Greg's Alaskan Adventure

This was an adventure planned for by me and my best friend from grade school. We were going to do an Alaskan moose hunt. After researching areas we decided on the area North of the Wrangell Mountains and East of Nebesna. We planned on hunting the 8th-30th of September. I did not know much about hunting moose and actually thought it was going to take that long to be successful. John is a very good with details and spent hours looking at maps and even called to talk with a fish and game biologist at Alaska Fish and Game. After sharing with the biologist our plans and the experience we had between the two of us he ask the guy what he thought our chances were, the biologist simply answered zero and told John we would be better off hunting caribou. This did not deter John who had taken 3 moose in Canada in the last 6 years, he did not tell me any of what the biologist had said until I was in Alaska with my airplane. We headed out to scout on the 8th and started GPS'ing legal moose that would be somewhat accessible by airplane. I was told a few days before to not kill a moose more then a mile from where you can land an airplane. There were a few other things like it will take 8 packs to get it all out and don't call me once it is down. We started hunting and after a few different locations settle in this area that had two nice drainages. We spent days at a time sleeping on moss on uneven terrain eating freeze dried and cliff bars. The packs on our backs had everything we needed for 3 days when we left the plane. On the forth day we split a cliff bar in the morning and started making our way back to the plane for more provisions but were side tracked by a monster moose. This ended up taking time but no success, by now it was 3 in the afternoon and we were both hungry. We stopped to drink water and John who is always hunting was glassing the other side of the valley saw a nice bull. This was not the average bull we had been seeing but one with all kinds of junk on the front, more then the 4 minimum brow tines. With a few quick calculations on how late it would be by the time we killed it and how far it would be from the airplane we decided it was worth the try. We set out after it with the knowledge we were either eating moose meat that night or going to bed hungry. We picked some land marks to go to as we knew everything would look different on the other side of the valley. We made it across pretty fast and by 5:00 pm we were thinking this bull is somewhere in the next 75-100 yards above us, we moved up the ridge line looking at the hillside for this bull but could not locate it. By now we are both thinking it must have moved and so I tell John to try his sexiest cow call, he does but the response we hear is another cow. We know no one else is in the area and although not much cow calling has been going on we are thinking the bull is nearby. John does another call and this time we hear some branches breaking and the bull grunting, we think he is coming in but as time goes by the noise gets farther away. We decide to go in the direction of the cow since we can hear her still. I am glassing as I am moving forward and at about 100 yards I can see this bulls head in the brush but nothing else. John again starts to cow call and this time the bull is hooked, I am ready for the shot and John is behind me filming the whole thing. I can not see the bull coming but can hear him, at about 12 yards the bull enters the opening and I let him have it. I was told they go down pretty easy and so I am expecting him to run 50 yards and go down. He does not and after an hour of tracking small drops of blood on what has to be the worst canvas on the planet to track blood I am beginning to have my doubts about my shot. It is 7:30 and getting dark and after I find each new drop John moves forward from the last drop, I am focused on the next drop and not looking to far forward. I say to John I found another drop and he grabs my shoulder and says you found a hole bunch of blood and points to the dead moose 10 feet in front of me. I am so happy that I did not wound this big guy and I then realize what I have done and how big a moose is and how much work this is going to be.

I will add to this as I have time to reflect. Some have heard about the fact that I wrecked the airplane and I will tell more about that. It had nothing to do with the moose hunt. The moose hunt was over and we were both successful, we were miles away from that area when I bent the airplane on another part of our adventure.

I wrote this out the other day so I might as well post it now since I added the pictures of the airplane to my story to soon.

