AlaskaAV
GONE WEST
Mission, TX
The normal departure at the Barrow airport is runway 6. About 10 miles away to the northeast is the Point Barrow Air Force Station with a runway more or less parallel.
On one flight with a gross cargo load of lumber and drummed fuel destined for Bud Helmricks place at the mouth of the Coleville River on the North Slope of Alaska, the load shifted to the rear just after liftoff and slid clear to the back of the aircraft. Talk about tail heavy. If I am not mistaken, Bud was even on the flight. As I watched it leave, I saw the tail go down and within a few seconds, I heard the sound of the engines change so suspect they, shell we say, firewalled it for what little extra power there was left. I could see the wings rocking back and forth a little and finally, they bent it over real slow to line up with the PBA airport which was almost in a straight line but a little north. They were never able to gain any altitude above a couple of hundred feet from the looks of it and talk about slow. Ever see a duck walk? That was kind of what the aircraft looked like as it moved over to the left.
The airport manager at the Point Barrow airport told me later that the aircraft was below the level of some of the warehouses just off the end of the runway when they were on short final coming in over the Arctic Ocean. They landed at full power, tail first and once the main gear came down, they were able to power off and taxi to the ramp with no problem.
Other than some fantastic flying, probably the only thing that saved the aircraft was the large tail feathers the C-46 has. With all the power being used and both pilots forcing the yoke forward, they still had some control even though the aircraft was just at stall speed all ten miles. I often wondered how those engines kept running with so much power being applied.
The flight crew reloaded the flight, borrowed some new tiedowns and continued with the trip after checking the engines out real good and taking a good look at the tail wheel assembly.
Just another day of bush flying in Alaska.
On one flight with a gross cargo load of lumber and drummed fuel destined for Bud Helmricks place at the mouth of the Coleville River on the North Slope of Alaska, the load shifted to the rear just after liftoff and slid clear to the back of the aircraft. Talk about tail heavy. If I am not mistaken, Bud was even on the flight. As I watched it leave, I saw the tail go down and within a few seconds, I heard the sound of the engines change so suspect they, shell we say, firewalled it for what little extra power there was left. I could see the wings rocking back and forth a little and finally, they bent it over real slow to line up with the PBA airport which was almost in a straight line but a little north. They were never able to gain any altitude above a couple of hundred feet from the looks of it and talk about slow. Ever see a duck walk? That was kind of what the aircraft looked like as it moved over to the left.
The airport manager at the Point Barrow airport told me later that the aircraft was below the level of some of the warehouses just off the end of the runway when they were on short final coming in over the Arctic Ocean. They landed at full power, tail first and once the main gear came down, they were able to power off and taxi to the ramp with no problem.
Other than some fantastic flying, probably the only thing that saved the aircraft was the large tail feathers the C-46 has. With all the power being used and both pilots forcing the yoke forward, they still had some control even though the aircraft was just at stall speed all ten miles. I often wondered how those engines kept running with so much power being applied.
The flight crew reloaded the flight, borrowed some new tiedowns and continued with the trip after checking the engines out real good and taking a good look at the tail wheel assembly.
Just another day of bush flying in Alaska.
