Landing on the Ottawa river...

...along with 80+ other planes. Welcome to Moe's fly-in.

Every year Moe clears off about 3000' on the frozen Ottawa river (Ottawa, Canada) and pilots from everywhere gathers for this 'special event' and enjoy a nice and sunny (cold ) day. Moe also serve an excellent Chili...

It was my first experience (landing on ice...) and was quite a thrill. Some spot on the ice strip were very rough, especially on the roll-out area. Touchdown area was smooth, but it was getting rougher as you roll out....and no way to stop on shear ice. You are a passenger until the plane stop.

My RV-7A nosewheeler survived the experience quite well.

Video of the landing and take-off can be seen on YouTube...
Landing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPq-8x4OwHA
Take-off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFISl5WjWzs

Mike
C-FZMR
Gatineau, Quebec
RV-7A

I really enjoyed your videos, Mike! Thanks for posting them and giving us a loook at this experience. Amazing.

Very slick! Thanks for posting. I wonder how well a short field takeoff would work while holding the brakes.

alton bay

There is an official FAA registered "airport" on ice in New Hampshire - Alton Bay. Obviously, it is not a year-round facility

Lots of videos - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alton+bay+ice+runway&aq=2

A friend of mine - flyboytyler - has a couple posts. I've not made the trek yet but hope to one winter.