Skis

[pappas]

When I was a younger pilot an old very experienced pilot told me that "putting floats on a plane makes it a bad boat and a bad plane". I have tended to agree with that old guy over all of these years!

[Matt541]

When you say "Pipers in Alaska", are you referring to high wing or low wing Pipers?

The high wing Super Cub get's most of the Alaska Piper glory (and they sure are SUPER), but there is actually a fair amount of low wings too.

A statey dropping by to say "Hello."

I don't spend much time on the road system, but most of what I see in the YK Delta are Cherokee Sixes. Pretty sure the flight school in Bethel had a Cherokee 140 until it went under. Seen a few sitting at other villages.

Recently an air taxi operator started adding Lances to their fleet along with their 172s and 207s. I had been away for a few years and was shocked to see them all lined up on the ramp. Two of the runways there are paved, but all the surrounding tundra villages are gravel. The state builds nice smooth gravel runways anymore, most of the ones we've been hearing horror stories about are gone. (I miss Pilot Station's old one.)

But still, flying gravel and snow banks are a risky proposition for a low wing, and sometimes flights are cancelled for the runway not being plowed wide enough or snow banks being too high. (If a "bush" strip even gets plowed.) Certainly wouldn't be my choice.

Just my .02 based on observations.

[Matt541]

Well, if an RV can do it:

[youtu_be] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FHfQGJBdU4 [/youtu_be]

Why not a Sonex?

You can do it Graeme!

[Spark6]

Matt, don’t forget the Navajos and 421s that have made their living on the YK for decades! Or the PC-12s I used to lust after when we came up on them down at GNU or PTU. I watched a Navajo go out of Kwig one day... that got my attention.

Re: skis, I’d give it a shot! As with anything, it would deserve a test program, but I could see it working. Now I just gotta find a Sonex... ha!!

[GraemeSmith]

Well not this year! Alton Bay in NH didn't even freeze enough to open for safe operations - though I heard that one or two landed - only to get promptly chased off by the local Fire Department who were drilling, and then really, pulling snow mobilers out the lake who had gone though the ice.

Alton Bay in colder times (not in a Sonex)....