Where did you fly today ?

[Bandit 286]

I will tell you, last weekend was the best ski flying I have ever done around here. 6 hrs. of pure enjoyment. Rebuilt my heater fitting, with clear skies and mild temps, 25 degree's, it was a joy to fly in my Avid. There is enough snow around now that you can land just about any place you want. Because of the heavy wet snow that we got during Christmas it has not had a chance to blow. Did mostly local cruising. Looking for deer, turkeys, coyotes ect. Did fly the Mn. river valley for a while. Check out the video on Utube. "Avid Flyer Ski Plane on a river run".

Landed in a field to take on more fuel.

[akflyer 1427]

I will tell you, last weekend was the best ski flying I have ever done around here. 6 hrs. of pure enjoyment. Rebuilt my heater fitting, with clear skies and mild temps, 25 degree's, it was a joy to fly in my Avid. There is enough snow around now that you can land just about any place you want. Because of the heavy wet snow that we got during Christmas it has not had a chance to blow. Did mostly local cruising. Looking for deer, turkeys, coyotes ect. Did fly the Mn. river valley for a while. Check out the video on Utube. "Avid Flyer Ski Plane on a river run".

Landed in a field to take on more fuel.

Yesterday I took a little 60 mile flight through the mountains to go meet up with some friends who were up snow machining. The area they were riding got dumped on with about 3-4' of fresh fluffy powder Tuesday night. I landed out on a small lake and am very glad I had the floats on cause I would still be there trying to dig out and pack down a runway. As it was, it was touchy coming out even after I made a few loops around the lake and layed down a good set of tracks to try and take off from. Deep powder and 4,500' elevation dont make for stellar performance!

[C5Engineer 1170]

This is a good idea for a thread. Let's keep it going. Everytime you fly someplace make stick it in here as mini trip report

[SuberAvid 617]

What an awsome day to fly today! You just can't beat winter flying; severe clear and light winds. Plenty of snow and a good set of skis means you don't have to wait to find a relief spot. I flew north up the Talkeetna Mts, west across the Big Su River and up the Tokasitna River, South along the Peters Hills to the mouth of the Kahiltna glacier, south to Mt Yenlo and on to Fish Lakes Creek. I looked for you Leni but didn't see any Avids. I am not sure which of the lakes the lodge is on so I will have to get some directions from you or be sure you are there next time you head out that way. What frequency do you monitor/talk on out there? 122.9 or something different like 123.45?

Hoping for more days like this; I will be trying to stuff a cople of fives on the wings to extend my range. Attached a few pics of the flight. That Mt. McKinley is one big rock!

Randy

[Bandit 286]

What an awsome day to fly today! You just can't beat winter flying; severe clear and light winds. Plenty of snow and a good set of skis means you don't have to wait to find a relief spot. I flew north up the Talkeetna Mts, west across the Big Su River and up the Tokasitna River, South along the Peters Hills to the mouth of the Kahiltna glacier, south to Mt Yenlo and on to Fish Lakes Creek. I looked for you Leni but didn't see any Avids. I am not sure which of the lakes the lodge is on so I will have to get some directions from you or be sure you are there next time you head out that way. What frequency do you monitor/talk on out there? 122.9 or something different like 123.45?

Hoping for more days like this; I will be trying to stuff a cople of fives on the wings to extend my range. Attached a few pics of the flight. That Mt. McKinley is one big rock!

