What do the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Apollo 11 Lunar Module have in common? Somehow, each of these flying machines managed to attain an honored place in aerospace history despite having small landing gear tires or none at all. This is a paradox of sorts, considering the degree of fanaticism that oversize "tundra tires" are generating among people that buy and fly their own airplanes.
Until recently the popularity of oversize tires was largely limited to operators of single-engine aircraft used for essential transportation in rural Alaska, Canada and other places with little or no road infrastructure. But these days, many pilots who fly strictly for fun and seldom land on any surface but smooth pavement or manicured grass are putting big rubber on their airplanes as well. First a ubiquitous work tool and now a fashion statement, the tundra tire is fast becoming an icon of popular culture.
"It's the baby boomers," says Bill Duncan, president of Alaskan Bushwheels, a Joseph, Oregon-based manufacturer that's riding the crest of the tundra tire wave. "Here you have a group of people that lost their shirts in the stock market after 9/11 but still have disposable income and are tired of sitting in the office watching the clock. They've figured out that a light utility aircraft-a Super Cub, a Husky, a Maule or a Scout, to name the top four, will keep its value over time and may even appreciate in value. And they want to get outside and play."
Duncan has seen his business quadruple in size since 2000, the year he bought the company from an Anchorage, Alaska-area partnership building one tire per day as the Alaska Tire & Rubber Company. At that time, virtually all Bushwheel production was destined for the Alaskan and Canadian markets, but these customers now only account for around half of the annual production total. Foreign customers (among them operators in several African nations, Venezuela and New Zealand) account for 10 or 15 percent, but by far the fastest growing market segment has been the continental United States. In 2004, operators in the Lower 48-many of them recent converts to aviation-bought 4 of every 10 Bushwheels sold.
Though Bushwheels come in various sizes, the most popular model by far is the 31-incher, a treadless rubber donut best suited for operations on rough, unpaved runways, river gravel bars, beaches, woodland clearings and tidal mud flats. Now FAA-approved for use on more than 150 aircraft types and sub-variants, these low-pressure tires roll quite easily over rocks the size of shoeboxes. And, while Bushwheels certainly allow pilots to do things with their airplanes that they wouldn't ordinarily be able to do, their greatest attribute could be the confidence they inspire, even in high-time pilots.
"There's the coolness factor, plus it's nice to have a little more capability than you may need," says Charles McDowell, a longtime Aviat Husky pilot and owner based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It's true that you can land on almost any airstrip in the Lower 48 with [standard aircraft tires], but if you have 26-inch or 30-inch tires you can do it comfortably all the time instead of rattling your fillings out and shaking the gauges out of the instrument panel.
"Without question there are psychological factors at play. Almost none of us have a legitimate 'need' for a Husky-type airplane at all. We want a rugged plane because it makes us feel a little more independent from the infrastructure. And remember, most of us are doing this as a form of recreation. If I have more fun flying around on sunny weekend afternoons with giant tundra tires, who cares? Heck, even most of the guys in Alaska don't really 'need' to be landing on gravel bars either-they simply enjoy it, or are ferrying hunters who could, instead of hunting, go to the grocery store and buy beef at one-tenth the price."
Other owner-pilots, such as Husky flier Bob Carlson in Red Wing, Minnesota, regard their tundra tires as nothing less than a key safety enhancement, a hedge against the unlikely event of an engine failure while flying over rough terrain. "I have the 31-inch Bushwheels and I think the biggest reason I have them is for forced landing insurance," he says. "I land on sand bars, snow-covered lakes and some not-so-smooth grass. The most likely option for a forced landing around here is a plowed field. With the 31s it would be just another landing."
