I'm started this new thread for the 2014 Float Flying season, so you know where to look when you want to find out where the REAL fun is ;D
So, by my detailed calculations, we are already mid-way through the off season for float flying and I'm starting to get the itch to get back to the lake, bay, or pond. The good times will be here again before we know it, so keep working on those float planes!
Well, I decided to stop by one of our favourite spots yesterday (Frenchman's Bay) and even though it was quite windy and rough on the lake side, the bay side was nice and calm. Even the wind surfers were out. I took a picture of our pit area, then I wanted to see how well my new truck tires worked in the water, so I dove out to our landing strip and took a picture for ya.
Anyway. I'm looking forward to another (even better) season of float flying to come. I hope you are too!
Was your truck actually on the lake there, Robert?
Yo crazy man!
At last I'll be joining you guys with something to fly! Yippee! ;D
Colin
I like that awesome battery charger and the 3700S BL fan motor in the background of your first photo! :D
Andy
Oh Andy, you're a card!
Quote from: sihinch on January 20, 2014, 10:52:22 PM
Oh Andy, you're a card!
Hey! You know how it is. You've got to promote your company's products!!
I was also going to tell him about the
fabulous "white-water" float flying at TEMAC this past weekend, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. :D
Yes, Simon, it was out about 50ft. I drove onto the ice down near the end of the road where the canoe club is located. There was a ramp, of sorts, onto the ice. It also gave me a chance to exercise the 4x4 ;D Believe me, I wouldn't have gone out there is there were not already several trucks out on the ice. Much further out than I went. I had never driven on a frozen body of water before so it was quite liberating :)
I actually thought about joining the white water float fly (great name) on Saturday, but something kept me at home. Can't remember what. Was it windy? It looks like a lot of fun and I hope to enjoy flying from the white stuff before the end of the winter. Oh wait! I know what it was. The snow around my area was frozen and crusty. I figured it would be to abrasive for floats. I see you had a nice layer of fresh snow at TEMAC. Oh well.
And Colin. I certainly hope that's true :D
Quote from: piker on January 21, 2014, 09:42:10 AM
I actually thought about joining the white water float fly (great name) on Saturday, but something kept me at home. Can't remember what. Was it windy? It looks like a lot of fun and I hope to enjoy flying from the white stuff before the end of the winter. Oh wait! I know what it was. The snow around my area was frozen and crusty. I figured it would be to abrasive for floats. I see you had a nice layer of fresh snow at TEMAC. Oh well.
The wind was very tame (W at about 10 kmh, gusting 15) and was definitely less than forecast (W @ 20 kmh). The new snow (about 4 cm) was light and fluffy. Lots of nice rooster tails! Hope we see you next time. Hoepfully this weekend will work out. Forecast is cold and dry all weeek, then new snow and still sub-zero on the weekend.
Cheers!
Andy
Saturday's Float Flight of the Beaver was my fourth White Water Float Fly of 2014. Andy keeps turning into the scale police and lecturing me on the "unscaleness" of float flying off snow and then uses photos of a floatplane on snow!
Can't make the White Water Float Fly this weekend...will be in Orlando and will send some pictures of blue water or green grass float flying! My UMX Cub has floats and fits in my suitcase!
Attached is my UMX Cub in its "scratch" built foam travel case (smaller than the HH box). Second photo is the foam case in my suitcase...guess I won't be taking too many clothes. Hoping my Multiplex Merlin will fit too. It's designed for travel and its box is designed as a travel case.
Is that your carry on bag? If not I would try to make it so it is. Sure the foam container could protect the plane from its own weight but the other 20kg bags that will be stacked and bumped up against that one might cause damage. This concern would be cleared if the outer bag was of the hard case variety.
Suitcase is the max airline allowable...way too big for carry-on! I'm sitting in the airport breakfast bar waiting for my flight to take off so I'll know on a few hours whether the Cub survived! What does everybody else do about airline travel withe lipos? The airlines are getting fussy about lithium batterie a.
What lipos, Officer??
Quote from: sihinch on January 24, 2014, 09:45:00 AM
What lipos, Officer??
I believe Cadbury makes a chewy chocolate bar with the same x-ray signature as LiPos. Just put your LiPos in the candy bag and you're good to go. I believe Simon can provide the necessary technical product specs. (Just be sure not to eat a Lipo by mistake. They leave a nasty tingly after-taste.) :D
Andy
Okay, I woosed out on trying to smuggle the lipos as chocolate bars. The little Cub takes really small batteries so I might have gotten away with it but the $50 000 first offence fine scared me off.
