Well I went out to the field today with plans to fly my Four Star on skis. I threw my SPAD Gnat in the car as a backup, and the last thing I put in the car was a snow shovel. It didn't look like anybody had been at the field since it snowed over a week ago. There was about 18" of snow on the ground.

I shoveled a path from the parking area to one of the benches, and cleared an area in front of the bench to work. I'm really glad I brought the shovel. I put my Four Star together, fueled it up, started it, and made sure it was tuned. I set it down on the snow and .....

...it sunk right in. Apparently, the snow was too powdery for the skis. I was mad at myself for not checking this in my yard before coming all the way to the field, doing all that shoveling, and getting the plane all ready to fly.

I put the Four Star aside, and fired up the Gnat. I just stood right in front of the starting bench and gave it a toss into the air. It flew beautifully. I flew two tanks of fuel through it and each flight ended in a nice belly landing in the snow. I had a set of Dubro park flier skis on it, but I took them off because they were flopping around too much. I think I will put some full size Dubro skis on it.

Once again, the day is saved by a SPAD