Flying on thin ice
Category Flying Ice
This weekend it was time to do the Alton Bay (B18) ice runway again. Alton Bay is the only FAA designated iceport in the USA, it is located on the surface of the southern tip of Lake Winnipesaukee, 21.4nm to the northeast of Concord, New Hampshire. Last year due to a weird mix of snow, rain and cold weather they were never able to get a smooth surface so the ice runway didn't open, this year has been very mild, with very little snow so much of Lake Winnipesaukee hasn't even frozen over this year, which is very unusual.
Fortunately a week or so ago, there was some good news that the ice runway was open as the ice was thick enough at about a foot (30cm) and strong enough to take landing planes. Earlier this year I had promised to take a friend flying as a birthday present, so what could be more unique than taking them to an ice runway. First I flew down to Minute Man airfield in Stow, Massachusetts to pick him up, and then we flew up to Alton Bay. This also gave me the opportunity to have someone get out of the plane with one of my cameras, let me take off again and have them record my landing. This enabled me to create the following videos where you can see the landing from both inside and outside, which is the first time I've been able to combine the two. My brother in the UK grabbed a photo of the plane in the parking area from a webcam.
After some low level flying around Lake Winnipesaukee and buzzing a few brave (maybe stupid) ice fisherman, headed back to Minute Man, where we grabbed something to eat at Nancy's Airfield Cafe. After grabbing a burger I headed back to Portsmouth, at this point it was now night flying, and clouds had started to form. I'd planned to fly back to Portsmouth at 3500 feet, but I discovered it was snowing at that altitude so I took the plane back down to 3000 feet. It has to be said, flying in snow with the landing light on at night, is much like the effect you see in Sci Fi programs where someone jumps into light speed, if you're not sure of that effect think of the Windows screensaver where the stars are flying towards you.
Here are a collection of some of the videos of me landing this weekend, and also some photos.
The same video, but with Picture-in-Picture
A video that I happened to find on YouTube of my first landing.
Some photos that my passenger took.
This weekend it was time to do the Alton Bay (B18) ice runway again. Alton Bay is the only FAA designated iceport in the USA, it is located on the surface of the southern tip of Lake Winnipesaukee, 21.4nm to the northeast of Concord, New Hampshire. Last year due to a weird mix of snow, rain and cold weather they were never able to get a smooth surface so the ice runway didn't open, this year has been very mild, with very little snow so much of Lake Winnipesaukee hasn't even frozen over this year, which is very unusual.
Fortunately a week or so ago, there was some good news that the ice runway was open as the ice was thick enough at about a foot (30cm) and strong enough to take landing planes. Earlier this year I had promised to take a friend flying as a birthday present, so what could be more unique than taking them to an ice runway. First I flew down to Minute Man airfield in Stow, Massachusetts to pick him up, and then we flew up to Alton Bay. This also gave me the opportunity to have someone get out of the plane with one of my cameras, let me take off again and have them record my landing. This enabled me to create the following videos where you can see the landing from both inside and outside, which is the first time I've been able to combine the two. My brother in the UK grabbed a photo of the plane in the parking area from a webcam.
After some low level flying around Lake Winnipesaukee and buzzing a few brave (maybe stupid) ice fisherman, headed back to Minute Man, where we grabbed something to eat at Nancy's Airfield Cafe. After grabbing a burger I headed back to Portsmouth, at this point it was now night flying, and clouds had started to form. I'd planned to fly back to Portsmouth at 3500 feet, but I discovered it was snowing at that altitude so I took the plane back down to 3000 feet. It has to be said, flying in snow with the landing light on at night, is much like the effect you see in Sci Fi programs where someone jumps into light speed, if you're not sure of that effect think of the Windows screensaver where the stars are flying towards you.
Here are a collection of some of the videos of me landing this weekend, and also some photos.
The same video, but with Picture-in-Picture
A video that I happened to find on YouTube of my first landing.
Some photos that my passenger took.
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Comments
How did you fix the camera on the wing?
I once looked into it, but the regulations scared me.
It's such a nice area to fly around up there.
Posted by christian tillmanns At 01:53:53 AM On 02/21/2012 | - Website - |
So no one has really made a hard firm judgement on the interpretation of the FAA rules, but the interpretation I like and use, is I am attaching the camera to the plane without:
1. Modifying anything on the plane
2. Using any tools to do it
So I am not making any permanent change to the airframe in anyway.
I mount the camera to the tie down on the wing, or the tie down on the tail. I created a mount, that attaches with wing nuts, so no tools are needed for a tight connection. My mount isn't pretty, but does the job. These are old pics, pre wing nuts. { Link }
I used to attach a wire tie between the camera and the plane in the chance the nuts came undone, I no longer do that.
Posted by Carl Tyler At 06:14:49 AM On 02/21/2012 | - Website - |