Twin Otter Penetraion Skis

[Shep]

Does anyone have any pictures of a penetration ski for a twin otter????

[auto4]

Man you can end up with weird pictures....

[wtf_over]

[Rudy]

[wtf_over]

any photos of them attached?

[Ref Plus 10]

Maybe I'm just being silly, but what is a penetration ski? All I know for Twin otters is either a straight ski, or a wheel ski...

[skycoupe]

A few to get ya started


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... w_skis.jpg
http://www.ibew.org/articles/01journal/ ... -otter.jpg
http://lh3.google.com/_6KQ2NU7sgJM/Rz5O ... s+(31).JPG

[Ref Plus 10]

Okay...nevermind. Been explained

[wtf_over]

So as usual the fu&cking pic on here descibing them is not at all what they look like.

P.S. Thanks

[Meatservo]

Google "twin otter landing in Pickle Lake". You should see a youtube video of a twin otter doing a short landing on the ice in Pickle Lake. That Otter has a fixed-penetration ski on its nosewheel. The wheel sticks out just enough that you can use it on a runway, but not enough to dig into the snow too much when using the ski. The ski is fixed in one position and cannot be raised and lowered like the skis in the pictures above. (that's why it's called a fixed-penetration ski) I have never seen one on a twin otter before I watched this video, usually you see them on small planes like 180s and super-cubs. I think they must work best on frozen surfaces where the snow isn't very deep. They are more versatile than straight skis (but not as good in deep snow); and are lighter than wheel-skis because there's no hydraulic stuff.

[articmaintenance]

here ya go.

[Northern Skies]

that looks like a really simple rig, I guess there isn't much need for travel re: the short bungees.

One thing I dont understand is why the torque link is undone?

[skycoupe]

Just a guess .. but since it's in a hangar, probably for extra mobility in maneuvering it around

[articmaintenance]

The reson for the torque knees being disconnected is for towing the aircraft. If you do not disconnect them you will damage the Nose Wheel steering.

[kilpicki]

I do have some DHC-6 ski pix and hopefully I''l post them someday but in the meantime" jezus who asked why is the torque link undone"
Are you in kindergarden?????

As per the last post if you don't undo it you'll be kicking frozen horse turds down the road real quick

[Northern Skies]

Are you in kindergarden?????

That was classy!
When it comes to twin otters and flying them on skis, yes I am. Excuse me for trying to learn a thing or two before I'm flying one.

[flaps78]

The single nosewheel ski on the DHC-6 was the brainwave of Wardair Yellowknife pilots ( Darryl Brown etc) in about 1969. The original DHC-6 nosewheel ski was actually a Beaver wheelski borrowed from Northward Aviation YZF. The aircraft was normally flown with medium gear mains (tundra tires) and the nose wheel had the ski attached so that the bottom of the nose wheel tire protruded about 3 inches below the ski.

The ideas behind this design were multi-fold;
- most importantly you protected station 60
- less expensive than wheelskiis and easier to maintain
- availability
- better TAS than on wheelskiis (140 vs 125)

To my knowledge the "Wardair noseski" (as it used to be called) was predominately used in the "barrens" and the "islands".

Too bad that Willie or the Dunc's weren't around to ensure that credit was given to the right people. However, there should still be a few older Wardair and Northward YZF types around to correct what I have written.

[just curious]

Flaps is correct in his summary. The fixed ski allows for operation into places with say a foot of loose snow on a runway, whcih is generally not enough to justify skis. They are substantially lighter than boards or wheel skis

Their main benefit in the barrens is that the hard drifts (sastrugi) will slow rotaion and pound the nose gear, which is attached to the dreaded station 60.

It's funny how much you can get out of picture. That's my regular machine in the hangar, which rarely gets put in there.

Few people now operate with them.

JC

[wrenchturner]

Hey Just Curious and/or Articmaintenance

Are those old pictures or did they get rid of the inter-locking brick floor in the hangar?

[just curious]

First time they'v been on in 20 years, so... no more brick floor.

[dune]

here ya go.

Ah.. The blue bird.. My favorite..