n2020u wrote:Flew around the SF Bay area today. Shot 10 landings at Reid Hillview to test out our brand new ABW 3224 Tailwheel assembly! This plane handles so much better than it did with the Maule TW!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garrettgra ... /lightbox/

Outstanding photography. I miss living and flying in the Bay Area. Was based at, and trained at HWD. Flew in and out of RHV all the time.

Ok, well, here are a few that are at least aviation-related.





Andy[/img]

Thank you!

Unbelievably cool! Cold actually!

Awesome! Maybe some day...

On principle, I took a short ski flight today, being the first day of the year and all.

I started prepping at 2:30 PM, had the engine running by 3:30 (near dusk here in wintry Fairbanks AK) and had the ski bases cleaned off enough to taxi by 4 (shoulda done that first), took one lap around the pattern and landed by 4:15 (with landing lights showing the way), and then parked it. First flight of the year, first night landing, too.

After landing, I spent the next hour and 15 minutes putting it away - plastic under the skis (shoulda done that last time), plane pajamas, tied down and all.

It took 3 hours to complete one pattern circuit, perhaps 3 minutes of flight. SO WORTH IT!

The first cabin trip of the year. Only just put the skis on a week ago. We've not had the best conditions for ski flying and now it's here!

This year, we helped out with Team #5 with the Iron Dog. We loaded all the spare parts our team might have needed and headed to Nome. Unfortunately, our team had to scratch due to one of the guys had a severe case of frostbite.

This is what frostbite looks like. Ray was pretty sick. We met them at McGrath and were informed of his condition. I unloaded all the parts out of the plane, stuffed him in the back and headed him promptly to the hospital in Anchorage. He's going to get some skins grafts on his nose and right cheek.

Our passenger on the way back to ANC

It was -31 when we touched down in greater Metropolitan McGrath.

Cold

The Alaska Range. Great weather the first day, over the top and smooth. 0* at 10k'

Unfortunately, a friend had an an accident on the first day of the race. The two occupants have recieved significant injuries. On the second day, I left at dawn to retrieve my second racer from McGrath. A heavy east wind pushed to ground speed to 178mph. I paid for it on the way home. I never saw above 85mph. On the way home, I was hailed to come give a hand recovering his plane. It was a greusome job seeing what had happend. We are praying for the recovery of both men. A sober reminder that bad things can happen to good people. Always leave yourself an out.

Kurt,, dog looks like he'd rather be someplace warmer... love those yellow labs...

I had a buddy running the trail class. They scratched at 700 miles when his buddy burned a piston. It was brutally cold for that kind of race! Thrown in the wind chill to -30/-40 temps and it gets ugly in a hurry! Hope your friend makes a full rocovery. That frostbit on his neck/nose looks gnarly! Any work on the condition of the pilot/passenger in the 170? The plane is torn up! How did your home made preheater work at those temps?

Butch, That's Tinka, the Entitlement Dog, she's put out because she didn't get to go. It makes no difference to her the temp, the weather or the destination, she's game to go. Always
Jeff, I hear you on the temps. We turned around at McGrtath for obvious reasons. The other planes went on ahead with the anticipation of warming weather. Not. They woke in Gallena to -40+* and had to sit two days until things warmed. Several guys bailed as soon as it went above -30. A 170b blew what I believe to be the oil cooler in McGrath, there was oil all down the fuselage and on the ground. Another friend who was flying managed to get into Unalakleet in his -12 and has been there all week. 60-70mph winds and 0* ambient temps. In McGrath, he'd asked me if I wanted to swap planes, me going ahead in the -12 and he flying my guys back. He didn't want to go and now he's the one grounded in the Village. Poor Bastard
Heater works great. It's on at least it's fifth year. Nothing but a varient of a Northern Companion. Stepped up a few years ago to an XGR (sp?) burner instead of the whisperlite. Big improvement! I think I'm into the whole thing for ~$60. Does extra duty for all my heating and cooking needs year round.

I was gathering materials to clone your stove when I came across a smoking deal on one of the Northern Companion stoves. That thing cranks out some pretty good heat and is a little more "polished" than anything I could cobble together. I've had an MSR XGK for many years so I was already familiar with the stove performance. I was surprised how much more heat it puts out using 100LL than it does by using white gas.

looks like the M4's dominate this page lol

Real men fly round tails! LOL!

Deep snow and beautiful conditions

The treat for the day was shooting an 1898 Krag-Jorgenson that my Dad restored some 40-years ago. This is the first time out since then. He did a beautiful job.


A few Caribou here and there, most seemed to have located to areas with less snow.


Our primitive but effective range for the afternoon.

Our tracks tell the whole story



"Hunt (Or any activity for that matter) with your kids so you don't have to hunt for your kids." For any of you with kids.

How do you expect us to score you if you don't post photos of the targets?

I haven't seen one of those rifles since I was about 10! The side magazine is very distinctive. What caliber is this one?

.30 US or .30-40. It was the first smokeless cartridge adopted by the US Military much to the chagrin of the Troops. A significant turning point in US military history. Up to that pointy, the Troops had used the .45-70 in black powder. No one thought that "LITTLE" bullet could stop any one.