bcpstudent

Fly safe and enjoy Alaska National Parks. Another thing that the law allows is landing anywhere in the parks that is safe. This is also different than for lower-48 parks. Great for Back Country Pilots.

Nizina

We have miles of beech here that is off limits. I do have a little sand on the belly though.

Cool. That is indeed beautiful country down there -- and those beaches can use a few tracks that can be washed away by the warm froth of the advancing surf.

Nizina

Nizina wrote:Cool. That is indeed beautiful country down there -- and those beaches can use a few tracks that can be washed away by the warm froth of the advancing surf.

Nizina

Oh shit now I suppose now you are going to tell me your water is colder than mine.

mr.helix wrote:

Bonanza Man wrote:

mr.helix wrote:About ten years ago a Bonanza went down in the Spotted Bear River in Montana just outside of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. As I recall there were two on board and they were unable to escape from the cabin. They could hear the occasional vehicle on a road that followed the river. There was a rifle on board and were able to signal help from a passerby. The plane was out of site from the road but within hearing distance of a rifle shot.

As I remember now the cause was determined to be a couple of holes burnt in pistons attributed to the use of too low an octane car gas.

Are you sure it was a Bonanza? Would you happen to have a link to the NTSB report. I don't know how you could be trapped inside a Bo. A cabin door, two opening middle windows, a baggage door AND a rifle.

I think I can find the original newspaper story about the incident. I keep those for some reason and I overflew the plane and took some pictures before it was hauled out.

I think that there were injuries that prevented egress from the plane.

I found and scanned the picture I took. Didn't find the newspaper article yet. The plane has been removed from the river at this point and is sitting on a trailer. The pickup looks like a Forest Service green rig to me.

1SeventyZ wrote:http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=11895

I saw that our new president was putting on hold a lot of executive orders made in the last month or so by our ex-president. But this right-to-carry regulation in national parks was one that was mentioned as being already in force and wouldn't be re-looked at by Obama's team. It went into effect earlier this month. The ones they're scrutinizing have not yet gone into effect.

Good news for those that want to carry.

I've taken the bear awareness and defense course for my civilian job in and they recomended a lot of different stuff.

Best: 12 guage w/ short barrel, slugs (no buckshot)

Mace: Better than nothing if you aren't comfortable with a gun. If my girlfriend doesn't feel like hauling the 12 guage, I'll have her atleast carry the bear mace. It's awful heard to miss.

I've gotten a small amount of bear (not LE) mace blown my way in training and it was awful. It's much stronger than LE mace and is actually illegal to use against a human from what I'm told. You can kill a person with mace under the right circumstances. Oklahoma PD told me they killed a guy when he choked on his own vomit and suffocated. Now I keep my mace in a ammo can but there are commercial cases specifically for bear mace available.

Air horn: Reasonably effective but wouldn't be my first choice. I know people who like them though. Each to their own I guess.

Flares/Screamers: I'm no expert, but I'm told these are common in bear viewing areas, backed up with a 12 guage of course.

I've been spooked by bears well into "civilization" here in Alaska, not to mention moose, so I lean towards the prepared side. There are people who get rushed within the city limits of Anchorage.

The Bear Awareness and Defense course was really good. It's put on by an ex Air Force SERE instructor at his company: Learn To Return Survival Training. http://www.survivaltraining.com/ He also does aircraft crash survival as well. If anyone is in the Anchorage area and looking for a very professional course, call these guys. They even take you out to the range and you get to shoot a "charging" bear target on a cart. It's sitting in my office, all full of holes right now!