[mark_]

Hey guys...snow is coming and I'm heading to the LHS this weekend to get some skis. This will be new to me so I'm looking for some advice. I plane to put skis on the PZ Extra 300. Anyone here put skis on a tail dragger before? I'm wondering if the rear ski has to be special to retain steerability. Any other recomendations?

[Ron Marwood]

Hi Mark,
I have put skiis on my cub and many other tail draggers and don't bother with any tail ski.
Taxiing in snow doesn't work very well so I generally put the plane on the runway where I want to start my take off run.

[Cougar429]

I predominantly fly taildraggers and have mounted skis with no problems, including some I fabbed myself. The rear ski needs some form of keel runner to allow for steering, as a flat bottom will simply slide sideways under loads from wind or torque. In some cases I glue a length of plastic fuel tube, (aquarium tubing) but any narrow abrasion resistant material will suffice. On that note something similar on the front skis will also help directional control on snow. On ice all bets are off.

Unlike the spring/ski angle setup for the front skis, if the rear is pivoted correctly it should not need one, only some form of stop to prevent the nose of the ski from dropping and sticking in. If you fab one yourself an important design criteria is to have a large enough nose lift area to keep the ski floating on top.

p.s. As Ron Marwood mentioned, you can retain the tailwheel, but I find in deep snow the drag is considerable. Also, unless there is adequate distance between the pivot and tailwheel axle to act as a rudder it may not create enough turn moment.

[mark_]

Hey thanks for the great input guys...I think that I will try a tailwheel ski and see how it turns out. Cougar you answered my question perfect...I was wondering if it need a keel. I'll see how it works...I can always just stick with 2. The Extra can be hand launched easliy enough but without skis it will stuff in and nose over on landing which will shove snow into the motor so I think that at least 2 will be a necessity.

[Max]

If you have a small plane and correspodingly really small tailwheel, it might not be worth the effort to put on a ski in the back. Some plane manage to fly OK with just the tailwheel in the back and Ski's in the front.

[rusty33]

Mark,

I flew the HZ supercub last winter with skis. No need for a rear ski on this one and I suspect the extra won't need one as well. They're just not very tail heavy and they get up onto the front skis very quickly. It was an absolute blast flying from snow.

[rbwater]

You can see in the picture below the very light weight "park flyer" skis I got from the LHS & put on my 40 oz. Edge. They worked well. At the rear I have a skid made of clear plastic screwed into the bottom of the fuse. It's almost impossible to see in the pic. but it's shaped like a C on its back screwed in with 2 x 3/8" long machine screws at each end. It is high enough that the flimsy tail wheel does not contact the ground. I use it on grass all summer as well with wheels on the front. Never have a problem steering as the rudder is so large it puts it wherever I point it.

RB

[mark_]

Awesome...I'm not looking forward to snow but I am looking forward to flying off it. I'll skip the ski on the tail wheel as per consenus here...certainly makes sense that it won't be needed...the plane should taxi and turn ok with enough airflow over the rudder...thanks guys.

[Tyler P]

Originally Posted by rbwater

You can see in the picture below the very light weight "park flyer" skis I got from the LHS & put on my 40 oz. Edge. They worked well. At the rear I have a skid made of clear plastic screwed into the bottom of the fuse. It's almost impossible to see in the pic. but it's shaped like a C on its back screwed in with 2 x 3/8" long machine screws at each end. It is high enough that the flimsy tail wheel does not contact the ground. I use it on grass all summer as well with wheels on the front. Never have a problem steering as the rudder is so large it puts it wherever I point it.

RB

I flew my SA Edge off snow with the wheels. As long as the snow was somewhat packed or frozen, the Edge had no issues at all.

I have to build another one of those. Mine met its demise last winter while flying off the frozen river near my village. Best flying balsa parkflyer out there.

[mark_]

Interesting point Tyler that begs the question....are skis even needed? I suppose it would depend largely on the weight of your plane.