The Cub survived the trip in my checked bag but the box was ripped apart on one corner and will require a strap to hold it together for the return trip.
I'm heading in to Graves the biggest hobby shop in the Orlando area to buy some batteries and I'll ask about air travel with lipos. It's only forecast to hit + 16ish today....still beats -16!
Quote from: Wingnutz on January 25, 2014, 09:58:30 AM
Okay, I woosed out on trying to smuggle the lipos as chocolate bars. The little Cub takes really small batteries so I might have gotten away with it but the $50 000 first offence fine scared me off.
The Cub survived the trip in my checked bag but the box was ripped apart on one corner and will require a strap to hold it together for the return trip.
I'm heading in to Graves the biggest hobby shop in the Orlando area to buy some batteries and I'll ask about air travel with lipos. It's only forecast to hit + 16ish today....still beats -16!
Should be nice float flying weather at TEMAC tomorrow! Wind chill -15C to -12C in the afternoon (winds S at 16 kmh). With snow pants , snow boots, parka, toque and a scarf it will feel just like Orlando. AND I won't have to put on sunblock!! :D
Have fun in the sun!!
Andy
The first float fly of 2014 is less than 2 weeks away!
So, you may be thinking... but the snow is still melting, the field's a sloppy mess, and the temperatures only just moved above the deep freeze mark...
Well, I was thinking the same thing until I paid a visit to our unofficial float flying site yesterday, and found a clean and clear pit area, a clear and clean launching beach, and weed free, excellent float flying water.
then it occurred to me. This time of year is an excellent time for float flying at Frenchman's Bay. There will be very little boat traffic and the weeds haven't grown up yet. In fact, his early spring may be the best time for float flying at FB!
So, if you're interested in float flying, start getting ready so we can kick off the season with a great time on April 19th from 4:30pm til dark. I'll be there with my planes and the rescue boat ready to go!
I'll post a reminder closer to the date.
I took this picture yesterday (April 6, 2014):
Woops! I can't upload a picture. Oh well, you'll have to believe me and use your imagination.
i feel like Sgt Schultz... i see nothing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ag4nkSh7Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ag4nkSh7Q)
Quote from: battlestu on April 07, 2014, 10:16:09 AM
i feel like Sgt Schultz... i see nothing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ag4nkSh7Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ag4nkSh7Q)
Ya... I've been trying to upload a picture but something is broke!
Let's try that photo upload again...
Looks almost good enough to jump in and swim in. Positively tropical in the photo! ;D
I'm in....
I might be there!
Another nice evening at the Bay last night!
(April 10, 2014)
That's nice, when my plane goes out of control over the trees you will be able to see it to recover. No leaves to block your view!
LOL
Jack.
Well, I WAS going to mention that another benefit of flying this time of year, is the greater visibility because of the bare trees :)
Sunday evening at FB.
I'm mounting floats on my new Toledo Special. I hope to fly it on Saturday evening!
It looks so tranquil and inviting!
Here's wishing for good weather as I am hoping to water-taxi test and maybe maiden the Beaver before it gets decorated too much. (The more it sits beside me, the more I want to fiddle with it.) Never done float flying before.
Meantime, this is calming and one of my favs.
http://youtu.be/QXweYglFxSo (http://youtu.be/QXweYglFxSo)
Nice Video Graham. That's a narrow runway!
Question for Andy. How do you have the water rudders rigged on your Beaver?
It looks as if you have extra lines to the rudder?????
Bigstik
Ha!
Going through some old pictures, I found this one of my first trailer lid retrieval boat. It looks so small! ;D
Well it was! It was only 7'x4' compared to 8.5'x5' of my current one. Makes a big difference!
BTW, this is at Frenchman's Bay in 2007.
Since I don't talk about float flying enough ;D (that's sarcasm), I figured I'd tell you guys about a new spot I found last night.
Well, it's not really a new spot for me as I used to fly seaplanes there in the early '90's when I lived in the Beaches (Beach) area of Toronto. On a calm evening, I would grab my old American Eaglet on floats, or my Navigator flying boat and head to Cherry Beach, near the bottom of the DVP, specifically at the bottom of Cherry Street.
It was a wonderful location in those days as the water would be calm and the beach was long and open. I've often thought of trying that location again, but figured it might be too busy now.