Randy

Gteat pictures, gotta love those ski planes. I was in Alaska two years ago in March. Did some ski flying with Don Lee in his Pacer. Flew in the Talkeetna range. Landed on Rainbow Lake where Don has a trappers cabin. It was awesome flying those 2 days. The same weather you had, clear and no wind. I got a small taste of what you guys get every day up there. Flying up that drainage makes a flatlanders ass pucker real tight. Sure would like to go back up and hang with you guys for a couple of days. Mark

Rainbow LakeDon's trappers cabin

Edited 1 Feb 2010 by Bandit

[akflyer 1427]

What an awsome day to fly today! You just can't beat winter flying; severe clear and light winds. Plenty of snow and a good set of skis means you don't have to wait to find a relief spot. I flew north up the Talkeetna Mts, west across the Big Su River and up the Tokasitna River, South along the Peters Hills to the mouth of the Kahiltna glacier, south to Mt Yenlo and on to Fish Lakes Creek. I looked for you Leni but didn't see any Avids. I am not sure which of the lakes the lodge is on so I will have to get some directions from you or be sure you are there next time you head out that way. What frequency do you monitor/talk on out there? 122.9 or something different like 123.45?

Hoping for more days like this; I will be trying to stuff a cople of fives on the wings to extend my range. Attached a few pics of the flight. That Mt. McKinley is one big rock!

Randy

Hey Randy, I did not make it up to the lodge. Lance called and he had to go back to willow for a week Made a couple trips to lost lake and today headed up to Nelli juan. I was going to drop over into Kings bay in PWS and see if I could find a trail to take snowmachines in there, but the fog cut us off and made us turn around.. Was a nice day to fly thought the mountains though!

[SuberAvid 617]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the pictures. I thought the lake sounded familiar; is it about 35 miles northeast of Talkeetna between the Sheep River and Iron Creek? I have been up there before and passed about 25 miles from it yesterday. Those mountains are beautiful and great flying when the wind is not a factor. (I wish it was always like yesterday) They can create some scary turbulence when it is windy though. I approach them cautiously.

Alaska is just a great place to fly; probably the best place in the word in my limited opinion. It is incredibly beautiful and almost unrestricted flying. You can land just about anywhere you want and think you can make it. It is pretty cool and ominus when you shut down the engine to hear nothing but nature's silence; the wind, river, etc.; but nothing human except you. An amazing feeling to know that you are depending on your plane to get you back out, wherever you are.

If you get back up this way, be sure to let me know so we can try to hook up. Nothing better than shooting the bull with another Avid addict, and maybe get a chance to do some flying.

I attached some more pics of flying last summer, just for fun.

Randy

[SuberAvid 617]

Hi Leni,

I just saw your post. Glad to see you got out and enjoyed the perfect weather, short as it was. Sounds like you pushed to the edge of the next storm front today.

I never have gone over the top to PWS in the Avid. It would be nice to fly it with a partner; those passes and snowfields can close up fast and tight. Have you ever taken your plane to Valdeze to see the short field competition?

I'll keep watching so let me know when you are planning to head this way again.

Randy

[akflyer 1427]

Few pics from yesterday... Once again I left the good digital in the truck so these are pics from the video cam. I need to get a good camera and just leave it in the plane! The pic of my plane on the ground was on a ridge above lost lake. Little shorter than I thought, but the good news is you can fall off the end of a short strip in the mountains and gain flying speed on the way down

[dholly 718]

Alaska is just a great place to fly; probably the best place in the word in my limited opinion. It is incredibly beautiful and almost unrestricted flying. You can land just about anywhere you want and think you can make it. It is pretty cool and ominus when you shut down the engine to hear nothing but nature's silence; the wind, river, etc.; but nothing human except you. An amazing feeling to know that you are depending on your plane to get you back out, wherever you are.

I love the pics you guys post, it is truly breathtaking scenery. I certainly see the appeal and I'm sure flying in that unlimited natural beauty changes the inner person for the better, not to mention continually tests your piloting skills.

Please keep your cameras clicking!

[Av8r3400 1178]

What Doug said...

[akflyer 1427]

What Doug said...

I took some pics today, but they are classified... I could post them, but then I would have to track ISP's and kill ya....

Got some good pics and some video from flying yesterday and today, will get them posted up tomorrow.

[Av8r3400 1178]

I could post them, but then I would have to track ISP's and kill ya....

"Today is a good day to die..."

