The newer 207s were called Stationair 8s when they stuffed the eighth seat in the back. But the airframe didn't change. Same plugs fore and aft to make it 48 inches (I think) longer than the 206.

Gump

dogone wrote:I am probably wrong BUT; were a few 206 chopped and stretched even longer than 207 length? I think I heard of 208 long before the Caravan came along. I flew 206 long enough to know how but not get good.

Well, there was at least one Two Oh Ten built.....a Part 135 207 that landed on the beach in SW Alaska, and picked up nine passengers.....took off on the beach, then crashed in the water. Nobody drowned, but close. NTSB asked the pilot why he went out over the water to crash....why didn't he just set it back down on the beach? His answer was that there was a skiff pulled up on the beach, and he couldn't climb high enough to get over it, so had to go out over the water to go around it.....when he banked ever so slightly to return to the beach, the sled stalled and mushed into the water.

MTV

MTV,

I've never flown anything that big, but would have a rudder turn in ground effect (no bank) worked to go around and land on the beach? I've done that many times in a fully loaded Pawnee to go around a pole and under a wire.

If he had stayed in ground effect over the water, could he have burned off enough gas before running out of water? If an airplane will fly in ground effect, it will fly in ground effect. That doesn't mean it will fly out of ground effect.

Contact

Ha Ha. I've carried a whole lot more than 9 souls on board in a Sled. If you count small kids and babies!

And... Some not so small kids and babies.

Gump

Haha...im sure gump....up here in idaho, ive often wished some of the old haulers 206's in and out of the frank could talk...what stories they might have...early ones in to the middle fork lodge and such...guys like holbrook maslan...and a few others...ive met a few and what a treasure trove of info. these guys/gals are....

GumpAir wrote:Ha Ha. I've carried a whole lot more than 9 souls on board in a Sled. If you count small kids and babies!

And... Some not so small kids and babies.

Gump

Yeah, but this load was all set net fishermen.....no chilluns. And probably a bunch of "baggage" in the nose locker, etc.

MTV

Stuffs... All in Eskimo Samsonite... I mean black plastic bags.

And, like Contact trys to drill into everyone's head. Ground effect is your friend, and if you don't understand it, and don't use it, bad shit can happen to you if you try and ham fist your airplane where it don't want to go!

Gump

mtv wrote:Yeah, but this load was all set net fishermen.....no chilluns. And probably a bunch of "baggage" in the nose locker, etc.

MTV

DonC had Bettles as his "punishment tour" place. Mine was Bethel. I hated flying and living out of Bethel. Hated it. In Kotzebue I lucked out, and for the last four of my final five years there with Yute Air I flew only bypass mail and freight. But in Bethel I flew pax, which meant you had to fly their stuffs, which always meant plastic bags with tons of gear and belongings. And along the western coast it also meant piles of dead seals.

For example, I'd head out to Kwig or Kong to pick up four people, stupidly figuring a nice light load back home. Nice easy flight. There'd be four people waiting for me all right. Also a pile of luggage four feet high, and a stack of frozen seals almost as big. I always flew heavy loads, but at times it was just ridiculous. I'd set up the seats then point at the piles of shit on the ground and say... "You see how much room I got, all this shit is NOT gonna fit back there. You guys decide what stays."

And of course I load up my four guys, pack in 99.999% of the crap they had, dead seals in laps and every nook and cranny of the airplane, then wallow through the mud to get airborne, and into ground effect until I had enough speed to climb a little. Weights were never even close to accurate, even though we had our little scales in each airplane. (I remember one of my first ever route checks with an FAA guy out there. I got my seats set for the ride home and pulled the scale out of the nose baggage to give the illusion that I was going to actually weigh anything. My pax were rolling their eyes and saying, "I've never seen a pilot do that before" as I was stage whispering to them "STFU assholes." The Fed was cool, and said, "I don't think that's all that important for this flight, but thanks.")

One nice thing about Bethel was that there really wasn't any real reason to climb very high. I could fly a 150 hour month, and never get over 500 AGL except for the pattern at BET. And that was only because of the Class C airspace and not wanting to get bitched at by the tower.

Gump

Bettles a "Punishment Tour"? Cold Bay or worse yet, Dutch Harbor fit that category. I was fortunate to only visit Bethel occasionally....which was enough.

At least Bettles has some terrain.....

MTV

Oh yeah. I always thought going through Bettles and Anaktuvuk Pass was a special treat. But then again, I didn't live there or fly it every day.

Gump

Actually I liked Bettles and enjoyed my time there. Very good memories from there. Brooks Range is a special place in Alaska. Just to far from La Mex restaurant
Speaking of big loads the people in this picture were pissed off because this load and 4 pax would not fit in a C206 It barley fit in a Beaver and 206...

I have a lot of Bethel tours, yep, it sucks! I liked the north slope/Deadhorse much better.

I lived in Bethel from '84-'86 in a 30' freezer van with a 35 gal rubber maid garbage can for water and a five gal honey bucket for a toilet. Had a little sheepherders stove to keep warm but of course there wasn't a tree for miles. Luckily I worked at the airport so I had plenty of pallets to burn. Wore out a few skilsaws.
On the flight into town the guy next to me informed me that I was headed to the armpit of AK. Apparently Barrow earned the namesake of the stinkiest body cavity, although after only 2 years in that hellhole I'd strongly argue that point.
Bethel really sucked!

Bettles would have been better if you hadn't had to share it with the likes of me. Hey let's go duck huntin.

G44 wrote:I have a lot of Bethel tours, yep, it sucks! I liked the north slope/Deadhorse much better.

Hey, Kurt, saw your Uncle's old Widgeon on the cover of Water Flying this month.....still looks nice.

MTV

goldfinch wrote:Bettles would have been better if you hadn't had to share it with the likes of me. Hey let's go duck huntin.

High Chip nice to see u on here again Haven't told the Duck hunting story yet Not sure if statutes of limitations is up yet. Z is trying to drag some stories out of me. We should collaborate on some memorably events for him

For others reading Chip was the game warden I told about the Anaktuvak guys hunting caribou in closed area.
Plus we went thru the State Trooper Academy together.

mtv wrote:

G44 wrote:I have a lot of Bethel tours, yep, it sucks! I liked the north slope/Deadhorse much better.

Hey, Kurt, saw your Uncle's old Widgeon on the cover of Water Flying this month.....still looks nice.

MTV

Its a great Widgeon, wish I still had mine or my uncles. Widgeons are almost as cool as old high time sleds!

G44 wrote:

mtv wrote:

G44 wrote:I have a lot of Bethel tours, yep, it sucks! I liked the north slope/Deadhorse much better.

Hey, Kurt, saw your Uncle's old Widgeon on the cover of Water Flying this month.....still looks nice.

MTV

Its a great Widgeon, wish I still had mine or my uncles. Widgeons are almost as cool as old high time sleds!

Anyone I know would have given their first born for a widgeon.... Bill Cunningham I bought Alaska Air Guides from flew a Widgeon off Lake Hood for years and Red Dodge as well till Mikey (his son) wrecked it at Big Lake.

Dang Gump didn't mean to hi jack your thread. But all the old memories start flowing when talking about the old days.....

This is all good stuff Don. Keep it coming.

Gump