RivetBangers.com

I was browsing the interwebs last night (Friday) and noticed some of the RivetBangers and New England Flash Mob members were heading up to Alton Bay, NH to land on their recently opened Ice Runway - it's the only FAA approved ice runway in the US. Alton Bay does a great job updating everyone of it's conditions via it's Facebook page. The runway has been plowed for 3,000', 150' wide and a taxiway on the east side. the trip up there from KDMW was a 347.8nm hop. The weather was spectacular on the entire east coast, so it would be a breeze to get up and back in a day.


Flying up there was some wind at altitude, but barely a headwind or tailwind. It was also a little chilly at 5,500' - 15 degrees F.


Very very clear and crisp day to be flying.


I made use of my new heated gloves for the trip...except the heated part. I forgot to bring the batteries!


Crossing over the Hudson River.


The further north I went, the chillier it got. 10 degrees OAT was about the lowest I saw.


Also, the further north I went the paint on the land changes from brown to white.


The New Hampshire Motor Speedway.


It's hard to miss the ice runway from the air!

(Photo Courtesy of Vlad)


Landing at Alton Bay was a piece of cake. Light toughdown, and no brake usage. Brakes are pretty much ineffective - they just cause some sliding. The only way to turn the RV was using the rudder. I ran into Captain John and Vlad who patiently waited for me to arrive.


This is the parking area. When I arrived it was full of planes.


My RV on ice.



Captain John and I flew in formation down to Hawthorne Feather for some cheap fuel - $3.81/G.




The trip home took a little longer due to a 20 kts headwind.



Great day inthe RV. Put 5.1 on the hobbs!

Was nice meeting you Mikey! I had a meat servo in the left seat driving my lazy butt to Alton Bay. He got about 5K hours in some cool Russian hardware but never landed on ice. Here we go that's your opportunity Igor. We met CJ at the same airport with cheap gas. Wondering how your tail wheelie didn't get caught in the cracks. They have cheap gas for a reason.

We loitered at 4.5K over the lake Winnipesaukee for 10 minutes there were a lot of arrivals.





We landed but Igor had trouble taxiing (brakes are on the left only) so I told him to switch to a snowmobile trail. There was some traction. Wheel fairings were off. You guys with little wheel in right place didn't have that problem taxiing. We parked and went to Shibley's for some soup.






Mikey was still one hour out so CJ and I decided to explore the vicinity and warm up the engines. I was enjoying free ride in ground effect for some time, Captain John was always on my six. Then somebody was on CJ six... We had good time playing then I noticed a bikini and landed. Two RVs were circling overhead providing air support.



There is a drone footage of CJ and I landing but I need to figure out if all is kosher to make it public. The drone is registered and the pilot is remote certified.

Vlad wrote:We met CJ at the same airport with cheap gas. Wondering how your tail wheelie didn't get caught in the cracks. They have cheap gas for a reason.

Vlad - I almost forgot about that taxiway at Hawthorne Feather....no wonder my back's been killing me all week!

Nice Alton Bay write up Mike, and you too Vlad Thanks. One of these days I will meet you guys. Ya Dude.

Was a great time!

Good to see all you guys again!

Yah dude, you need to fly with us sometime!

CJ

Vlad wrote: There is a drone footage of CJ and I landing but I need to figure out if all is kosher to make it public. The drone is registered and the pilot is remote certified.

I just got my Remote Pilot, UAS cert. I'd probably keep the video private unless you had approval/notification to the airport management prior to flying anything within 5 statute miles of an active airport.
Good summary article here from AOPA.
You wouldn't want to get any attention from the FAA without showing them that you had some sort of waiver granted for this drone flight. You don't even need the Remote Pilot certificate for non-commercial use, so unless you were getting paid to fly the drone, you don't need anything other than common sense to follow the regs.

Thanks Bruce. Private it will be. The drone pilot had "an approval" from airport manager and later was met by a FSDO inspector on site. All good.