Stickerous Thorni

[SkySteve]

I was about 50 miles into the Utah west desert yesterday, landed at one of my favorite desert airstrips, did the usual walkabout enjoying the nothingness, solitude and quietness of the area, then decided to take off ... only to discover that one of my tires had had an alien encounter with one of the multitude of natural desert plants, the "Stickerous Thorni" (or something like that) and the plant had successfully removed all the air from that tire. It was at that very moment that I fully realized the value of one of my "must haves" in my plane:

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff12/KitfoxSteve/b07d6f4d.jpg

Instead of being stranded with no one knowing where I was and no way to make a repair I was able to "filler 'er up" and fly home. It also reminded me that it would be more than an excellent idea to carry a SPOT (or other personal locator) with us when we fly. What WOULD each of us do if we were in a remote location and had any kind of problem? I've been thinking about that lately. It happened to a good pilot in a neighboring state just last week and because he had a way to notify friends, he had help within 2 hours of "pushing the button".

[DanB]

Steve, Glad to hear of your happy ending to what could have been more than a thorn under your saddle...uh..tire. I had never thought of carrying a can of that stuff, but seein as how I got some of the same Stickerous Thorni Species in my neck of the desert, I may go get one. :D

Thanks for the post,
Dan

[jamesmil]

great idea, will pick up a can for those beach landings. thanks

[Dave S]

Steve,

From my experience in the desert - the flora and fauna all Stick, Sting or Stink or do all three......

I have thought about loosing a tire out somewhere and what a person would do - not real crazy about loading the plane up with extra tires, tubes, jacks for a routine flight.

I landed with a tire that blew on the takeoff roll on a C-140 once - wasn't much of an issue but I would hate to try taking off on one that was flat to start.

This is a great idea; and, I am wondering if you could say how long the fix lasted???

Did you let the tire sit around a while to see how long it stayed inflated?

Dave S

[SkySteve]

Dave, the tire inflated just fine. I found the instrusive sticker but did not remove it. I was afraid to pull it out. I got back in the air and headed for civilization as fast as I could. Landing and taxi to the hangar was fine. I did however pull the tire and wheel right away and fixed the tube. The "stickerous" was large enough that I had to use needle nose pliers to remove it from the tire and tube. After the fix I put a little more Green Slime in the tube for next time. :eek: