Cold Air Performance / Skis

[AK Mauler]

I was doing some T&G's at Willow Alaska Saturday with the ambient temp at 10F. The gravel strip was iced over and I got some nice wheel landings in. I was running only half fuel plus myself and was able to maintain 1,500 fpm on the climb out. I was really surprized with the climb performance, must be the cold air effect. On a summer day at 70F I usually hold 1,000 fpm at 90 mph. I did not expect such a dramatic difference at the cold temperature. Is anyone aware of a ski that is STC's for the MX7-180 on spring gear?

[UP-M5]

i agree, the winter performance is fantastic. and i am eagerly awaiting ski season.
i don't have a TCDS here, so i'm not sure what is approved, but...
i talked with the guys at Aero Ski manufacturing in MN and they are close to having approval for their skis on the new spring gear. the drawings have been submitted for a couple years now, and they are waiting on approval.

[YELLOWMAULE]

Ah, Ski season is here!
Spent Christmas Eve day installing the Landes 2500's for the second season. Managed a bit of snow the night before to cover our lake of 15-18" of ice and recieved another 6" of snow yesterday, more called for in the next day or so.
Ski flying frankly, can be a lot of work but very rewarding. Your comment on the air densitiy and subsequent engine performance is spot on. Playing on the edge of the temprature inversion was something like this;
-18 on the ground and at 1000' -5* backed the throttle off to 13-14" with a hard prop (full pitch) and 40 degrees of flap and began doing slow figure eight's at 1200', barely indicating on the ASI and 40-42 mph on the gps. Ball is centered and holding altitude, played with this for a while and decided to see what would happen as I advanced the throttle. Very little in terms of the forward speed, in fact I think I only gained about 3-4 mph to 2600 rpm. Then I looked at the VSI and saw it was 900-1000 fpm. It was climbing like and elevator. When the plane is light (10-15 gallons of fuel) and the temps drop, it's easy to imagine what this little thing would be like with 300 hp instead of the 210hp. It makes the packing of all the Arctic stuff, wing and cowl covers and pre-heating equipment very worthwhile.
Ryan, I'll try to run out to your fishing hole this weekend, I'll call first.
AK, drop us a line sometime when you'll be out here. Willow is a ski-friendly strip. I'm also thinking that we should have some kind of a get-together this winter. I have a cabin out past Skwentna and the ice fishing is usually pretty good. We can put up a number of us. Skis required out there though.
Kurt

[UP-M5]

kurt,

the trout are biting! i'll be here this weekend, so stop by. maybe we can go for a ride... i haven't been up in a maule for a loong time now



i'll take you up on the skwentna offer. sonds like fun!

talk to you on the ice!

[akloon]

If you guys decide to go out this weekend give me a call, it'd be nice to see a couple of faces to go with the threads. I'm on strait 2500's and have been out for about three weeks off of Sand Lake. I'm always looking for an excuse to go through the labor of ski flying!
Dave 350 7718 cell