Winter Fun

When we visited the Old Rittenhouse in Bayfield, we found a nice selection of gingerbread houses. Seems the emplyees in the different areas of the business had a little competition! But that's not what I am here to talk about today.... Today I did a few maintenance items on the plane. Also installed a special wire harness on the battery that will allow me to attach a 'battery tender', a charger that maintains a battery at peak charge. There is a connector so I can put it on and off the plane in a few seconds. I'll leave it attached this winter whenever I'm not flying.




It is an extremely low current charger and will not harm the battery no matter how long it's connected. We use them on the motorcycle batteries during the winter. Also installed a two conductor wire directly from the battery to the cockpit in an attempt to isolate the radio from electrical system noise. No time to test it today. You see, I had to fly the plane as there was negligable wind and I was at the airport, so.... what the hey! I took off, circled the airport and did a touch and go on the West bound runway just to see if I could still land O.K. Then I headed west and didn't climb more than 200 feet, as I wanted to fly around near the ice on Long Lake. I flew the length of the lake at about 5 feet above the ice, banking into some of the larger bays, flying between islands, just generally goofing off. I climbed a little and flew over highway W and back down to Wilson Lake. I've flown over these lakes many times but never had a look at them like this!! I flew back to the airport and headed a little east. This enabled me to descend down to ice level on Lake Duroy, the one right by downtown Phillips. I made a trip around the lake at a few feet off the ice. This is considered safe to do as long as the ice will hold you up if you need to land for some reason.....




I left Duroy and headed toward Cranberry Lake. I buzzed the lake perimeter a couple of times. I suppose the ice fishermen on all these lakes were wondering what the heck was going on. Then I headed South to Ottertail country. I did some slow flight over the Ottertail Landing Strip so I could see how the clearing work looks at the south end of the field. I did a couple of mock landings and headed back north. I noticed Worcestor Lake north of Prentice. I did a slow descent toward it and did an ice level circumnavigation of the lake. Then I thought I would try a landing, which went well on the smooth ice. With all the warm weather earlier, the snow melted on the lake ice and re-froze to leave the lakes a sheet of ice with only a few patches of snow and an occasional bump in the ice. I headed north to Cranberry, did a landing there, continued north and did a mock engine-out landing approach over a friend's field. Kept going north and stopped in for an ice landing on Duroy, headed over the bridge and did a landing on Elk Lake. I followed the river channel, popped up and over Highway 13 and back down to ice level on Long, did a landing and continued on to Wilson lake. I landed near Birch Island Resort, did a u-turn and took off. Flew back along the ice on Long lake and then headed north and did a landing on Deer lake. I was getting to like this, or could you tell!



Hopped over to Solberg flowage, buzzed around there, did two landings and then headed East. I intended to go to Musser Flowage, but there was Dardis Lake! I circled it and then landed from the east. I headed on to the east and found Musser. It is an interesting place, with many bays and islands. I did an ice level investigation, two landings and then I headed back to Phillips to land at the Airport.
2.2 hours of flying at a little under 20°... I was a little cold! I headed home for supper and the Eagles/Saints game. So my first ice landing of the year turned into landings on 10 different lakes today! I'll have to try a few more in the area before snow or more thawing ruins the smooth ice...

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___________Hey!! Scramble those eggs, would ya???_____________