[SuberAvid 617]

I am still impressed with Leni's pics of the Kenia Mts and especially landing on the ridge above Lost Lake. I knew it would take a lot to top that one but I think I have finally done it; in fact, this might be a first for an Avid . Sure glad to hear everyone got out of the snowmachine disaster trip alive. The flat light is terrible to try to ride in and the storm would have made it suicide. Glad you guys were prepared and smart in the rescue efforts.

Randy

[akflyer 1427]

I am still impressed with Leni's pics of the Kenia Mts and especially landing on the ridge above Lost Lake. I knew it would take a lot to top that one but I think I have finally done it; in fact, this might be a first for an Avid . Sure glad to hear everyone got out of the snowmachine disaster trip alive. The flat light is terrible to try to ride in and the storm would have made it suicide. Glad you guys were prepared and smart in the rescue efforts.

Randy

holy shit randy, you must have a damn good heater in there... that winter time high altitude open door flying makes you one tough SOB

[akflyer 1427]

I love the pics you guys post, it is truly breathtaking scenery. I certainly see the appeal and I'm sure flying in that unlimited natural beauty changes the inner person for the better, not to mention continually tests your piloting skills.

Please keep your cameras clicking!

as far as I am concerned, even a 6 pack of hot blonds doing bad bad things to me is not as therapeutic as a nice flight in the mountains. Being that close to the awesome ruggedness will damn near turn me into a religious man... and not cause I think I am gonna die, just makes one wonder about the insight needed to create something so spectacular.

[SuberAvid 617]

Amen; there is no doubt in my mind.

Randy

[Av8r3400 1178]

Though a six-pack of blonds is a good topic, especially with photos, back to the one intended...

I put another 2 hours on today to match the 2 yesterday and 2.5 on Thursday ski flying. Went to a local chili feed today then hopscotched my way home, from one little private strip to another. About an even dozen landings.

Lots of fun. Too much fun to remember to take photos or video...

[Bandit 286]

These Avids and Kitfoxes are just a blast to fly. Put my 7" tailwheel on today. Went out to try it, landed on a few hills and valleys,man what a beautiful evening. Check my U-Tube video of taking off circling and landing in about 45 seconds.I just tried it once tonight, with pushing it a little more I think I could shave a few seconds off that time.

[Av8r3400 1178]

Put on another ~4 hours today of ski flying. This is just too fun! We spent most of the day hoping from one lake to another testing (abusing) the new tail ski in as deep of snow as we could find. Eventually we found an area with avbout 10" of fluffy snow under a 1/4" hard crust. It works pretty good so far.

The guy with the champ in the photo has TrickAir skis (he is an A&P and works with them). Note the tail wheel on the Champ and on my Kitfox. They are both 6" Mauls, but mine has the ski attached.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Very cool Larry!!

[akflyer 1427]

Very cool Larry!!

Coulda tested those babies out for ya yesterday.. landed in a big ole swamp to watch some of the Iron Dog racers come through. It was Wagon Master in his Mk IV with my skis on it, my brother in his Pacer on ski's and 2 guys in Cubs on skis. The cubs sunk in the wet heavy stuff to the belly pod. Wagon master stayed up on top pretty darn good with the exception of his tail which was sunk in almost to the stabilizer. One of the cub drivers had to pack a good runway to get him and his passenger off... this is in a bad ass 200 HP 170,000.00 cub that has every mod known to man on it (including a glass panel)... The Avids kicked everyones ass in the deep snow!

[Bandit 286]

Flew to a local lake and tried out my new Ruger 22 Charger.

[akflyer 1427]

Flew to a local lake and tried out my new Ruger 22 Charger.

Very cool! I love plinking!

[SuberAvid 617]

I love it! I found that flying out to plink is the easiest way around here to get clear of the houses. You would think that with as much space as there is in Alaska, you could shoot anywhere, but there are so many houses that you can't see except fromthe air. A few minutes in the airplane and you are clear, sitting on a gravel bar having fun; besides, any excuse to fly or excuse to plink is good