off strip landings
 

G'day everyone, out of interest- has anyone landed on a dried lake bed/ salt lake? (and been able to take off again!)
obviously Edwards AFB etc don't count...

cheers!

Many have successfully and many have unsuccessfully.

The trouble is that - as I am sure you know - salt lakes form a crust, once you break through at slow speed, its all over.

I would not attempt it unless you were landing in the immediate vicinity of fresh tyre tracks of a 4WD.

Your questions will get far more constructive answers if you post them here: Backcountry Pilot You will also find a few Aussies on board.

Here in Australia this sort of thing is dangerous, not to be undertaken and may result in prosecution. You won't have the skills either and the naysayers will only mention those that have made mistakes.

Use only the edges, fit big tyres, learn how to test the surface, and use a STOL aeroplane with a tail wheel. Have fun!

interested as a potential precautionary landing spot, obviously they are highly variable surfaces!

But in regards to prosecution- surely anywhere you can take a 4WD you 'could' with a suitable aircraft, land?

also I wouldn't attempt even landing in 4WD tracks I would think your average light aircraft would have higher footprint pressures,

still interested to hear from anyone that has successfully.

I have, quite a few times. I have found rock hard surfaces and surfaces that are too soft for most aeroplanes. The softness of the surface is dependent on how recently it has rained and how much. All the ones I have seen where it is soft on the edges, landing in the middle would result in a bogged aeroplane.

If you can drag a wheel or both wheels or better still, the tailwheel then fly away you can look at the imprint on a second pass. I would highly recommend doing this in your own aeroplane only. Pilots who do this stuff in rental or company planes without specific permission and a reason are, in my opinion, a dangerous risk and dikheads.

The other question I always ask is why? If there is nothing to see, no good camping, nothing to do etc what is the point? If you are doing it because you may need to one day for real, forget it!

the person that does it in a rental aircraft would deserve all the punishment they can get!

were you using tundra's etc?

There are a number of very nice places to visit i know of that are extremely remote and require well kitted 4WD to access,
nothing i would attempt to land an aircraft on though,

basically just interest.

thanks for the advice, comments etc

cheers

lots of salt flats on properties all over the outback. and lots get used regularly, as said before, if unsure, use one that got fresh car tracks over it. and whats this only use a tailwheel crap!

A mate used to carry a couple of bricks on board and throw one out the door to check the surface first. I remember he did it once and the brick went straight down and was nowhere to be seen so we didn't land there!

Ok, point taken, your machine (Savannah as I recall?) is well capable and no doubt a better short fielder than my Scout :{

Dried lake bed? No.

Salt pan, road, fire plow track, geo-survey line, paddock, beach? Yup, many times

C150, C182, C182RG, C185, C206, PA18, PA25, PA32, BE35

The usual story - don't prang and its generally not an issue!

A salt pan is a dried lake bed ... or maybe you're making some distinction I'm not following.

I think if you are asking this question, then you haven't been on a salt lake. Most salt lakes in Australia have a thin layer of Salt. The exception is the Southern end of Lake Gairdner where they do the salt lake racing. There the salt is up to 1m thick.

If you search pprune, you'll find many references to aircraft that tried to land on Lake Eyre that either came out by chopper or a still there.

Salt does have a crust and below it can be clay the consistency of porridge. And don't be suckered in by the 4WD track wives tale. A), the salt lake can change condition quickly and B) I've pulled a 4WD out of Lake Torrens that followed what he thought was vehicle tracks, but was actually 2 dirt bike tracks side by side (you reckon they didn't do that on puropse?).

Hard salt has a distinctive shade of white, but if your'e not familiar with the different shades of white with different degrees of wetness (read softness) then you won't pick it.

I haven't seen the salt lakes in Nth SA properly white / dry / hard in a number of years.

So, unless you have Tundra tyres or a trusted mate to drive it first - don't do it.

Old mate used the baked bean test - a can of baked beans was dropped and if it bounced and rolled AOK - and you get to eat the beans.

Agree regarding the salt lakes, many have a thin crust over ooze.

As for clay pans, tracks etc. That is why I am building something STOL.

Two bogged on Lake Eyre in the past year:

No Cookies | The Advertiser

Bogged plane at Lake Eyre a monument to bad day in the outback - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The doctor, embarrassingly a member of my own profession, gets a particularly honourable mention for:

1. Electing to land in the middle of Lake Eyre in an aircraft with tiny wheels because he felt 'ill'.

2. Not having a PLB, a Delorme or a Spot and presumably not thinking to set off the ELT with which his aircraft was almost certainly equipped.

3. Electing to try and walk out 70km at one of the hottest times of the year.

4. Only taking a tiny amount of water -- particularly stupid for a renal physician.

Although he failed to win a Darwin Award this time, with form like this he should be the proud recipient before too long.

(And Supermouse -- there's a 'Bush Flyers Down Under' Facebook page which may interest you.)

i dont think many salt lakes will be useable for quite some time, most have had some decent water in them a few times over the past few years Lake Eyre is filling again, the 3rd time in about 4 years..

Oh how I wish PPRuNe had a "like" button!

DF.

http://stolspeed.com/uploads/files/L...s%20Corner.JPG

not me.

About time the OWT's about bricks and tins of beans thrown out the window, in relation to beach and/or salt pan ops were put to bed. I call bull****. Everyone has got/heard a similar story, no one I know would dare base their judgement on something so small, thrown (illegally!!!) from an aircraft in flight. Absolute fecking nonsense.

No one would admit to it for fear of prosecution, either.

Kaz