Beech 18s... are they operated on wheels during winter?

[RadicalRadial]

I have recently started a relationship with radial engines. When I first started flying I thought the beaver was the coolest thing ever and that radial engines were the product of pure genius. As I learned more about aviation I soon realized the downfalls of radials in comparison with more modern engines. Poor aerodynamics, huge amounts of oil consumed, and just recently I learned how horribly dirty they are and how difficult they are to keep clean as well as any parts of the airplane anywhere near the engine.

This is my first job in aviation. Working with big radials and having to keep them pretty... can you guess where I work? As you can probably imagine, I hated it at first and wanted nothing to do with these horrible oil puking machines. But with nowhere else to go, I was forced to get used to it and after my mind being numbed after days and days of intense labor around these things I was slowly given the chance to learn about and fly these airplanes. My interest for radial engines and the airplanes that utilize them has increased sharply and I've actually stopped hating getting up to go to work, but I guess that's what always happens when you start to get some stick time.

This brings me to the topic of the post. I have always loved the Beech 18 but always thought it was removed from commercial aviation completely until I got into the industry and realized how many of them are still operated today... on floats. I dream of flying the Beech 18 but in my personal opinion, I find them quite unattractive sitting on pontoons and being given the chance to fly one on floats wouldn't be enough motivation for me to go get my float rating and a new job. SO, do any of those operators switch to wheels during the winter? this factor might be that bit of motivation I'm looking for. Or do they just tent them up and wait til next season? I know there is One company in Quebec that does skydiving out of a Beech 18 but I'm looking for a little more diversity with the kind of flying I would like to do.

[iflyforpie]

I'm pretty sure that most -18s spend the winter in a hangar. Takes lots of work to keep 50-60 year old airplanes that are operated off water airworthy. Day VFR machines don't have a lot of daylight to work with in winter either... and ice roads open up other ways of getting there.

The King Air has replaced the -18 in the wheeled on strip environment and the Twin Otter has replaced it in the off strip one.

[Colonel Sanders]

Working with big radials and having to keep them pretty

Heh - I was doing a 100hr on a W670 last night ...

You need to get a drum of mineral spirits and get
a compressed air sprayer. Life with radial engines
gets a lot more pleasant when you have those two.

[bobo]

Back in the 1960's and 1970's Beech 18s were used extensively on ski's during the winter months by several bush operators in NW Ontario. I flew for Superior Airways and put a lot of hours on CF-VCE which was never overated on floats. It went from wheels in the summer to ski's in the winter. Do a search on this site for a forum called Superior Airways and you will find several photos of 18's that have been posted by one of their AE's using the name Beech 18.
Bobo