Alton Bay Ice runway (B18)

Depending on winds tomorrow, was thinking of heading up to Alton in the morning. Anyone else?
 
Tomorrow is looking a little gusty. May head up Sunday if it is calmer.
 
Still got about 4 days of work before my time off, then for sure!
 
Looks like a great adventure someday down the road when I have a plane and some extra time.
 
That's friggin' awesome!
 
Yeah, I'm not worried about landing it in a crosswind. I'm concerned about the lack of traction on the runway due to it being.. ya know... ice. Maybe I'll head up this evening. Slept in too late this morning.
 
UngaWunga said:
Yeah, I'm not worried about landing it in a crosswind. I'm concerned about the lack of traction on the runway due to it being.. ya know... ice. Maybe I'll head up this evening. Slept in too late this morning.
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Touch down and hit the brakes, hard! ;):D

I kid I kid! Don't do that.
 
Did anyone go? Seems a little too gusty this weekend for me, but I'd love to do it!
 
This one is definitely on my bucket list, but it's not going to be this year... grounded until at least May 1. :(
 
Let's of snow today. Will they be able to clear it again?
 
They only open the runway when the ice is thick enough to get a plow truck out there.
 
I think this weekend is the weekend to go...
 
Runway conditions are perfect today. Busy here. Pics later
 
Home base isn't much different than Alton...

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I just heard they are closed for the season as of today. Probably a good thing, as much above normal temperatures are forecast for the rest of the week.
 
azure said:
I just heard they are closed for the season as of today. Probably a good thing, as much above normal temperatures are forecast for the rest of the week.
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There was an incident there on Sunday. Plane flipped attempting to take off. Because of the warmer weather, there was some slushy stuff alongside the runway that's being blamed. Was a bad day on the lake - about a mile up the lake, a truck fell through the ice. In a third separate incident later that day, a dog had to be rescued as well.
 
I was talked to the volunteers that plowed the runway for a while on Saturday. They said 5 snowmobilers had died on the lake that winter due to falling through the ice.
 
Bump. Ice runway may open this weekend. Snowmobilers ran up/down the runway during the last warm spell and put a bunch of ruts in it. They're waiting for it to melt and flatten out again before they open. Might happen this weekend.
 
There is a fly in next weekend...I'll be there
 
UngaWunga said:
Bump. Ice runway may open this weekend. Snowmobilers ran up/down the runway during the last warm spell and put a bunch of ruts in it. They're waiting for it to melt and flatten out again before they open. Might happen this weekend.
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http://theraf.org/civicrm/event/info?id=375&reset=1

I’m going super bowl Sunday morning. Let me know if your heading up.

As an aside you may be interested in joining the raf. They do a lot of work in saving and creating the type of airstrips we both enjoy most
 
If anyone is flying out of the metro NYC area and would like to take a a passenger, I am happy to share fuel costs.

I'm in Monmouth County, NJ.
 
We've had a bunch of warm days now, can't be good for the ice.
 
PaulS said:
We've had a bunch of warm days now, can't be good for the ice.
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Its what they needed to clean up the ice. Still cold enough at night to build up the ice. And it'll be cold this week. Not a problem.
 
UngaWunga said:
Its what they needed to clean up the ice. Still cold enough at night to build up the ice. And it'll be cold this week. Not a problem.
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Actually I just read in another forum that the ice was 15 inches thick in another part of the lake that is usually pretty similar to Alton, hope they get it open.
 
There is some debate whether it will be open this weekend or next. So we will see...

Either way its almost here, and I am looking forward to seeing it
 
Runway is in very good shape. The bit of snow they got gives enough traction for little braking, but its not really needed with a runway that long.
Do make sure to announce your positions in the pattern if going up. Was almost a head on due to a someone not announcing their landing (with a tailwind against prevailing traffic) with someone on short final in the other direction who was announcing.
 
The FAAST webinar was repeated a couple of nights ago. It was not a rebroadcast but a live web-based presentation. Pretty good, quite informative. One thing I hadn't thought about was how to do a runup before departing. That could prove challenging, and unless one is good at doing runups while in motion, this might be one of the rare times when it is best to skip it.

I was thinking of heading over there today but it wasn't too clear what the weather was going to be like as of yesterday afternoon, when I'd have had to call to get my preheater plugged in. Personally, it's just too damned cold to fly right now.
 
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