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Jet Ranger stubs toe on speed limit sign, Prudhoe Bay 1970s

AlaskaAV

GONE WEST
Mission, TX
Crash will understand this story for sure since he was around the slope when it happened. If I have told this before, bear with me. This might also happen often in the future.

Prudhoe Bay, located right on the coast of the Beaufort Sea off the Arctic Ocean and in it's heyday, was a major oil producing area of the United States. In the 1970s, there were not very many navigational aids available to get into the Deadhorse Airport where I was assigned as station manager with Wien Air Alaska so it was lots of IFR flying,
I Follow Road or I Follow River.

Fog could roll in at any time and if you have followed my stories, you have read about our company operations and my talking our Boeing 737s, with selected flight crews, in for landings when there was a runway visibility problem.

This story involves an operation by a company, whose name will remain unknown, that operated both fixed wing and helicopters for local charter and oil company contracts. Their hanger and crew facilities were located at the Deadhorse Airport.

Here is what happened on one flight with a Jet Ranger equipped with inflatable pontoons attached to the skids.

The Ranger had been doing some contract work for an oil company and had been released from the work area and on the way back to the Deadhorse Airport. Once near the ARCO docks in the Beaufort Sea, he hit some rather heavy fog. Oh, what the heck, lets just call it zero visibility fog and get that over with. Since he had been flying in the area for a long time, he know just about every land mark there was so he picked up the road at the docks which he knew went to the airport. Needless to say, he was scraping the roadbed and very slow. He got through one big oil company facility and past their private airport and continued down the road to Deadhorse. The further inland, the worse the fog got. By this time, I understand he was like 5 foot above the road and moving at maybe 5 mph. He knew that road very well since he normally flew over it day after day in VFR conditions. Somewhere between two oil support company facilities, he was a little more relaxed when all of a sudden, maybe 50 feet in front of him, there is a pickup headed toward him. He tried to pull it up and at the same time, the pickup driver saw the chopper right on top of him and immediately went off the road and ended up upside down on the tundra five foot below the road. I learned later that he was not injured and there was no contact with the chopper which did not land for some reason but did call for help. Now, down the road he goes. He is very aware of a couple of sharp turns in the road to get around the facility of a construction company. He knows there are several antennas with wire supports to get around but he also knew if he stayed to his left side of the road, he would clear the structures on his right side. All goes well and he makes it around those sharp turns and he is back on the right side of the road and it is all clear to the Deadhorse Airport. Except for one thing that is. Some days, it just doesn't pay to get up and go to work. Remember, he is still about 5 foot off the roadbed and moving at maybe 5 mph and on his way when all of a sudden, one of those big pontoons hit a 10 mph speed limit sign mounted on a 4" x 4" timber. That slowed the Ranger down just enough that it leaned forward and took out the blades and than just laid over and died. Not the pilot, the aircraft and no injuries.

By the way, the pilot above and his company gave me a Jet Ranger for a day at no charge to run a special tour for a very special friend of the CEO and President of Braniff Airlines when he asked me to show her around the North Slope. She ended up being the first woman to operate an oil drill rig of a very well known drilling company on the slope.

I can say one thing, that President had very good taste in Women. That trip to Prudhoe Bay for her will be something she will remember forever. Gee, off the subject again. Sorry, but it is Crashes fault, he turned that little old light bulb on again. Thanks for the memories Crash.

As I recall, that same pilot and his "assistant" went out hunting for white foxes one day or on a training flight or maintenance flight check, found a few, took them out, skinned them properly and had the pelts processed. Guess what? One of those foxes was rabid and both ended up taking a whole bunch of shots and off flight duty for several weeks. They broke a cardinal rule on the north slope. Never touch a wild animal on the north slope of Alaska. At that time, aprox 75 percent were rabid, not the pilots, the animals but at times, I did wonder. :wink:
 
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