them on their nose or rip the gear off. Too risky for me though. The bigger tires are probably not necessary for most of us but they do ease the pounding on the plane and the less than perfect landings of just regular gravel bars and an occasional rock or root that were bigger than you thought. I am amazed at the cusion they provide. I hit a root ball at least 12" in diameter one time and packed hard with sand like a rock. I thought for sure I was going to have some damage, but nothing. I know the tire saved me.

I have wondered how the Grove gear would fair in rough landing areas. The gear is probably plenty strong but it sure looks like the very narrow support area would put some real stress on the airframe. I know of a Kifox up here with grove gear and you can see the fabric all wrinkled around the gear attachment mounts. Replacing bungees might be a pain every few years but I am pretty happy with my oversized homemade gear with the 3 attachment points to distribut the load.

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Posted

I've got maybe 100 hours on my Grove conversion and I have to say it is awesome. The pliability of the gear absorb bumps, without bouncing back, that the bungee/bush gear depend on the tires to do. For the flying that I do, from airports to grass strips it works great.

I'm planning on reinforcing the trussing under the door, by sheeting, on my project plane for that very reason. Again, this will most likely be overkill for any of the flying I personally do, but now is the time to do it.

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