The change of the seasons also brings a change in the undercarriage of many Northern bush planes. Summer flying is generally done on floats, allowing the planes to land on any one of thousands of Northern lakes. However, once the lakes start to freeze, flying must be done onto airstrips in the fall, and later in the winter, onto frozen lakes and rivers. To change an Otter, as seen here, from floats to wheel-skiis, the aircraft is first connected to a chain-block hoist which will be used to lift the aircraft off of the ground. After removing the water rudder control cables, the bolts that hold the float gear onto the bottom of the aircraft are removed and the plane is slowly lifted off of the floats. The floats are then rolled back and the landing gear legs attached to the now-hanging aircraft. Hydraulic lines for the brakes and skiis are reconnected, the tail-wheel reinstalled and reconnected, and once everything is double-checked, the plane is lowered to the ground where it is ready to fly in a new season.
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