Herks with ski's

[james]

Asked my dad this question out of curiosity and we had a few ideas but I thought id post it here to discuss. My question is how do herks take off with ski's on from a paved runway and then be able to land on snow or ice with them like landing in the antarctic. I would have thought taking off from a paved runway with them on would damage them but they mut be fitted in a way that they dont wreck them on takeoff but are able to be used on landing on ice or the antarctic

[LEBTowerGuy]

The wheels actually poke though the ski mods.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... ffbb38cae1

[MIKE JG]

And the skis are lowered to below the height of the wheels when they want to land on ice or snow, just like a bush plane.

[james]

curiosity asks why havnt we got a ski herky for ai but i think this may be complex therefore we dont have one for that simple reason

[Victory103]

curiosity asks why havnt we got a ski herky for ai but i think this may be complex therefore we dont have one for that simple reason

Same reason we don't have an upgraded F-16. The designer, HTAI, left the AI scene and took his wonderful model files with him. We do have repaints/flightplans in the GLANG packs for the NY ANG that fly the LC-130's.

[RKE]

The wheels actually poke though the ski mods.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... ffbb38cae1

It might just be the angle, but it seems like there isn't much of the wheels poking out below. I wonder if that means a "flatter" flare on landing, to avoid scraping the skis against the runway?

[Jumpshot724]

When I was in ROTC we flew with the "Ski-Birds" on one of their regularly configured C-130s. From what I remember them saying it is a very flat landing with little to no flair, and these pictures seem to provide that info.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Ai ... 2c8fed48e2