I was out exploring a landing site that my friend had given me gps lat/lon for, if it looked good I was going to drop our gear off and go back for my buddy. It was only 20 miles from the Iliamna airport. At the time ATIS for Iliamna was 10 gusting to 16 I flew along at 1000 feet agl I was seeing more like 35-40 out of the north on my nose and was being bumped around pretty good (or badly). The terrain in the LZ was hills and mountains which probably should have given me some pause but I felt like this spot was not difficult. I set up for my final and as I descended through about 500 agl the air smoothed out. There is an obvious spot at this location that people have landed over the years that runs kind of east/west, I was landing in a slightly different direction from the actual visible strip 20-30 degrees off actual strip heading more to the NE. The wind felt pretty solid at this point and directly on my nose, except for a few ballooning effects as I was descending I was pretty much on target for my touch down spot. I had full flaps at the time and my ground speed was in the low 20s with partial power (1700 rpm). At about 10-15 feet agl I was hit from the side with a gust so strong it felt like it would roll the aircraft over, I estimate it put me into a 65-70 degree bank. I went to full power thinking I could fly out of it but was wrong. In hind sight I think my right wing tip was probably already dragging the ground (based on visual evidence after landing) but I felt pretty high in the air so I did not realize this. At full power and full opposite control to the roll I was still going hard to the right in a step bank but now it had changed to where it felt like I was looking at the ground, as if the wind was under my tail and pushing me over from behind. I chopped the power thinking this is going to hurt and pretty much stopped instantly as my left wheel hit the ground hard sideways. It broke the wheel off at the axle and I got my left wing tip and aileron and about 3 or 4 inches of the propeller. I got out and was amazed that I was ok and the airplane was intact for the most part. The right wing tip was damaged and aileron, the left wing tip and aileron and the left gear leg and oleo and propeller, everything else was fine, so in the end I felt pretty lucky. I called my buddy on the sat phone and tell him what has happened and he decides to try and help. He comes out and after a series of tries lands his Supercub, I am giving him the winds on the radio as they are happening from the ground in hopes he does not get hit by some kind of gust like I encountered.


At this point I have an airplane down and the wind is blowing in extremes from almost nothing to 30 mph. I have a 100 feet of good climbing rope but nothing to drive in the ground my buddy has nothing in his airplane but finds a 2 1/2 foot long piece of rebar on the ground. I drive it into the hard packed ground of dirt and rock and tie off the wing that is pointing into the wind, he also has a big duffle bag that we fill with around 500 lbs. of rock and tie it off. As we leave out of there I am thinking that I wish I had my duckbill anchors but that thought soon fads to the thought of what I need to line up to fly the airplane out and back to Anchorage. I get back to his lodge and start making phone calls, I know Bill Duncan will have a line or know someone that does for most of what I need. I have my spare propeller at home and will have a friend ship that up so I will fly it out in just a few days. I go to sleep that night and the next morning we head back out, I will stay with the airplane until the parts show up to make sure nothing disappears. I see the airplane from the air and it is now upside down. The winds are really bad like the day before and after a few attempts at landing we decide it is not worth the risk. I know it has just gotten much worse but still not sure how bad, I can see that the wing struts on one wing are bent. We try again that evening and are able to land and see the full damage. Now it has no windscreen, one wing has a bent spare, the fuselage is broken at the door post and V brace and the vertical fine and rudder are bent over two feet down. Not good!


It took another 3 or 4 days to get the parts back to Iliamna and freighted back to Anchorage, and then another few days to find a shipper. They are now in a container headed home with all my camping gear and my moose rack. It was a great hunting adventure right up to that point, I still have a hard time believing this has happened but it will sink in when I have the parts sitting at home again.

Nice moose. I hope to hear about moose #2 next year.

edit: I'll read chapter two now.

That is a great moose. Would love to hear more about the trip also.
Sorry about the damage to that wonderful aircraft. Please post your rebuild decisions and progress when you get started.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Great moose. Sorry to read about the other troubles. I'm sure Jerry was a great help when you needed him. And at a time like that you really need a great friend.

Jerry is a good friend and a great pilot, without Jerry I would really have been feeling pretty hopeless. We used his Cessna 185 and Super Cub to fly out the parts to Iliamna, then we loaded everything on Everts and shipped it all to Anchorage for 443.00.

