Pilot's Emergency Landing in Alaska: No One Hurt

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses an emergency landing of a 1941 Taylorcraft in Alaska, where the pilot lost control while searching for a snowboarding location. The conversation explores the challenges of recovering the plane from a precarious position near a cliff, including various methods and the implications of such a situation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that getting the plane down is relatively easy, while others emphasize the difficulty of ensuring it is done safely and in one piece.
  • A few participants propose using helicopters for recovery, with differing opinions on their effectiveness at high altitudes.
  • Concerns are raised about the dangers of recovery operations, including the risks to people and equipment involved.
  • One participant recounts a historical anecdote about a float-plane pilot facing significant challenges after a misjudged landing, drawing parallels to the current situation.
  • Humorous suggestions are made about unconventional methods to resolve the situation, including sending a passenger out to push the plane to gain airspeed for takeoff.
  • Participants share personal stories related to aircraft recovery, highlighting the camaraderie and challenges faced in such scenarios.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the best methods for recovering the plane, with no clear consensus on the most effective approach. The discussion includes both serious considerations and humorous suggestions, reflecting a mix of technical and light-hearted perspectives.

Contextual Notes

Some technical details regarding helicopter capabilities at high altitudes are mentioned, but the discussion does not resolve the complexities involved in the recovery process or the safety implications.

Who May Find This Useful

Aviation enthusiasts, those interested in emergency response scenarios, and individuals curious about aircraft recovery operations may find this discussion relevant.

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Here's an exciting landing in Alaska:
A 21-year-old pilot looking for a place to snowboard lost control of his 1941 Taylorcraft in a snow-crust landing and slid to the brink of a cliff. The plane caught on a rock just below the top, and nobody was hurt.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/newsreader/story/771362.html

Now how to get it down.
 
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LowlyPion said:
Now how to get it down.
Down is the easy part. :biggrin:
 
Moonbear said:
Down is the easy part. :biggrin:

The insurance co. might have a different view of that.

In looking at that, I thought those kinds of things only happened in the movies. Indiana Jones usually always lands that way.
 
Hey, you didn't say down in one piece. :wink: I still think that back up will be the harder part.
 
Moonbear said:
Hey, you didn't say down in one piece. :wink: I still think that back up will be the harder part.

I think it's actually easier than you think. You just need a good latch on it, and a powerful helicopter can pull it right up.
 
JasonRox said:
I think it's actually easier than you think. You just need a good latch on it, and a powerful helicopter can pull it right up.

It could, if it weren't at a density alttidue of 10k feet. At those heights, a helicopter has one hell of a time just keeping itself in the air.
 
Moonbear said:
Down is the easy part. :biggrin:


Moonie's right. Down is the easy part. The stop at the end, not so much.
 
Cyrus said:
It could, if it weren't at a density alttidue of 10k feet. At those heights, a helicopter has one hell of a time just keeping itself in the air.
Not all helicopters are created equal. A Chinook laughs at that load at 10k.
 
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FredGarvin said:
Not all helicopters are created equal. A Chinook laughs at that load at 10k.

Wow, that's pretty damn impressive.
 
  • #10
Follow-up: The plane has been recovered:
"It was in a fairly precarious place," said Jim Acher, the Big Lake owner of Northern Pioneer Helicopters. Acher is the pilot Jake eventually contracted to retrieve the Taylorcraft. Acher sling-loaded the plane off the peak beneath a Bell UH-1 helicopter, an aircraft best known simply as a "Huey."

a delicate job

Recovering the plane from its perch, he added, was actually pretty easy, but getting it rigged for recovery was another matter.

A friend of Soplanda's climbed out on the plane to wrap climbing ropes around it to form a harness to which Acher could attach the helicopter's sling.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/aviation/story/776605.html
 
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  • #11
If this is the correct model, it weighs 1,250 pounds.
http://taylorcraft.org/docs/A-746.pdf

I would think a few snowmobiles should be able to tug it up and over if they can rig some type of a (maybe collapsible) boom or other leverage enabling device near the edge...and there's something to attach to near the tail.

