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In the past 3 years I know of six airplanes that have been hung up in trees with their occupants uninjured. And around here it can take days for a plane to be found, SAR can not provide services till they know where to go.
I will carry recovery gear, and as I get closer to going into full service with the CAP, I might carry survival gear on those missions as well.
 
In the past 3 years I know of six airplanes that have been hung up in trees with their occupants uninjured. And around here it can take days for a plane to be found, SAR can not provide services till they know where to go.
I will carry recovery gear, and as I get closer to going into full service with the CAP, I might carry survival gear on those missions as well.

There are compact, self contained descender devices that operate on a flywheel/brake principal that will lower a person at a controlled rate requiring no user input, other than attach the device to a sturdy anchor, attach the line to yourself and jump out.
Marketed for use escaping burning buildings.
 
In the Air Force, we had a tree lowering device attached to our harness.
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There are compact, self contained descender devices that operate on a flywheel/brake principal that will lower a person at a controlled rate requiring no user input, other than attach the device to a sturdy anchor, attach the line to yourself and jump out.
Marketed for use escaping burning buildings.
 

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Late last year one of the guys in our EAA chapter went up for a first flight in a new to market UL, It did not climb well and he hung around in the trees for the better part of 8 hours as the rescuers cut a path through the woods to get equipment into the site. No water, no food and no desire to move since he was suspended between two trees.
Somewhere I have pics of him still in the plane as well as the news coverage, I think this was later when he was down and they were lowering the plane.
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Look up mule tape, I have 100 ft I carry. Light, 1500 lb wt rating, I have not tried to rappel with it yet. With the right knots I am sure it would work.
DENNY
 
With the ongoing search and investigation of Monday the 13th accident in Ketchikan AK, this LA times article from 2015 that was written about the late Randy Sullivan, the Beaver pilot who lost his life.

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-c1-alaska-float-pilot-20150102-story.html

For me, as a FAAST Team Rep who hosts two VMC and IMC programs a month with a desire and goal of promoting pilot safety, the closing quote from Randy S. whom with
"Logging over 11,000 hours of flight with a perfect safety record", touches me.

"The trick is how you handle the scary moments," he said. "Can you buckle down and figure things out?"

It looks like he did not have a chance this time.

 
There’s already rumours and finger pointing going on, but I hope there is enough hard data recovered to pinpoint the real cause. With only witnesses on one aircraft, getting unbiased facts may not be easy.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
I fully expect they will point their fingers at the man who can not defend himself. Lets see, that man is well respected with ZERO marks on his safety record in over 11,000 hrs of flying.
And the finger pointer is a company with multiple fatal crashes that are getting more frequent in recent years. Humm.

Being that the aft fuselage on the Beaver was cut/broken apart in mid air, lets see what the investigation comes up with. Since recovery of the planes has started today I expect preliminary information will be available soon. There may also be data in some instrumentation that may tell a bit more of the story.

Oh and as an edit I have not seen any new news today other than relating to recovery work. So my comments above might be right, or might be wrong, we will know soon.
 
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the FAA is going to be less than impressed, a week after the other crash for this company...



https://www.ktva.com/story/40506096/ntsb-plane-overturned-in-waters-near-metlakatla
 
The FAA probably won't have time to put them out of business. Their insurance company will more than likely pull the plug first. Their rates will go up to where it will be impossible to operate. I've seen it before.
 
On Monday I had been looking around online to see if any pictures or snippets had leaked out of the previous crash, spent time chasing down the multiple owners associated to [FONT=&quot]Taquan or Venture Travel and the plane's owner in Nevada, so on. I come up with a statement that [FONT=&quot]Taquan was returning to flying, Wow a whole day and more fatalities.[/FONT][/FONT]
 
News reports several witnesses and quick responders to the Metlakatla tragedy so that may help investigators.

Edit: Hopefully the freight aboard was well secured and didn't create an exit problem.

Gary

alaska-float-plane-crash-may-20-2019.jpg
 
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This looks like there is not a lot of damage. Do you suppose that it was just a case of landing too fast and stubbing the bows flipping it forward?

18410776_G.jpg
 
The pilot of the recent flipped Taquan Beaver must not have been in Alaska very long.

April to Nov 2018 Skydive Philadelphia.
Nov 2016 to Nov 2017 Cargill Aeronautical Academy and Service Center
Aug to Oct 2016 Skydive Finger Lakes
June 2014 earned his commercial pilots license.
 
There's that old Youtube of one in a movie that caught the nose of one float then the other. Hopefully the witnesses can offer more.

Gary
 
I wasn't going to until more was mentioned but this is what can happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzPSjBPAlMQ

Play it at 0.5 speed (a Youtube option under Settings; first symbol going right across screen). Left float stubbed first then after gyration left wing broke up while plane was going sideways before nosing down and flipping. The prop probably helped pull it under.

It may be similar to the USF&W's Kodiak Quest that grabbed a float and cartwheeled in Lake Hood (https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/art...ter-lake-spenard-floatplane-crash/2012/10/01/). Lots of deep hard chine keel up front that can pull sideways if landed slightly nose down and off track. Flaps like de Havilland's can drop a nose when effective. Just an opinion from my brief time in a Beaver.

Then there's this on the ocean with any following swell or crosswind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broach_(sailing)

Gary
 
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The pilot of the recent flipped Taquan Beaver must not have been in Alaska very long.

April to Nov 2018 Skydive Philadelphia.
Nov 2016 to Nov 2017 Cargill Aeronautical Academy and Service Center
Aug to Oct 2016 Skydive Finger Lakes
June 2014 earned his commercial pilots license.
Hmmm? A lot of hard climbing followed by high speed diving with a quick landing for the next load. That happened here last year with the pilot running off the end of the runway flipping the 182 on it's back. Scratch one 182. (The pilot blamed his radio at this small NORDO airport.) This doesn't sound like the type of experience required of a Beaver pilot flying heavy loads.
 
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