Mike

If you are serious, go Katmai or go home...the ability of those things to fly and handle at slow speeds is amazing. If I had a post 74 with enough UL to tolerate the extra weight up front I would do it...

RAS

Mike is correct. While the environment we are in is extremely demanding in terms of procedures, execution, and technique, that actual ground contact portion of the flight is relatively easy. The strips are generally long and relatively smooth.

I'll re-iterate one thing I've mentioned before -- I have reached just about every strip I ever wanted to to in a stock 172 with a 180HP engine. My departure windows may have been slimmer, my ability to carry baggage more limited, and margin for error reduced, but it gets the job done at 7 gallons per hour. Certainly doing this in the 182 eases the decision making process, and enhances the utility, but my point is it's not necessary to get to all the portals for recreational access to the backcountry. The mods from there follow the same argument.

The Katamai is a wonderful bird, and so are the supercubs on the loose in the backcountry. They are both extremely expensive, and the magic of the Katamai (cannard) is not cheap to license. I would rather have "fun" with it, but it's entirely unnecessary and may only open up 2-3 airstrips out of 100, that I don't particularly care to visit anyways.

Your best "mod" is instruction and avgas.


I will also leave you with this quote:

"Pogo may have been right back in the ‗60s when he said,‖ We have met the enemy, and he is us.‖ The issue, again, is the use of Vines, Dewey Moore, Simonds and Mile Hi airstrips, known collectively as the Big Creek 4. One can argue that the Big Creek 4 are just airstrips and should be as open to use as any of the other strips that were in existence when the Central Idaho Wilderness Act was signed in 1980, but the Forest Service Resource Management Plan skirted the issue in 2003 by declaring them ―for emergency use only‖. The Idaho Division of Aeronautics and the Idaho Aviation Association protested that status and a verbal agreement was made to keep the strips open for ―sporadic‖ use and minimum maintenance until a new plan or addendum could be written, processed and approved. The point is, the Big Creek 4 are not the same as all the other strips in the backcountry. Recent increased usage, including by large gatherings, many documented on YouTube, have highlighted the Big Creek 4 to the Forest Service and they are concerned that we are not honoring the agreement. Until there can be a legal challenge to their status or a new Resource Management Plan can be written, there are limitations on the use of these strips and it is our goal, for now, to do what is necessary to maintain the status allowing sporadic use. The IAA is not interested in playing the role of policeman in the backcountry, but we are interested in promoting safe, ethical, and adventurous flying opportunities. In order to accomplish those goals in the Big Creek drainage we, the general aviation public, need to regulate ourselves and not poke the sleeping dog. We are asking visitors and locals to be sensitive to the limitations placed on the Big Creek 4 by limiting operations at those strips to occasional and necessary use. In particular, please avoid the urge to have multi-airplane rendezvous at these strips or to have round robin or multiple landing group activities there. The allure of challenging our equipment and ourselves is evident but, as in so many things, moderation is the key. IAA members, please be the leaders in this effort. Keep the attraction of the Big Creek 4 available to us all by using some restraint and complying with the spirit of the verbal agreement with the Forest Service until a more satisfactory and lasting solution is reached."

Hear Hear

Beauty is as beauty does.

Are we going to see you at the pig roast, AG?

oh,,,,he's comin......

Yep, the Super Cub fly in in June was a bad deal. A couple years ago they had 160 aircraft at Johnson Creek. That's just a stupid dumb number of aircraft to have there at one time. That summer I ran across the states aviation director and voiced my displeasure at that number. He said they were going to make changes, they own Johnson Creek so they can do that. Last year they made pilots register and limited it to 80 airplanes(I think, but somewhere in that ballpark). But they still have all the cowboys go out and land at Mile Hi and naturally they have to leave a few there each year for helicopter extraction.

Hmmmm. Could end up being a two-pig affair.

I think he already left, you need plenty of time when you go that slow.

"Self government requires self discipline"- Paul Harvey was the one I remember saying it. I'm sure others have said it in as many or more words.

No mod needed to open the pilot window, just remove one screw and you can open it, I did put velcro under the wing so sticks while taxiing.

2 people upfront, if you add 50 pounds on the baggage compartment , it helps elevator authority a bit VGs also help, and the Sportsman STOL, MT prop even more, makes the plane a different one, pull power and it is like an air brake,combined with 40 degrees of flaps , you can do very steep approaches to short strips with obstacles.Very smooth, quick accelerations and 16 pounds lighter than the Hartzell it replaced on my plane.

Finally an AoA if you want to use the performance of your plane to its full.

My plane has all those mods.

Here a couple of videos.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/FBXW2Q3To-0[/youtube]

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ml2SpIhs-aQ[/youtube]

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Y0Iih_I1sGQ[/youtube]

Larry,

That's is absolutely amazing performance! Pilot and plane. I'm in awe of your technique and control.

How/what are you attaching camera to? Camera and attachments ? Thanks for sharing the videos.

Thanks, Larry. Beautiful videos, and good info on the plane.

I'm thinking that the Sportsman kit is a 2018 project. For this year, it's the larger nose fork, bigger tires, folding jump seats, and extended baggage.

Oh, and new windshield and glareshield (going in now).

A folding water bag in the back for CG will be the other "mod" for 2017.

A 182 will be my next AC also. Here is an idea to fix the paint on the nose. You will blend right in in the "back" country and maybe cause a few double takes.

Tom, where are you located? you should take a look at my plane.

I also have the Atlee folding seats, and the Silkirk extended baggage.
Those are great additions.

MT, Sportsman and VGs will change your plane totally though,you will be amazed by performance, and with a PPonk even better.

Larry

Great takeoff at soldier bar. Taxiing down to the "bend" in the strip is the key eh?. Even though every fiber in your being says "start your roll at the top", that damn bend comes in at a bad time ( right at or before lift off) if you start at the top. Plenty of room after the bend anyway.....especially for your bird.

By the way, there is a work party at Soldier Bar in a month or so. We are going to try and backfill some of those water bars.

Nicely done
Mike.