What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Winter Flying Lesson

K

Ken9

Active Member
I recently learned a lesson about winter flying that I have decided to share with the rest of the RV community and others who fly planes with wheel pants.
Some of you may remember the picture Tony Phillips took of our winter fly out to Lone Rock for lunch a couple of weeks ago. It was great fun to fly on such a beautiful clear cold day. We landed on a runway that was snow packed but didn?t seem to cause any problems. Later, when I returned home I noticed some ice around my wheel pants and decided to remove them for a closer look. What I found was about 5# of ice and snow packed solid around the tires and brakes on each wheel. It didn?t cause any problems when I landed but the runway at home was clear. If I had landed on another snow packed runway or the ice decided to break loose who knows what may have happened. It may have destroyed the wheel pant or could possibly have jammed the wheel and caused loss of control or even a flip.
The lesson I learned was to remove wheel pants for winter operations. It may slow you down but you probably won?t end up on your back.
Hope this helps. See attached pics.
Fly safe,
Ken Klima N904KJ
LoneRock12-10.jpg

PC170319.jpg

Frozenpants4.jpg

Frozenpants1.jpg
 
Taxi with a little extra power and drag the brakes - That'll melt any snow/ice build up in the wheel pants fast enough!:eek:
 
Warm Hangar

I just put mine back into the hanger and let it all melt out.

Hans
 
Last edited:
The same thing happened to me with my Cassutt. I taxied and took off from a snow covered runway and landed on a clear runway. I used the brakes on landing and taxi to the tie down spot. When I was ready to leave I found that the packed snow in the wheel pants had partially melted and re-frozen. The airplane was locked in place. It took some work to remove the pants and move the airplane into a heated area in order to clear all the ice.
 
A question on removal of the wheel pants...

When you remove the wheel pants (for whatever reason), do you also remove the gear leg fairings? I recall reading on the forums that some aircraft experienced broken upper-gear-leg-fairing fiberglass because the uppers were rigidly attached (hose clamp) and the lower were not secured inside the lower intersection fairings of the now-removed wheel pants. Is this a concern??
 
Gear leg fairings no problem

noelf said:
When you remove the wheel pants (for whatever reason), do you also remove the gear leg fairings? I recall reading on the forums that some aircraft experienced broken upper-gear-leg-fairing fiberglass because the uppers were rigidly attached (hose clamp) and the lower were not secured inside the lower intersection fairings of the now-removed wheel pants. Is this a concern??
Click to expand...

I've been flying for over a year with no lower intersection fairings. No problems.
I am finally getting them fiber-glassed onto the pants this winter. I took them off for the winter and I'll put them back on near the end of March, (hopefully for a trip to Sun-n-Fun) with intersection fairing fiber-glassed on. Perfect timing too. I have a condition inspection in Feb. and it's also time to replace my tires.
 
Kinnerhatz said:
The same thing happened to me with my Cassutt. I taxied and took off from a snow covered runway and landed on a clear runway. I used the brakes on landing and taxi to the tie down spot. When I was ready to leave I found that the packed snow in the wheel pants had partially melted and re-frozen. The airplane was locked in place. It took some work to remove the pants and move the airplane into a heated area in order to clear all the ice.
Click to expand...

In cars I remember to NEVER set the emergency brake in the winter as the pad can easily freeze to the drum or rotor if there is any moisture present. Jon points out that all moisture re-freezes when it gets below freezing.;) Seems simple enough, but easily forgotten when we get use to warm weather flying.:eek:
 
Hi all,
Be careful even with the wheel pants removed. I was flying a Champ from a wet runway (higher altitude lower temp). I landed on a snow and ice covered runway (that was a good thing) and the water had frozen between the brake and the disk on the right side. I was able to keep it fairly straight because the runway was snow and ice covered. I was able to make it off the runway (just barely). The mechanic from the FBO brought out his car with a hose on the exhaust to melt the ice. The plane stayed in the hangar that night and I continued on my way the next day when it was warmer.
 
Winter Flying

I put my RV4 (C-GRJT) away for the winter but would definitely not fly with wheel pants on if I did. Thanks for the heads up and pics though.

Brian Eisner
Halifax Nova Scotia
Canada
 
winter ops

...and I always fly in winter with my pants off....but this year I'm leaving the nose pant on for various reasons. Makes it easy to check the air pressure in the mains as the temps drop too!
does anyone else notice that the pant backing plate vibrates when taxiing?
I tried wiring it to the gear leg, but that doesn't seem to help....the vibration only stops when I apply the brakes.

I guess the only other comment I have is that if snow and slush is now thrown up on the flap, use caution when retracting.
 
I've flown many hundreds of times in the winter off our grass strip, with as much as 6" of snow cover on the runway (powder) and never have had issues, and never take the wheel pants off. If you take off and if any of the snow melts and refreezes, as soon as you touch down the wheels will pop loose. Usually I'll hear a "clunk" when first touching the runway as they break free. Its impossible for the snow to melt and refreeze to the point where a wheelpant can be damaged or cause a landing issue.
 
Ken9

Bob, I think you have been pretty lucky. 6" of snow?..powder or not is over the top, so to speak. Seems to me that if the wheels freeze up solidly enough for you to hear a "clunk" when landing, you may have big control problems on snow pack. Just my opinion ;)
Ken
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top