A Winter with a Paucity of Snow and Ice

The winter of 2014-2015 has been one of historic high temperatures and relatively low snowfall. The Anchorage area has had zero snow pack for most of the winter thus necessitating a change in venue for the start of the Iditarod Dogsled Race from Willow to Fairbanks. Even here in Fairbanks the river ice on the Chena River was too thin to support the racers so at the last minute the start had to be moved to a nearby road.

Ski flying, that most splendid of small aircraft activities, was thus curtailed this year.

Those who were thrilled by my post from last April of the trip to the Ray Mountains and the frozen surface of Round Lake will be interested in one new development - I have installed brakes on my skis. Pictures of these ski brakes follow, along with some shots of a quick flight out to Minto Lake, West of Fairbanks for some touch and goes and maintenance of currency.

The first three pictures show the skis after returning from Minto Lake with a large amount of snow and ice heaped up on the ski from use of the brakes.

This pictures shows graphically the rapid loss of snow early in the season. This enlarging snowless gulf between the plane and the runway forced me to move my plane temporarily to a friend's strip that has an East-West orientation which means that the snow is more protected from the heat of the sun. 

The following pictures show in greater detail the design and installation of the brakes. They are hydraulic and are actuated by the toe brakes on the rudder pedals.

Out on the Minto Flats