Similar subject thread on twitchy landing conditions
http://www.supercub.org/forum/showt...ind-phenom&highlight=Ordinary+3-point+landing

I remember Jerry telling me a similar story about helping a pilot of a PA18 on Kayak Island.

Wow, thanks for sharing this story, Greg. That is a monster moose, no doubt! Your experience with the winds on the Peninsula holds a good message for anyone who flies out there. Those winds can be pretty wild. George Kitchen flew and guided out there for many years, and he lost a Cub in a wind storm one spring during a bear hunt. This was a guy with well over 24000 hours flying Cubs in Alaska.

its fantastic country, but it can be tough. Congratulations on not getting hurt in that landing...I have a feeling that there was a good bit of skill exhibited to make that happen.

Sorry about the airplane, but thanks for sharing the story...hopefully we can all learn from it.

MTV

thats actually the 3rd "broke axel" minor fender bender, but then the wind destroyed it plane up here this fall I have heard of....

I had duck bill anchors and driver in a duffle bag but pulled some of the gear out of my airplane at the Iliamna airport and that happened to be one of the duffle bags I pulled out not really thinking I would need them. Major mistake on my part because the type of ground that I did have the accident on they would have worked I am sure. I know I will kick myself for that one for awhile, good lesson for others. Have what you need to secure your airplane with you at all times because you really don't know when or for how long you may need to be secure.

Mauleguy said:

... Have what you need to secure your airplane with you at all times because you really don't know when or for how long you may need to be secure.

Click to expand...

And get it out. Last week I decided to land an island that had just surfaced on a local lake while coming back from meeting a friend at an airport. Dragged it, landed fine, then taxied to an area I hadn't dragged and broke thru the crust getting my SQ-2 stuck. I had my Abe's Tie Down's which are perfect in the soft sand, but no come-along to get myself out. Had to have my friend air drop one along with a shovel (mine was in my 185).

Nice Moose! And again, sorry your plane got wrecked.

Mauleguy said:

.. Have what you need to secure your airplane with you at all times because you really don't know when or for how long you may need to be secure.

Click to expand...

so on that note....

what can you design for dual purpose... useful in normal use, but also for a different task in emergency....

landing gear safety cables come to mind... dual use end with duck bill shape....

but a thought....

Wow Greg! Quite an all encompassing adventure! At least it will be unforgettable...

Thanks for sharing it!

sj

mike mcs repair said:

so on that note....

what can you design for dual purpose... useful in normal use, but also for a different task in emergency....

landing gear safety cables come to mind... dual use end with duck bill shape....

but a thought....

Click to expand...

I have been thinking about how to have something for every type of ground conditions and also a way to have them secured in the airplane. Attachments welded in that secure what you need so they don't fly forward in an accident. Light weight but strong, I think there is a lot of room for improvements in this area over what is available. Alaska probably has the most challenging ground conditions to plan for so it probably requires more then one type of anchor.

I don't think a large sack full of rocks works, not unless it weighs more then the airplane is capable of lifting in high winds. I actually think the large sack of rocks tied to that side might have increased the damage to the wing and fuselage when the wind flipped the plane. The weight of this bag now becomes extra momentum for the smack down...

Even in the lower 48 the ground is so varied I have Duck Bills, Abe's Tie Down's, and Storm Force.

What about wing covers with spoilers like those from Alaska Wing Covers? I've never had to test them in the kind of wind you experienced but have in the 25 to 30mph range and they just settled the SQ-2 right down. Anyone have experience in higher winds? I carry a set in both the 185 and the SQ-2.

We all should to be grateful that Greg is willing to share what happened on an open form. Hopefully we can all learn and become better prepared.

When I got there Greg was on the ground with a radio giving instant wind data after several passes there was a calm in the valley, Greg let me know so I was able to land. On the ground It was light wind most of the time but every now and then a random 30 knot gusts would suddenly hit. One of the gust was at least 40. The gust would last for 30- 120 seconds then it would drop back to 4 knots and sometimes even be calm..

