That would have been Hoser, the wonder dog. Had him for 17 years and one week. A little Australian Cattle Dog, a Red Heeler. At last estimate we figured he had over 10,000 flight hours in the right seat of an airplane flying with me. As a buddy of mine said of him, "a well traveled dog who's book ought to be called, 'The Steinbeckian Adventures of Hoser." And it will be.

The natives in the Arctic loved him. Called him the Yute Air dog, and would listen on their scanners for when I flew mail into their villages. They'd all come roaring out on their four-wheelers yelling, "Hoser, Hoser" and crowd around the airplane as I shut down the engine so I could chuck Hose out with his frisbee in mouth, ready to run.

In Buckland, a native village about 100 miles southeast of Kotzebue, his favorite fan was an old Eskimo woman named Beulah Ballot. I'm guessing mid 80's last time I saw her. Every flight in, and there were probably 1000 trips into there, she came riding out to the airstrip on her Honda, and the kids would stand back, and she'd take the frisbee and give it a short throw. Hoser was off like a rocket, would catch it mid-bounce and bring it right back and drop it at her feet and back up two steps, and hunker down all quivery waiting for her hand to move so he could react. She would just cackle with glee each throw, eyes alive with joy.

My last day with Yute Air I flew into each of my twelve Arctic villages to say goodbye. Took all day because they all had become family, and we had gifts and stories, and lots of hugs and tears to share. At Buckland, Beulah rode up, sad as could be, and she sat down cross-legged on the dirt by the wheel of my airplane. Old Hoser was curled up in her lap, and she rocked and rocked, singing a song to him in Inuktitut, her native language.

Of course I'm standing there blubbering like a baby, when she takes Hoser by the sides of his face with her hands, looks directly at him , then up at me, and says...

"He make good hat."

I just kinda stood there, not sure I heard her right as her English was sometimes hard to understand, and dumbly said, "What?"

She looked back down at Hose's face, turned him side to side, then back to me.

"Him got good fur, he make good hat. When he die you send him to me and I make you good hat."

You know... At that moment I looked at Hoser too. Perky ears, bright eyes, that beautiful merle coat, and I could see that hat. And by God I'd a worn it too. Proudly.

Sadly, Beulah passed shortly before Hoser, so it never came to be. But at night now, when I talk to Hoser, we laugh about how close he came to becoming my head-warmer.

Damn, it's hard to type. My eyes are full of water.

Gump

Gump, mine too.

Well done Gump, glad to see your softer side. May Hoser bring you many more smiles-

Speaking of Yute Air...

Broke another Sled at Tunt yesterday with 8 on board. Musta been baby day at the Bethel clinic.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/aviation ... 19032.html

Gump

The original poster setup the conditions as no change in altitude. Here's an online calculator that gives you the turn radius, diameter, load factor, and increase in stall speed given an entering airspeed, rated stall speed, and bank angle. This calculator is for level flight, no wind, and some other conditions, but it gives you some idea how speed and bank angle effect a turn.

http://www.csgnetwork.com/aircraftturninfocalc.html

tom

Which shows exactly why such a high percentage of oh-shit canyon turns, or return to runway post engine failures result in stall/spin endings.

Gump

SixTwoLeemer wrote:Well done Gump, glad to see your softer side. May Hoser bring you many more smiles-

He's in a little box in the living room. I may scatter him next trip to Kotzebue, or I may not. Hell, a few more years and someone else will have to figure out what to do with the both of us. Just like in the old days!!!

Gump

GumpAir wrote: "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."

HA! Whose quote is that? All my life I've felt somewhat guilty at being a cynic! (Not quite enough of a cynic to be able to watch that vid without tearing up, though)

RockyTFS........still lurking occasionally

RockyTFS wrote:

GumpAir wrote: "The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."

HA! Whose quote is that? All my life I've felt somewhat guilty at being a cynic! (Not quite enough of a cynic to be able to watch that vid without tearing up, though)

RockyTFS........still lurking occasionally

George Bernard Shaw is credited with that little gem. He also gave us "success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time"..and "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul". Then there was this one which makes me think Shaw may be alive and well and reading some of the posts here "Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance".

The folks who suggest that they'll never allow themselves get into a tight spot may be fooling themselves.

Having the skills and knowledge to be able to turn in a minimum radius can be very important when flying in mountainous terrain. But, you have to possess and maintain (meaning getting competent instruction, combined with REGULAR practice) those skills for them to be of much use. And, yes, learning how to fly via the internet has limited utility, though it can be a good forum to exchange ideas and prompt us all to think a bit.

I don't buy into the notion that canyon turns are a disaster waiting to happen AS LONG as the participant learns and practices the maneuver that works best for them.

The deHavilland Beaver got a really bad reputation as a killer in turns. So much so that a company even went so far as to develop a very different wing for the old girl. I was checked out in the Beaver by a fellow who'd wrecked a single Otter, and knew deHavilland airplanes inside and out. I made the mistake of asking him about the reputation the airplane has for stalling in turns. His (rather colorful) response was essentially that "it's the pilot, Stupid". And, then we went out and did tight turns till I was dizzy, for a couple days, interspersed with other maneuvers. I never again doubted the Beaver's honesty or ability to turn tight. The key with that airplane is to slow down and configure BEFORE you need to turn. Lots of experienced pilots failed to do so, and died trying to turn around in weather and terrain.

