mrjdstewart
Legendary member
i think i have been watching to many "flying cowboy" videos on youtube. (if you have't watched Mike Patey's build of "Draco" you are missing out.)
anyways, during a lot of these videos you see these cowboys doing water skims with their big tundra tires. basically water skiing their bushplane down a river, across a lake, or coming in for landing.
i have seen this done before and had always wondered if you could do the same thing with an RC plane? i guess watching these vids has sparked my interest again.
well, here in Tucson, AZ we don't have a lot of "standing" water, EVER.
so the chance to try, let alone practice just isn't typically possible unless you wanted to travel. thankfully, what we do get by mid-july every year is monsoon rains. these are the kind of rain storms were the sky opens and just dumps water, then moves on, lot's of flash floods, lot's of lighting, but typically pretty quick.
well, we had a couple monster storms back to back which provided me with a little puddle on the northern approach for our clubs runway. it was tight up against the rough, but as we like to say, "a good pilot can handle that."
i had been joking about trying it and now had everyones attention and encouragement.
so i grabbed my 4-channel, flapperon set-up, b-pack, Simple Cubby, spinin' 2.75" wheels.
i lined up my 1st approach and things looked really good. i came in and missed the puddle by just inches. now everyone was watching and Phil had his phone out and ready for the 2nd approach.
i will let the video speak for it's self. you can make your own judgement if you want to try.
laters,
me
anyways, during a lot of these videos you see these cowboys doing water skims with their big tundra tires. basically water skiing their bushplane down a river, across a lake, or coming in for landing.
i have seen this done before and had always wondered if you could do the same thing with an RC plane? i guess watching these vids has sparked my interest again.
well, here in Tucson, AZ we don't have a lot of "standing" water, EVER.
so the chance to try, let alone practice just isn't typically possible unless you wanted to travel. thankfully, what we do get by mid-july every year is monsoon rains. these are the kind of rain storms were the sky opens and just dumps water, then moves on, lot's of flash floods, lot's of lighting, but typically pretty quick.well, we had a couple monster storms back to back which provided me with a little puddle on the northern approach for our clubs runway. it was tight up against the rough, but as we like to say, "a good pilot can handle that."
i had been joking about trying it and now had everyones attention and encouragement.
so i grabbed my 4-channel, flapperon set-up, b-pack, Simple Cubby, spinin' 2.75" wheels.
i lined up my 1st approach and things looked really good. i came in and missed the puddle by just inches. now everyone was watching and Phil had his phone out and ready for the 2nd approach.
i will let the video speak for it's self. you can make your own judgement if you want to try.
laters,
me