Well, last night I stopped by to check out an area of the beach, more off to the east end that looked less likely to be busy with swimmers and sun bathers. I was very pleasantly surprised that the area I had in mind is less ideal for beach use, but wonderful for float flying. In fact, swimming is not permitted in this area as it's intended for "craft use", meaning, I guess, for launching kyaks, etc. That's good news as we would be launching air"craft" in that area, so it should be more accepted. ;D Also, the area is separated by a little bit of a bay shaped shoreline which makes it a little more secluded.
Some other pros and cons are: Pro, we would be facing south so the wind would be onshore or along the shore most of the time, and it would be clean (not turbulent) air. Pro, the area of water is surrounded by Leslie St Spit, so the water shouldn't get to rough. pro, the shoreline provides nice access with no weeds in the water and good visibility. Pro, it's at the bottom of the DVP, so is more central than Pickering, for most people. Pro, I think there will be less boat traffic there, or at least it'll be further out. Con, there may be more people traffic there, but maybe not... last night, it was quite empty. Con, we'd have to carry our equipment a little further, but there's more room to park.
Anyway, I think this could be a really nice option for float flying. I think we should try it out for the next float fly, after the one this week. I'll let you know
If you've followed to this point, give me your opinion about the location for travel (for you). Would it be easier or harder to get to, say on a Saturday evening or a weekday evening, than Frenchman's Bay. I'm thinking it would be a good place for a week day evening float fly.
Here's a link to the specific location:
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/43.6544566,-79.3500512/43.6386192,-79.341372/@43.6422242,-79.3458421,3087m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m3!4m2!1m0!1m0
And here are some pictures I took with my phone last night around 8:00pm. Not the best conditions, but you can see the layout and the potential.
What exactly is a "longer walk"?
Jack.
Looks nice!
Might be better for me. But as usual, Friday and Saturday evenings are not great for me.
Weekdays and Sundays evenings this would be great.
That last picture was taken from beside my truck in the parking lot. The water is just beyond (10 ft) that grassy group. So, I'd say about 100 feet... or about from the TEMAC parking lot to the middle of the new geo-fabric runway. Not far at all, but further than Frenchman's bay :)
Quote from: sihinch on May 13, 2014, 02:10:41 PM
Might be better for me. But as usual, Friday and Saturday evenings are not great for me.
Weekdays and Sundays evenings this would be great.
Cool! Yes, I'm thinking this would be good for weekday evenings. Going down the DVP would be opposite of rush hour traffic and it would be closer for a lot of people like
@sihinch,
@bfeist,
@electroflyer,
@wollins,
@Frank v B, etc. ;D
Looks like a nice location for tanning and float flying!
Do we need to be concerned about being in City Centre airspace?
Perhaps Captain Andy "Sno balls" can add comment.
I'm sure it's not ideal, but I kept an eye on the planes when I used to fly there and they approach and take-off north of the beach area. Not even close to where we'd fly, and they're pretty high at that point. Less of an issue than at TEMAC as far as I'm concerned. Plus, we don't fly float planes that high usually :)
Frenchman's Bay is 45 minutes for me, but an easy drive traffic wise. For Cherry Beach, I would have to go 10 kms west and 2 kms south just to get on the 404 at the very top end, probably an hour each way with no traffic. For a chance to go float flying, though, I'll do it! Getting out during the summer is always hit and miss for me as I'm up north a lot, but if that spot works out better for everybody, I'll definitely not let the extra 15 min. chase me off. Count me as one vote for.
I do love the Bay, though. I spent my youth at my Grandfather's cottage further east about a hundred yards or so on the Bay side, so each time I go there is like a trip down memory lane (at least, what memory I have left).
Eric
Why not give it a try?
If I leave Markham and Sheppard at that time and I'm at the bottom of the DVP in 1/2 hr or less. Frenchmans is easier for me But Cherry beach looks like a pretty good site and it does seem to have a few advantages as mentioned by the Piker.
Ken
Thanks for the feedback, guys!
Just to clarify... I'm not considering this place as our one and only place for float flying. Frenchman's Bay will remain our primary for now.
My goal is to have several places that we can alternate between to keep things interesting and for some diversification in case we lose one of our sites. So far we have Frenchman's Bay, Tavares pond (where we flew last summer), Preston Lake (which I need to get into our regular rotation if I can work it out with Fred), and probably Cherry Beach.
And, I'm still hoping for others. One day, maybe I'll be able to secure a place that we can sanction as an official club float flying site... but that ideal spot is not easy to come by in this part of the province. I have a place in mind, and have approached the owner, but getting permission is unlikely.