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Dan just finished a

Dan just finished a RTS (Return to Service) flight on HC-BMO. They've just finished putting a new nose gear on that plane, which includes a 8.50 inch tire. They were running 6.50 inch tires up front, and 8.50 inch tires in the rear, which was a non-standard configuration. The non-standard part was the larger tires for the main gear. The pilots have found that if they use the larger tires in the back, it helps them accelerate more quickly on the grassy, bumpy, and wet s. The cut grass tends to act as wheel chocks in extreme cases. The small nose gear isn't too much of an issue, so it's been kept at the 6.50 size. But, you may find this photo interesting. It took the pilot and the local people a while to scoop some mud off part of the when the plane couldn't take off because of the mud bog on the airstrip. At any rate, the larger nose gear was required if they wanted to keep using the large mains. The larger tire in the front should also help reduce the incidents where the prop strikes the ground because the nose gear sinks into a soft spot on the runway. When that happens they usually end up replacing the engine, not just the prop.