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Alton Bay Ice Runway

Becca

By Becca
in General Mooney Talk

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Becca said:

Looks like an amazing weekend there.  Anyone ever take a Mooney in?  I want to hear about it!  Its 2600' long and alllllllll ice.

https://www.facebook.com/AltonBaySeaplaneBaseandIceRunway/

https://www.nh.gov/dot/org/aerorailtransit/aeronautics/sasp/airports/alton-bay.htm

I haven't but I have been right there in the summer.

In principle it should be no problem.  I have landed on pure ice on top of actual runways several times.  I remember one time landing at KHFD about a year ago when braking action was so completely very nil that my main concern of the day was falling down and breaking my back walking from the airplane to the fbo after shut down.

From the Facebook picture I just saw just now I see two things.  1 the snow does not look that deep.  No massive snow birm at the end of the runway meaning an over run would not be a prop strike probably.  But that said - stay on speed and its fine.

Its cold up in the North Country right now.  Colder than you are probably familiar with in the DC area - and this is a good thing.  This am here it was -19F.  Snow and snow on ice are totally different when it is arctic cold like that as compared to near freezing point.  Snow adds texture and can be almost like sand on ice when the crystals are that rigid.  It starts getting more slippery when it gets up past 20f or so.  SO I saw in the video a good powdery layer on top of the ice and I think that is good for texture if it is extra cold.

Why is the runway only 2600ft? why not 3500?  4000?  It looks like there is room on the lake.

I have seen videos of cirrus and twins and other high performance airplanes landing there.

Lake Winnipseesaukee is "on golden pond."

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Brian E. Proficient

Brian E.

Posted
Posted

It was a busy day up there today as it was opening weekend for the ice runway and the town's Winter Carnival as well.  No parallel taxiway and a load of traffic meant landing 4 or 5 aircraft (4 in the pull off notches) and 1 or 2 on then back taxing all clear of the runway while arrivals hold.  I flew over at 5.5k and elected not to land today as the parking area was packed. 

Joseph Morgano has a nice video on FB of his arrival and departure.

 

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Brian E. Proficient

Brian E.

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

Why is the runway only 2600ft? why not 3500?  4000?  It looks like there is room on the lake."

It's shorter this year than it has been in the past.  There is actually a State approved layout and airport plan for 3k as I recall.  Just hit the required 12" of ice thickness for the runway.  You'll still see open water areas on the lake not too far away from the runway and it hasn't been very cold in general this Winter until this past couple of weeks.  My annual was the 1st week of January at LCI and that bay was all open water at the time.  Hopefully the parallel taxiway will open up, but as you know the runway is short lived.

Squam Lake is the "On Golden Pond lake" and is not the big lake (Winnie) but just around the corner in Holderness.

 

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Brian E. Proficient

Brian E.

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, 201er said:

Is it weekend ops only or any day of the week weather permitting?

Any day of the week conditions permitting, daytime ops only.  There is a runway conditions line to check to ensure it is in safe condition/open.  Lot of people go mid-week to avoid the airshow.

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Brian E. said:

It's shorter this year than it has been in the past.  There is actually a State approved layout and airport plan for 3k as I recall.  Just hit the required 12" of ice thickness for the runway.  You'll still see open water areas on the lake not too far away from the runway and it hasn't been very cold in general this Winter until this past couple of weeks.  My annual was the 1st week of January at LCI and that bay was all open water at the time.  Hopefully the parallel taxiway will open up, but as you know the runway is short lived.

Squam Lake is the "On Golden Pond lake" and is not the big lake (Winnie) but just around the corner in Holderness.

 

Serious? All these years I thought it was lake Winnie - where I first went with my family first time when I was 4.  Darn - you burst my bubble.

I presumed it was about as cold there as it has been here.  It has been quite cold enough here.  We live on a lake and it has been quite frozen and thick for sometime.

928kc Newbie

928kc

Posted
Posted

I went was there on Friday.  It is something I always wanted to try.  Cold day, was 10 degrees at the time.  The runway was smooth, there were patches of snow which made traction ok.

20210212_103715.jpg

20210212_110346.jpg

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Brian E. said:

Keep the dream.  I was always told that the Shining was filmed in the Mt Washington Hotel only to later discover that was not accurate.  I was sad :(

 

Right, Esstes Park, CO.  Been there.

Next you are going to tell me dirty dancing wasn't really in the Catskills?

Brian E. Proficient

Brian E.

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, carusoam said:

Anyone ice fishing next to the plane?

