Had a not so normal day here yesterday when a town local called and asked if we could help re-locate his aircraft. He had landed out on one of the outside beaches here, hit a soft spot and sheared his valve stem (as the story goes). Needless to say the plane was ground looped and not flyable. We came in and airlifted the plane back to town with the use of one of our helicopters.

Concerns with this are pretty straight forward. Spoil the lift of the leading edge and on the elevator. The last thing you want is the plane below flying up into the helicopter. Also, having done this several times now, the need for a tag line is key for your ground folks at the other end due to the fact that once the plane hits ground effect it starts to spin. Ground handlers can grab it pretty quickly and control the spin if need be. Honestly, we don't want anyone around the plane as we are setting it down however the owner always wants to help with that part in order to save whatever may be left. In this case, the plane will be totaled anyway. Here are some pics...

The plane was pushed back about 500' from the actual ground loop location to where you see it here. Cub was a friend of the pilot.








The plane flew perfectly back to town. About a 15 minute flight from the location here


AKT

That's awesome! What kind of harness is used on the airframe?

Nice work getting the plane out of there, Kevin! Is that a BCP guy on here? I seem to remember someone with a red Stinson on here from AK.

I helped recover a RV-6A that had an engine failure and landed off airport here in Rio Vista last week. The pilot did a good job getting it down with no damage. We towed it out of the field with an ATV to a location where we could get it on a flat bed truck then hauled it a couple miles back to the airport. We had to spin it through the gate to get it in since the wings were wider than the gate opening.

I watched a Huey pick up a Beaver out of Crosswind lake last year, I was impressed, the plane seemed as large as the helicopter.

Zzz wrote:That's awesome! What kind of harness is used on the airframe?

A couple cargo straps and heavy rope. Pretty basic. Lashing it around the fuselage making certain it was in a nose down attitude.

Rob- I don't believe he is a BCP member.

AKT

Zzz wrote:That's awesome!

Guess you ain't been there yet, friend.

What model AStar? The Stinson would have been a pretty good pull on the older ones but I see the new B3e is claimed to be good for 3000lbs. Like the way you spoiled the lift, good advice on the tagline, you probably do a few of these. 100' longline, and you can see it in the little floor window as it bobs around?

Beach looks benign, at least down near the water, lots of room to stop without heavy braking, but hey ho. I guess the plane was pulled back with an ATV to above the high tide mark.

Hmm, looks like GY26 Blimp tires, with all the sheared valve stem horror stories. You've just convinced me to spend the extra dollar on ABW - you should ask them for a contribution from their advertising budget.

The guys here in SE use some netting strapped to the wings and tail to kill the lift. When you call them, they bring a bill of sale. You sell it to them for $1, and they tell you right up front if they have to punch the load it's theirs and you are shit outta luck. Once it gets back to its home you buy it back.

denalipilot wrote:

Zzz wrote:That's awesome!

Guess you ain't been there yet, friend.

My enthusiasm was directed at the ability of an A-Star 350 to pick up a Stinson, and not the pilot's misfortune.

gbflyer wrote:When you call them, they bring a bill of sale. You sell it to them for $1, and they tell you right up front if they have to punch the load it's theirs and you are shit outta luck. Once it gets back to its home you buy it back.

Yep, that's what we did...

Someone asked about the Heli. It's an Astar 350 B2. We have three of them.

Akt

gbflyer wrote:The guys here in SE use some netting strapped to the wings and tail to kill the lift. When you call them, they bring a bill of sale. You sell it to them for $1, and they tell you right up front if they have to punch the load it's theirs and you are shit outta luck. Once it gets back to its home you buy it back.

This is a great idea for limiting liability.

Too bad about the plane, but glad you were able to help the guy out!

He ended up wayy off in the dunes! Me thinks there's more to that story....

I got to see a couple airplanes fly via helicopter during hunting season last year. Even got to see an AStar pick up a 170 at the Knik Mud Flats strip last fall. I never followed up on the 170, but hopefully the made it okay okay with minimal injuries.

N300RE wrote:

That one's currently getting parted out.

Ouch!

300RE - The 170 photo is normal on my ipad but flipped on my PC. It is actually a really cool picture flipped for some reason.

It makes me sad actually to see these birds die this way. It's far better than dying at a tiedown of course but every time an airplane bites the dust it's one more that won't be there for the next generation. It there is to be another generation of pilots. But that's another question. Perhaps the parts will resurrect some other poor mechanical soul.

Poor Stinson.

NineThreeKilo wrote:Poor Stinson.

Yeah, poor Stinson and poor 170.
Hopefully the owners had hull insurance or are well off enough to be able to fix / replace their planes.
That'd be a pretty sad way to end your flying days .

Battson wrote:He ended up wayy off in the dunes! Me thinks there's more to that story....

I think they dragged it there to keep the tide from getting to it. More to your point though, those outside beaches get "scalloped" over the winter, meaning a sort of wavy and often times kind of jagged surface that is nearly impossible to detect from an overflight. There can be a 2 - 3 foot drop off and it's really hard to see until you get right up on it. Lots of guys get bit by that and not just us amateurs.

Not say thing that's what happened here.

Those AS350's are amazing and watching a good sling load pilot is a real treat. If I could afford one I would probably be participating on this forum from a 6 X 8 cell. [emoji1]