BTW, how did the pilot escape?
 
  • #12
WhoWee said:
I would think a few snowmobiles should be able to tug it up and over if they can rig some type of a (maybe collapsible) boom or other leverage enabling device near the edge...and there's something to attach to near the tail.
Extremely dangerous:
- many more people on the ground (i.e. more than zero)
- things and people attached to foundering plane that might get dragged over the edge
- so what? now you have a plane on top of a cliff. Can't fly it until it's been thoroughly checked out in a repair shop anyway, so...
 
  • #13
DaveC426913 said:
Moonie's right. Down is the easy part. The stop at the end, not so much.
In other words, the ground is the only hard part when you come right down to it.
 
  • #14
Years back, a reckless float-plane pilot landed his plane on Mountain Dimmick Pond. So far, so good, but float planes need a lot of take-off room and the cliffs, bluffs, and forest surrounding the pond blocked take-off. In the end, he had to pay the landowners for permission to build a road up their mountain, pay the earth-moving company to build the road, and pay someone to disassemble the plane, lash it to a trailer and haul it down off the mountain, THEN pay to have it reassembled, inspected and re-certified. That was one pricey misjudged landing.
 
  • #15
WhoWee said:
BTW, how did the pilot escape?

Actually the account is at that link. They apparently crawled out ... very carefully.

Then I imagine they changed their knickers.
 
  • #16
LowlyPion said:
Actually the account is at that link. They apparently crawled out ... very carefully.

Then I imagine they changed their knickers.

The bad news is: Bob change with Bill, Nick change with Annie...
 
  • #17
DaveC426913 said:
The bad news is: Bob change with Bill, Nick change with Annie...

:smile:
 
  • #18
DaveC426913 said:
The bad news is: Bob change with Bill, Nick change with Annie...

Is that an Alaska thing?
 
  • #19
WhoWee said:
Is that an Alaska thing?

I'm not sure about Alaskan in general, but the Inuit share everything including wives.
The solution to that landing looks pretty simple to me. Send a passenger out to push. The first few hundred feet of falling straight down should build up enough airspeed to fly out of there. :biggrin:
 
  • #20
Danger said:
I'm not sure about Alaskan in general, but the Inuit share everything including wives.
The solution to that landing looks pretty simple to me. Send a passenger out to push. The first few hundred feet of falling straight down should build up enough airspeed to fly out of there. :biggrin:

Might make a good reality TV show...for stuntmen.
 
  • #21
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. A great landing is when you can reuse the aircraft!
 
  • #22
Danger said:
I'm not sure about Alaskan in general, but the Inuit share everything including wives.
The solution to that landing looks pretty simple to me. Send a passenger out to push. The first few hundred feet of falling straight down should build up enough airspeed to fly out of there. :biggrin:
This is the one time I'll volunteer to be the one to get out and push...
 
  • #23
Danger said:
Full flaps, dammit! That's a tennis court!

Pilot: Full flaps dammit! That's the shortest runway I've ever seen!
Copilot: Yeah, but sure is wide...

:biggrin:
 
  • #24
DaveC426913 said:
This is the one time I'll volunteer to be the one to get out and push...

I recently lost a good friend who served as a Medic in Vietnam in the early/mid 60's. He never really talked about it except for 1 story.

After a VERY heavy rain, it was VERY HOT and a large airplane got stuck in the VERY DEEP mud at the end of the runway. He, along with about 100+ of his closest buddies...some in mud up to their waists...spent a very long (did I mention HOT?) afternoon lifting, pushing, pulling (swearing, hitting and spitting) on that big bird until it could move on it's own.

When they were done, they all sat in the mud and drank HOT Budweiser (apparently they could have all the Bud they wanted...there just wasn't any way to cool it).

He was a good guy.
 
  • #25
WhoWee said:
they all sat in the mud and drank HOT Budweiser

Bloody hell! Isn't that what they serve to their least favourites at Guantánamo Bay?
 

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