-a- the wiseguy :)  There are plenty 'o ice shanties, ice houses, bob houses, etc. immediately outside the runway area.  None in the parking area as the planes keep the fish away.  

  • Haha 1
cferr59 Rising Star

cferr59

Posted
Posted (edited)

I landed there in an Archer a few years ago.  Heading up tomorrow morning in the Mooney.   Anyone else going?

Edited by cferr59
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xavierde Community Regular

xavierde

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, cferr59 said:

I landed there in an Archer a few years ago.  Heading up tomorrow morning in the Mooney.   Anyone else going?

I’m considering it with a CFI friend on board.

cferr59 Rising Star

cferr59

Posted
Posted

So I tried to get in there today and was not successful.  I left at 8:30 am hoping I would get there before it got too crazy, but the ramp was full by the time I got there.  A number of aircraft holding for ramp space.  The pilots on the radio did a good job of calling out positions but a number of NORDO aircraft flew in without regard to the traffic pattern.  After being cut off twice by NORDO aircraft, I decided the risk of a mid-air was too high and went to Laconia.  Laconia is a nice airport, refueled, and took the crew car to get lunch.

All in all, it was a nice day to fly so I can't complain too much!  The plane had been iced in all month and this was a good reason to clean in front of the hangar.

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Shiny moose said:

They used to have ice stock car racing, I thought it was in Alton Bay, used to go there as a kid in the 70s 

I saw on tv - was it abc wild world of sports? - ice motorcycle racing on some frozen lake somewhere - maybe it was there too?  In the 70's.  It's wild - motorcycles with spiked tires which still they just crash - a lot.  A good time was had by all.

Shiny moose Proficient

Shiny moose

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

I saw on tv - was it abc wild world of sports? - ice motorcycle racing on some frozen lake somewhere - maybe it was there too?  In the 70's.  It's wild - motorcycles with spiked tires which still they just crash - a lot.  A good time was had by all.

Ya a few of the older kids had spiked tires on their bikes when i was younger(not sure why track racing with spiked wheels on motorcycles wasnt a long lived sport) , my Father would take me to the ice races, lots of crashes into the snow banks. 

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Mark605 Apprentice

Mark605

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, aviatoreb said:

I saw on tv - was it abc wild world of sports? - ice motorcycle racing on some frozen lake somewhere - maybe it was there too?  In the 70's.  It's wild - motorcycles with spiked tires which still they just crash - a lot.  A good time was had by all.

There is a lake right off the departure end of 26 in LCI where they do that. Drove by it today, lots of people out there having a ball, it appeared. 

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cferr59 Rising Star

cferr59

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, Mark605 said:

There is a lake right off the departure end of 26 in LCI where they do that. Drove by it today, lots of people out there having a ball, it appeared. 

I didn't realize that was a lake until I just looked at Google maps.  They were having a good time on that today.  If we try to have any fun with dirt bikes in eastern PA or NJ, the police are not happy with us!  I'm sure western PA is better for this.

takair Grand Master

takair

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, cferr59 said:

So I tried to get in there today and was not successful.  I left at 8:30 am hoping I would get there before it got too crazy, but the ramp was full by the time I got there.  A number of aircraft holding for ramp space.  The pilots on the radio did a good job of calling out positions but a number of NORDO aircraft flew in without regard to the traffic pattern.  After being cut off twice by NORDO aircraft, I decided the risk of a mid-air was too high and went to Laconia.  Laconia is a nice airport, refueled, and took the crew car to get lunch.

All in all, it was a nice day to fly so I can't complain too much!  The plane had been iced in all month and this was a good reason to clean in front of the hangar.

I was looking to go for a ride midday  and glanced at Foreflight.....it looked chaotic up there.....and as I think about it, those were only the ADS-B equipped planes...  Was a nice day.  Even my fuel run ended up with grid-lock at the self serve pump.

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aviatoreb Grand Master

aviatoreb

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Mark605 said:

There is a lake right off the departure end of 26 in LCI where they do that. Drove by it today, lots of people out there having a ball, it appeared. 

I knew it! 40 year old memory from a little kid.

whiskytango Proficient

whiskytango

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, aviatoreb said:

I saw on tv - was it abc wild world of sports? - ice motorcycle racing on some frozen lake somewhere - maybe it was there too?  In the 70's.  It's wild - motorcycles with spiked tires which still they just crash - a lot.  A good time was had by all.

I remember seeing motorcycle ice racing in the movie "On Any Sunday".  The narrator (Bruce Brown) imagined what it would be like if you put your bike down and somebody ran over you with spiked tires :wacko:

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