Curlew Lake Float Flying

You may know of our efforts to find an alternate float fly site. Even with the spring rains, New Underwood Lake is still woefully lacking in water. The north end, where we launch planes and the retrieval crew is shallow in a good year and is now difficult, if not impossible to use.

Early this spring, some members scouted possibilities at Curlew Lake which is about 11 miles farther down the road from our field. Curlew is a much bigger lake, but has also suffered from our prolonged drought. Its water level is substantially below normal, but its size makes it much more practical for our use. In May, we tried Curlew Lake for the first time. Our current site is on the northwest corner of the lake. It gives us launch and landing into the prevailing wind and also a nice flat spot on the top of the hill to use as a makeshift land runway. Mike Wagner took the mower to the site and mowed a generous size strip of prairie grass to use for land planes. With the vehicles parked on the top of the knoll, it is a good 25 yards down the bank to the edge of the water. That seems to be the only down side for this site. The shore there is a little muddy, but is quite passable as a launch site.

Our May event was also a hot dog roast, so Darrell, Doc and Denny also moved the barbecue to the site for the day’s festivities. The winds were light and favorable for both water and land flying. Quit a bit of There were times when there were several water and land based aircraft sharing the air at the same time.

Bob Olson had his new Sig Rascal at the event for its maiden flight on floats. The Rascal/float combination was a bust, however, on this day as several attempts at water take-offs were unsuccessful -- one ending in a flip and dunking. Bob is not sure what the problem is. He and the other experts on site were unable to pinpoint a cause of the balky flight characteristics of the Rascal. Denny Bernal had a PT-40 trainer ready for float work, but a balky motor kept him from getting airborne as well. Doc, Darrell, Ken Gatzke and Ken Corrin were the other floaters using the rippled runway.

On the grass strip, Zac and Ben Roller put quite a few flights on Ben’s Telemaster and Zac’s Sky Raider. Mike Wagner flew his Kadet Senior from the grass a couple of times too, but an errant landing event cut his flying short and caused a few ‘field modifications’ that have since been repaired.

On June 3rd, we tried our second water event at Curlew Lake. Unlike the first one, this day dawned windy and cool. A brisk 10 mph wind put swells that were just short of white caps on the lake. Not to be denied our float flying, Ken Gatzke, Bob Olson, Darrell Cassidy, Denny Bernal and I launched planes into the teeth of the wind. Denny Bernal had different motor on his PT-40 and, although its antique muffler make it quit loud, it flew well. Bob Olson brought his Eagle this time after putting the Rascal on the shelf. I put a couple of flight on my veteran Cardinal. Someday, I am going to have to repaint that thing.

Darrell Cassidy got the prize for the most entertaining landing, buy putting his Seamaster up on the grass shoreline while missing the rocks lining the water’s edge. He accomplished this with a timely bounced landing that actually saved his plane from more serious damage.

The consensus of the members is that we will continue to fly at Curlew for the rest of the scheduled summer float events. The only thing that would change that opinion would be a Noah- type rainfall event at New Underwood lake. The good part is that you can bring land planes and seaplanes to the same event.