Prairie dogs almost wrecked my plane!

[robw56]

My wife and I took the 170 out for a flight today to check out an airstrip we've never been to and to get some lunch. Our first stop was Medicine Bow, WY. It was about a 50 minute flight out there and when we landed the field was VERY soft, if I would have known how bad it was I wouldn't have landed. That was the least of our worries though. When I went to turn around my left wheel sunk into a prairie dog hole that I didn't see. Luckily I was only going about 1-2mph, things would have been a lot worse if I was going a little faster or the hole was a little deeper. No damage was done to the plane . My wife and I pushed and shoved as much as we could but we couldn't free the plane from the hole. I had to use a piece of wood I found to dig a ramp up out of the hole. More pushing and shoving and we got the plane unstuck. I performed a soft field take off with the stall horn blairing and we got the heck out of there. I don't think I'll fly to Medicine Bow anymore! We continued on to Glendo, Wy and walked into town for lunch and then eventually made it back to Cheyenne. The rest of our little trip was uneventful.

Medicine Bow, WY


Not good










It's out!


Laramie Peak


Glendo, Wy

[58Skylane]

Time for some AK Bush Wheels??

Great pics. Glad nothing major happened to your bird.

[dlhanst]

Time for some dead gophers

[robw56]

Time for some AK Bush Wheels??

Great pics. Glad nothing major happened to your bird.

I wish

[GumpAir]

.22-250 is the answer.

Gump

[robw56]

Here is the route on my spot page, the tracking feature stopped working on the return flight for some reason.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... mDEpenHedH

[mountainmatt]

Glad that turned out for the better Rob (Z's old mojo may have saved the day).

Which SPOT do you have? How are the batteries?

[SixTwoLeemer]

Like the story and pix-

Be careful in that thing.. Zane says when landing, it likes to depart paved runways too.. I think he installed a brodie-knob

[robw56]

Glad that turned out for the better Rob (Z's old mojo may have saved the day).

Which SPOT do you have? How are the batteries?

It's just the standard one, not sure on the batteries but that might be the issue.

[lancef53]

We should have a get together to get rid of as many of them as possible

Glad it turned out ok.

[patrol guy]

Rob - with a pair of ABW 31's you wouldn't even know you ran over that hole.

[courierguy]

Rob,
I too experienced the joys of Medicine Bow Wyo. I spent a day there a few years back waiting for the wind to die a bit, ha! It did the next day, only 30+, but the mosquitos seemed to have adapted to the conditions, the wind didn't bother them a bit!

The gopher holes or whatever the hell they are, could have ruined my day also, (no Bushwheels then) I mean, landing at a "real" airport, I had let my guard down, and failed to eyeball it as good as I would an off airport landing. I love Wyoming, but I will NEVER land in Medicine Bow again, I'll land out in the desert first.

[Nosedragger]

Add Wisdom MT to your Big Wheels Only list. Good pictures!

[jgerard]

To get out of a hole like that it helps to loosely pack dirt and rocks around the tire in the hole, then lift up on the wing strut so that as the tire rises out of the hole the crap you put around it falls under it and fills in the hole a bit. Repeat as necessary until you can roll out of the hole. It's a good idea on soft sand with small tires not to lock the brake and swing the tail around. Don't ask me how I know Thank god (and Bill Duncan) for bush wheels!

Jason

[robw56]

To get out of a hole like that it helps to loosely pack dirt and rocks around the tire in the hole, then lift up on the wing strut so that as the tire rises out of the hole the crap you put around it falls under it and fills in the hole a bit. Repeat as necessary until you can roll out of the hole. It's a good idea on soft sand with small tires not to lock the brake and swing the tail around. Don't ask me how I know Thank god (and Bill Duncan) for bush wheels!

Jason

That's a good idea, I hope I never get in that situation again to use that advice I actually thought of digging a ramp out of the hole because my crew got a C-130 stuck in Afghanistan about 6 years ago and thats how we got it out.

[Zzz]

Charley has a guardian angel that follows him around, even on dog-holed strips and paved runways with impossibly spaced runway lights. I'm pretty sure he's in better hands now than being subjected to my swerving abuse.

Nice work. Reminds me of the "how to change a flat in the backcountry" topic.

[Backcountry Tundra]

I like the photos, nice trip... gopher holes are prominent in the Yukon and other strips in AK as well...seen too many... now I wish I had the Gopher/Ground Hog/Prairie dog destruction contract...those guys seem to have a blast at the airport with their supped up .22's!

[courierguy]

I bought one of these, from the inventor, at a farm show this winter and am itching to give it a try. www.molecat.com
Described as a "powder actuated gardening tool"!

[GumpAir]

[mr scout]

That looks fun but not very practical I think you could have set 4-5 more old school traps in that amount of time. I want to know were to find the Lucky Charms Rob is using.