Bigmike,
Typically not, the area of the skids is usually smaller than that of the tires, believe it or not. The skids can produce a bigger area as they sink into the terrain, but that is dangerous if the sod plops up above the midpoint of the skid so that the skid gets entrapped.
If you measure the area of the skid shoes, and divide by the weight of the helicopter, and compare it to the tire pressure of a helo that is designed for soft terrain, they are quite equal - not surprisingly, the engineer's calculators work the same at every manufacturer!
Last edited by NickLappos; 18th December 2005 at 18:30.