When Greg got hit by that huge gust of wind it was his incredible skill that prevented him from being hurt or worse and kept the damage to his plane to a minimum.

I am guilty of Complacency and admit Greg's incident shook me up. Think about it Greg has more skill than us average pilots so when something like this can happen to him it can easily happen to the rest of us. Being better prepared is something most of us can and should do.

Greg has put some of his input in and I am sure a lot of good info and ideas will be forthcoming.

Mauleguy said:

I don't think a large sack full of rocks works, not unless it weighs more then the airplane is capable of lifting in high winds. I actually think the large sack of rocks tied to that side might have increased the damage to the wing and fuselage when the wind flipped the plane. The weight of this bag now becomes extra momentum for the smack down...

Click to expand...

here one i retrieved in King Cove... had 2 55 gallon drums of ice on each wing & tail, when the storm winds flew it off the parking area... this is where the drums hit the fuselage had blue smeared on those areas.... BTW its all volcanic rocks, so they weighed nothing....

http://www.mcsrepair.com/kingcove.htm

Barnstormer said:

What about wing covers with spoilers like those from Alaska Wing Covers? ...

Click to expand...

the one thing thats needed for high winds is you add snaps on bottom of leading edge to keep them from blowing back(on top of wing)... so I add snaps like hold your bottom pa-18 seat cushion on... fixed!

When winds get strong enough to topple a plane even mesh wing covers will leave the airplane. Snaps are metal and they sometimes come unsnapped. I wouldn't want them beating on my airplane in the wind or on me when I was trying to get them on and off the plane. If the wings are tied fairly well the next thing to do would be to elevate the tail. Easier said than done. I know guys who trim nose down and let the tail fly. When the winds are blowing that hard it's dangerous to be around the airplane. Especially on the downwind side.

I have used duck bills and the mesh spoiler covers on a cub in sustained winds exceeding 60 knots they work very well as long as the plane is facing into the wind and the covers are put on very tight.

A few years ago I made 2 large nylon bags to fill with rocks or dirt to use as tie-downs and stopped carrying the duck bills and spoiler covers.

After seeing the bag with 500 lbs of rocks not work on Greg's plane I have given up on the bag idea and gone back to carrying 4 duckbills with the driver rod and the spoiler wing covers.

My cub has a ax used as fueling step on one gear leg and a full length shovel handle made from a piece of titanium tubing on the other gear leg. Head of shovel is stored in baggage. I think that the duck bill driver rod can be made to fit inside of the shovel handle.

The only problem with duck bills is they do not work on beach sand. digging a hole for each main tire and burring them will let the wings sit level and works in sand. use a dead man buried deep in the sand for each wing tie-down. this takes one hell of a lot of work but will save the plane. It also takes a lot of work to dig out the tires and get the plane back out. this worked with spoiler covers in winds of 70 kts on a beach past Cold Bay. My wind shield was sandblasted so bad it had to be replaced and the straps from the covers did take paint off the under side of the wing.

before spoiler covers we would role sleeping pads length ways then duct tape and tie them to the top of wings.
Yes the duct tape pulled off the paint at times.

I have heard of 2" x 4" used on top of the wings to kill lift. never tried that but it should work.

Thanks for sharing Greg... pretty cool that your so open about it ...

congrats on the great bull too ...

Closest I've come to rolling my plane into a ball was North of Dillingham in a wind situation.

The place Greg had his incident was not the least bit challenging of a place for him to land. It was only because of a bazaar wind gust that no one could have seen coming that he had his problem.

This has me thinking about gear being tied down or restrained by a cargo net. We have cargo nets for our cubs and the 185 but I have become complacent. Have not always use them the last few years. That is just plain stupid on my part. My new resolution is to always use the cargo nets and this winter make a cargo net for our beaver.