I would argue that lack of proficiency and/or training are the primary culprits in loss of control accidents.

As to canyons, I've never got myself so far up a canyon that I felt I had to perform a maximum effort canyon turn, but I practice them in the airplanes I fly, regularly, and teach others the technique.

The single best "canyon turn" is to turn around BEFORE you get into that dead end canyon, but unfortunately, we sometimes take a wrong turn both in life and in flying. That can place you in a spot you really wish you hadn't got to, and having the skills to work the airplane to its maximum performance is no different than being able to land the airplane in the shortest possible distance, to hit your intended touchdown spot every time, or practice the takeoff technique that'll result in the best performance. It's just another performance maneuver, folks. And, like the rest of those, it must be practiced before and regularly.

I'm not a believer in hammer-head style canyon turns, simply because of the energy management issues required to make that technique work, and the fact that weather is often the reason we need to turn around. If it's an overcast, going up isn't an option.

But, whatever winds your watch. I recommend you find a competent instructor who teaches this stuff, and get some dual. Then decide for yourself how far up a canyon you're willing to go.

Me, I don't go any farther up a canyon than I would if I didn't know how to turn--but I know the capabilities of the airplane in the event I make a bad choice someday.

MTV

Heck Yea, I agree, you can turn around in very tight, steep, narrow canyons with absolute safety, in fact it often happens multiple times daily, but I'd sure hate to see anyone try a hammerhead down in there..

i do practice canyon turns quite often in the husky, i recommend everyone that needs to know their airplane in slow flight do them. i've always tried them with full flaps, after reading the posts, can't wait to try the other ways suggested. we are never that good that we can't learn from each other, thanks guys!! as for the hammerhead turn, make sure you have the airplane capable of doing them,practice at high altitudes, get instruction if needed, you could fall on your back if things go wrong.

The Husky turns around tighter than you can believe with full flaps. I haven't found a better configuration in that airplane, but play with it at different settings, and let us know what you think.

MTV

Kind of related, here is something else I learned not too long ago while sitting in G2 refresher with 5 other high time jet jockeys is why the FAA designs IFR departures with a max bank angle of 15 degrees at low altitude. Could be this was taught on day 2 of private pilot ground school, maybe I was staring at the pretty girl on the other side of the room. Don't remember, that was a long time ago when girls still rated as high as flying. Before I discovered I was a lesbian. Anyway, I digress. The instructor asked the question and got 6 blank stares, turns out the rate of climb is cut in half at 15 degrees of bank. We're not talking about hammerheads or zoom climbs, just your regular old right after liftoff low speed, low altitude turn. Anhoo, something else to consider.

I'm partial to the 1/2 cuban eight:

All right, guys, you win. None of you have to even consider the hammerhead stall as another possibility in an "oh crap!" canyon situation any further.

Some of you shouldn't consider it because apparently your airplane can't do it right.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you don't have any experience doing hammerheads.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you will fall over on your back.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because using your flaps will turn the airplane around in, say, as little as five times the same horizontal distance as a hammerhead would use.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because there will always be a cloud layer 100 feet above you, and it would become an IFR hammerhead.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you think nobody else knows as much as you.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you never fly into a canyon anyway and prudence demands that others don't fly into a canyon.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because knowledge other than your own may be "false knowledge".

But ALL of you should not consider it for some reason. There is no reason why any of you should consider the idea that a hammerhead uses the least amount of horizontal (left-right)room in exchange for more vertical room if the situation favors it. No reason whatsoever. Shame on me for suggesting that anybody think about anything that isn't in the book, particularly in a place like BCP, where living within the published rules is the very foundation for everyone's aviation activities.

There, that should about cover it.

Merry Christmas everyone

You ought to invent a Hammerhead lever.

EZFlap wrote:All right, guys, you win. None of you have to even consider the hammerhead stall as another possibility in an "oh crap!" canyon situation any further.

....

There, that should about cover it.

Merry Christmas everyone

Ouch! Methinks someone's fancy has been refusing to dress up in her little Christmas elf suit lately.

Good thread and good discussions. Thanks for bringing it up.

Now go stuff some chocolate in the pockets of that elf costume and have a Merry Christmas!

EZFlap wrote:All right, guys, you win. None of you have to even consider the hammerhead stall as another possibility in an "oh crap!" canyon situation any further.

Some of you shouldn't consider it because apparently your airplane can't do it right.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you don't have any experience doing hammerheads.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you will fall over on your back.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because using your flaps will turn the airplane around in, say, as little as five times the same horizontal distance as a hammerhead would use.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because there will always be a cloud layer 100 feet above you, and it would become an IFR hammerhead.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you think nobody else knows as much as you.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because you never fly into a canyon anyway and prudence demands that others don't fly into a canyon.
Some of you shouldn't consider it because knowledge other than your own may be "false knowledge".

But ALL of you should not consider it for some reason. There is no reason why any of you should consider the idea that a hammerhead uses the least amount of horizontal (left-right)room in exchange for more vertical room if the situation favors it. No reason whatsoever. Shame on me for suggesting that anybody think about anything that isn't in the book, particularly in a place like BCP, where living within the published rules is the very foundation for everyone's aviation activities.

There, that should about cover it.

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!