AirBlender

So, I went to the Imperial Dunes in Yuma this past weekend and was able to drag a pallet around behind my ATV to flatten out a huge runway about 100 yds long and 20 yds wide in only a few minutes.

I used 1/16" plywood to make skis for my plane and attached them to the craft.

Takeoff was brilliant. The skis worked perfectly, although my nose gear was sluggish to provide turning control on the ground. The skis did not affect my flight at all.

The problem I had was landing.

I only got one flight out of the bird because the skis broke upon impact, but they absorbed all of the momentum and protected the aircraft completely. The engine stopped, and I was grounded.

It appears as though I won't be able to land in the sand effectively. So, I was toying with another idea.

If I were to cut the engine at about 50-60 feet and have a fifth channel deploy a parachute, I could catch the plane instead of land the plane.

Has anyone tried something like this?

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

1. the skis can have a skeg added to improve steering.
2. Generally skis are rigged with a limiter cable/spring to keep them from pointing down in flight. I suspect yours were nose-down at landing and became shovels. Either that, or you just had a REALLY hard landing. If they worked to take off, then you should be able to land on them.
3. A big, soft, bouncy set of trexler airwheels works very nicely on soft surfaces. I've taken off from snow with them without problems.(4 1/2" diameter on Big Lazy Bee)
4. A taildragger works better than a nosedragger (trike) on soft surfaces. More prop clearance, inclined thrustline contributes to lift the instant you add power, only two wheels dragging in the dirt....
5. The parachute thing used to be available and may still be, but if you miss catching the plane, your carburetor may go into the sand. If that happens it will mean Complete disassembly of motor, flush, relubricate, reassemble, reinstall,re-tune, regret having so much work to do. Better to land on intended landing gear, in control. An air filter from an RC car would probably be a real good thing to have for flying there, anyway.
6. Floats would work better than skis on soft sand, but use either built-up wood ones or fiberglass ones, and glass the bottom of the wood ones if that's what you use. Monokoted floats won't stand up to the abrasion. Wet grass is about the limit for monokoted floats.

AirBlender

It was a rather hard landing and experimental landing skis.

If I were to build a hatch at the CG on the top of the plane, the chute could pop out there and the plane would be set down on it's landing gear, or I could reverse the chute so the engine wasn't pointing down.

The floats are the larger skis right...the thicker ones I would presume. These would probably work.

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Here's a link to show you how to make floats and skis.
http://www.flyinglindy.homestead.com/skisandfloats.html

Of course, if the landing was Really Hard, we call it a "Crash".
Things get damaged in a "Crash". Try to land more softly.

They even make parachutes like you described for man-carrying planes. Look up BRS sometime.(Ballistic Recovery Systems)

BillHarris

As Jim says, balloon-style tundra tires and an STOL landing are the ticket here.

Trexlers may work, but they are rather fragile for sand use, IMO. Dubro, et al, have balloon/inflatable tires up to 6-7" diameter.

With flaps and maybe LE slats you can land at a crawl with little or no rollout.

Flying off of sand, I'd add a car air cleaner. I used to use a piece of pantyhose held on by a rubber o-ring to keep debris out of the engine.