In the effort to get more BCP folks to get out camping and meeting, I created the IMR or Informal Micro Rally.

What the hell does that mean?  Simple:  Just get out and camp… Doesn’t have to be anywhere crazy, short, or gnarly.  Anyone is welcome, anywhere is game… Pick a meeting spot and run whatcha brung.

Pick a spot, let other folks know where you are heading by posting it, and roll the dice… If at least another person shows up, you got yourself an IMR.

Good luck!

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Some pics of last weekends event in Lincoln ME.  It was myself, Texashooligan, and another Skywagon.  Was chilly, but super fun!

Got an order of Skywagon East Vintage T’s in today.  They are pretty cool…  Available in red, black, and blue.

Another awesome vid from my buddy Zane from Backcountrypilot.org.

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Zane from Backcountrypilot.org does it again…

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Shot this short vid after a solo night camping with the dog along the Penobscot River up in Lincoln, ME.  Awesome spot to camp!

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Special thanks to Zane for cutting this film on this years trip to Alaska.  Amazing trip with an awesome bunch of guys!

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Yesterday was a damn perfect day to fly, so I headed up to New Hampster to hit Alton Bay. The community owes a huge debt to the volunteers that keep the runway open. Was a fantastic day of flying…

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Was able to get up to Alton Bay for the Ice Runway. Those guys do a kick ass job up in N.H.  Kudos!

Found these pics of the Bushwagon on the 180/185 club site.

Well I finally got off my ass and finished the film from the 2014 Alaska adventure with my buddy Larry.  Hope you enjoy!

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Some great chewy air!  DA this AM was -4600.

Flew over to Sherman Field where I was taunted by the cool kids for not having my skis worked out yet.

Might try to get em on before the snow all goes away.

I have em in the shop, just haven’t gotten the chance to get the skis on yet.  Really hard with all this snow!

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Took my Pops up flying the other day… He’s getting the hang of the Wagon.

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Elephas Creative is proud to launch Wup’s new website for his company Backcountry Connection.  Congrats Wup!

For those that are interested in the MT, here is a quick clip from this weekend. Nothing too mind bending as I had my Dad and didn’t want to get him nervous with the stall warning all blaring on T/O. At any rate, it was me, my Dad, full fuel (444lbs) at 2635 GW. Pretty good at just over 500′.

Got some more flying in this weekend and a better chance to get a feel for the MT… (solid 10hrs )

Was working it pretty hard and I had one T/O in the 150′ range… so I think I’m sold.

Got a bit nostalgic for the day I brought her home and shot this 1000′ T/O roll.  Such a different airplane.

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Backcountry Aviation’s STOL Tips by Patrick Romano is an article and media series about backcountry flying technique and strategy– in particular the unique skills utilized for operating from very short airstrips and landing zones, and the dynamic environment of the backcountry.

www.backcountrypilot.org/stol-tips

WX finally broke and I got a chance to fly her today with the MT.

Was a really nice day, sea level, wind 280 at 8 (rwy 240) DA was -800. I was pretty light with 27 gal of fuel, 2170 gross at T/O.

Very first impression? Hard to say… For sure I wasn’t tossed back into the seat with some neck snapping acceleration. Really the biggest thing I noticed right away was the whacky sounding strange high whooshy noise. On the first take off I had to pull my headset off to make sure nothing was going to fall off.  Later on I did a 170 mph buzz job on my friends field and he said it was much much quieter.

That said, I think I’m going to like the prop. I only was able to do a couple of laps around the patch, but although I didn’t feel the A/C accelerate any faster, the data didn’t lie and I was getting some pretty short T/O numbers compared to before.

Of course it wasn’t scientific by any means and just by eye, but with 2 notches of flaps, I was easily lifting her off in the sub 200 range with my best at around 175 ft. I’ll try a camera on the strut to get a more precise measure, but with some more confidence, I think I can do a bit better. Climb out was also a bit better. I wasn’t pushing it, but at 85mph/2550 rpm, I was seeing around 1300ft/min. All pretty respectable for a 180 I would say.

So is it worth it? Yes. Worth the price? Jury is still out.

Well, she’s on… Was already to give her a test this weekend but was hobbled with snow and crap WX here in New England. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The primary reason I pulled the trigger on the MT was to save some weight and move the CG back, so I was obviously anxious about the data.

In the end, the MT spinner (with 2 coats of added single stage color) was actually 1 lb heavier than the stock Mac I removed. Total taken off was -59lbs, total added was +46lbs, so the net savings was a paltry 13lbs. For sure this was an expensive 13lbs, and we all know the folks who say “Just toss survival gear in the back.” True indeed, but the fact is oz’s = lbs, and although not the 20-25 suggested, 13lbs is 13lbs.

As for CG: The prop lives at -40″ of arm, so in the end, the loss of the 13 moved the empty CG aft 0.54″. Epic? Not really…

What happens to the A/C CG empty is merely interesting. The real marker is what happens when calculated as light as you would ever conceivably fly… single pilot, reserve fuel, rear seats, and perhaps even front pax seat removed. The “theory” people talk about is to set up the A/C as light as possible w/ the CG as legally forward as possible so you can stuff her full and never worry about busting aft.

In my case, with me behind the wheel and 11 gal of fuel (45 min of reserve at a conservative 15gph) the movement difference of CG between the stock prop and the MT is still only 0.50″.

To put that into perspective, (with the stock prop on,) I could have gotten the same effect by tossing 12 lbs in the extended baggage. The argument for the proverbial “bug-out-bag.”

The net/net…. I removed 13lbs on the nose to avoid 12 lbs in the extended baggage. A ton of cash for an otherwise easy fix, but then again, that would have meant an additional 25lbs, and 25lbs is 25lbs.

Hopefully I’ll get her up in the air tomorrow and have a better all around feeling for the swap. Fingers crossed for a performance inducing smile.

Stay tuned..