Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I recently flew to a distant airport to do touch and go's. As I approached I noticed some patchy snow and ice on the paved surface. As I got closer I could see streaks of ice and snow chunks down the length of the runway. There were clear patches of asphalt that ran the entire length with lots of snow and ice that looked like it had been through a freeze-thaw cycle or two. Current temps were around 24 degrees F.

Just into ground effect, I aborted the landing and returned to my regular airport where the runway was completely clear.

I wasn't confident that I could land without hitting some of the snow ice chunks. I've never attempted landing in those conditions, but at 70MPH it would be a rough ride in a truck, so I knew the plane might not fare well.

I'd like to hear about your experiences landing on runways with some snow or ice and how much effect those conditions had on your landings.

Did I make the right choice? Should I have landed just to gain the experience?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Posted

I've landed on an icy runway and bent the $$$t out of my gear doors. I've landed in deep fluffy snow with no problems. You got to figure it out for yourself. There is a risk....

  • Like 1
Posted
9 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I've landed on an icy runway and bent the $$$t out of my gear doors. I've landed in deep fluffy snow with no problems. You got to figure it out for yourself. There is a risk....

Yeah, I'd worry about wracking a chunk of ice with my doors. 

Posted

At 24°F those things are going to be hard.

hitting them with a truck has the benefit of long suspension compression.

Even if they are soft, they have large risk of changing the direction of the plane.  Landing with caution or go elsewhere is a good choice. Hitting these thing would be bad.

How precise is your landing skill?  Would you be able to reliably avoid them?

Watch some mooney videos where they land on the centerline reliably.  Are you that skilled?

watch some mooney videos of Bryan landing in the out back.  He has some skills...

Best regards,

-a-

 

Posted
10 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

Is that the J/K with the extra gear doors or the stock ones we all have?

I have the extra gear doors. That is what got bent. 

Just go to a bigger airport where they actually plow the runways.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.