First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

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elmanzah
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First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by elmanzah »

My wife and I are excited to fly for the first time Oshkosh next Friday :D . I am seriously considering removing the wheel pants to avoid damaging them whilst taxiing on grass to our general aviation camp site. Curious what others think.
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by Guest »

Can't speak to OSH but we operated our DA40's on grass for years. The early DA40 with fiberglass pants held up great. The XLS with carbon fiber pants and smaller tires required repairs of the pants every year or so.

I do know that some years at OSH there are very few issues and the parking areas are dry. Others they are like swamps.
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elmanzah
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by elmanzah »

Thank you for sharing. The other consideration I just thought off is the green stains. I think I’ll just go ahead and remove them.
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Lou
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by Lou »

We will be there Saturday, with pants on. I mean the plane. I'll be wearing shorts. :D
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Kyle
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by Kyle »

I’ve gone the past 2 years with the wheel pants on and had no issues, other than them getting dirty of course.
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gordsh
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by gordsh »

Lou wrote:We will be there Saturday, with pants on. I mean the plane. I'll be wearing shorts. :D
Louis, you flying from Canada? In a group with other planes or by your self?
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by CFIDave »

I've flown multiple times into Oshkosh in DA40 XLSs, and parked on the grass for a week -- no damage to the wheel pants.

One bit of of advice: stop by your favorite hardware store to purchase 2 small pieces of plywood to place under your wheels when parked on the grass. This will make it much easier to get your plane out of the inevitable holes created by your plane's main gear sinking into the ground, especially if it rains. Otherwise you may need some additional people to help push when it's time to depart.

P.S.: Planning to fly our DA62 to KOSH again this year. I'll be working the Diamond exhibit again, so stop by and say hi.
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Lou
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by Lou »

Shawn - just us. We'll leave CZVL Friday am, weather permitting.
Dave - plywood is a great idea. It's on the list now!
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by ultraturtle »

If you want to get fancy, you can use a product specifically made for this purpose that is more durable, better gripping, stronger, and easier to handle than plywood:
15F2D2EB-D30E-42F9-BB38-4954F4CA5144.jpeg
I bought two 2’ x 4’ strips (AM24) for $60 ea and cut them in half. 11lbs per 2’ x 2’ square, so it eats up 33 lbs, 7lb more than similarly sized 3/4” plywood squares.
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Re: First time Oshkosh: To wheel pants or not to wheel pants

Post by gordsh »

Lou wrote:Shawn - just us. We'll leave CZVL Friday am, weather permitting.
Dave - plywood is a great idea. It's on the list now!
Thanks Louis, I hope to do fly there next year, just wanted to see how other Canadians approach it.
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