Greg,
I'm sorry to see what looked like a great trip end like this. Am I reading this correctly that the hull of the plane is still out there? It sounds like you took what you could, or what was worth salvaging and left the rest? If yes, that had to be hard walking away from Bushwacker given all of the experiences you have had in that plane. I'm glad you are OK. The plane can be replaced and I look forward to seeing what you build next.
Joe

We had lots of crazy wind this past fall. There were times I saw high winds shift 180 degrees in just a manner of minutes.

I spoke with one hunter a number of years ago that had spent the night with his arms wrapped around a willow bush after the guide's Cub had been blown off the hill. He said there came a point when he stopped being concerned about the hunt being ruined, and was just hoping he'd survive.

Jim W

Jerry, Could you show us a photo of the shovel handle, etc that you described? That's sounds pretty interesting, and a good idea.

Wow, what an adventure! Very interesting read, thanks. Any thoughts on the rebuild? New ideas, or just repair it?

I brought everything out except the fuselage, hopefully they can get it when the snow gets deep enough to snow machine to it. I already bought another fuselage so the project can move forward. I will probably build Bushwacker the same except for a few things that I realized over the last 10 years would make life still even better. My extended baggage had the flap cables running through it and I am sure I can re route to eliminate that issue. I also like a cub style cowling for ease of looking at the engine etc. so I may take the time to build that. I don't need as much real estate in the instrument panel so I think I am going to cut that down which will lower the dash and 1" or 2. I am thinking of using tail wires on the horizontal's instead of the strut that Maule uses to eliminate some extra weight in the tail that braces up the vertical fin, might be able to get ride of 5 pounds back there. I am going to extend my long wings from 33'8' to 36' and keep the 120" double slotted flaps on each side but extend the ailerons a foot + and go with a Dakota style fiberglass wing tips. These are pretty much what I have on my list right now.

Some more info on what I found after the accident.

When the gear broke on the left wheel I was amazed to see that there was a crack in the exact place it broke off. The crack had been there long enough to have rust in it, at the 6 o clock position I would estimate it was broken 70% through and at 3 and 9 o clock it was 40-50% at 12 o clock it was still completely good metal. I am thinking the axle that did not break on the right gear leg may be cracked also, so I am going to replace both axles with better stronger ones. The gear would have failed by folding under the plane in the accident but may not of had the wheel depart the plane had this crack not already been there.

Greg, sorry to hear about Bushwacker. I'm curious, is your project from this thread still in the works?

http://www.supercub.org/forum/showt...Maule-that-has-been-Cubed&p=527856#post527856

Sean

pa11driver said:

Greg, sorry to hear about Bushwacker. I'm curious, is your project from this thread still in the works?

http://www.supercub.org/forum/showt...Maule-that-has-been-Cubed&p=527856#post527856

Sean

Click to expand...

I have not spent any time on the fuselage of this project lately but have been slowing working on the wings (cub wings). After I put the double slotted flaps on Bushwacker I kind of lost some of the interest in that project. I was actually debating in my mind whether to just build a cub up when I finished the wings. I am a little nervous about experimenting to the extent this one represents. It could be the best thing or a huge flop. Flop would be bad because of all the money and time... Cubs are king when it comes to getting your money back!

Mauleguy said:

Some more info on what I found after the accident.

When the gear broke on the left wheel I was amazed to see that there was a crack in the exact place it broke off. The crack had been there long enough to have rust in it, at the 6 o clock position I would estimate it was broken 70% through and at 3 and 9 o clock it was 40-50% at 12 o clock it was still completely good metal. I am thinking the axle that did not break on the right gear leg may be cracked also, so I am going to replace both axles with better stronger ones. The gear would have failed by folding under the plane in the accident but may not of had the wheel depart the plane had this crack not already been there.

Click to expand...

This is interesting. So was this a hollow 1.50" dia. axle?

That alone was an accident waiting to happen. And it could have been worse with injuries....