A friend sent me this, pretty entertaining.

http://www.optimaljet.com/OptimalJetHTML/mulchatnaHigh.htm

Pretty Cool -I would have brought in another wing and replace the whole thing with useable unit - I've seen lots of Lumber-boats and such on the spreader bars on float equipped aircraft. might be better to repair broke wing back in the shop later .

good, but that black Stinson 108 is the story for me, it has aft doors! and windows by the feet,was it done under 337? I want it! anyone with info on this bird?

THAT is a great video! Didya notice the massive replacement spars? I think I would have oped for 2x8's a least. Very cool.

I think whoever did the video watched too many TV shows.
JH

very nice,,,,well done guys!

The salvage was done by a friend. Joel Natwick of Tanalinan Aviation.

The black Stinson is owned by
Genn Alsworth of Lake Clark Air. (907-781-2211)

http://www.lakeclarkair.com

Glen was the pilot in the video.

GR

A Stinson 108 series drawback is that they're kind of like sitting in a cave. But the Alsworth mods actually make it a pretty functional looking machine with good visibility. Nice!

Great video, thanks for posting.

That was cool. Those guys got skills!!! Thanks for posting it.

Out of pure luck for the pilot and passenger I was out fishing with two others in a boat with a jet pump and came up the river just after it happened, we rescued them out of the airplane using the boat to move up to them, the fast moving river made it difficult and the airplane did not look that secure in the position we were in. The passenger was an older guy and not doing very well (shock I think), the guy flying was worried about how upset his father-in- law was going to be, he had borrowed it.

We talked them into going to Port Alsworth for the salvage help, he wanted us to help him get it free and we said do you want a big ball of sh** or a flying airplane.

Funny for me to see it end up being part of a video, I spent 5 weeks out there and that was just one of a few strange things to have happen.

Greg

Just curious about the statement that the engine sputtered and quit causing the plane to be swept into the tree, but then it was flown off the river with no mention of inspecting or tuning the power plant. Fuel selector? Fire-walled too abruptly?

A fascinating story well told. Congratulations on the success! I suspect that it was very expensive. Perhaps flying in a complete wing may have been more expedient?

I was witness to a similar event in 1970 (pre video camera mania days), with a different solution. Working as a river guide on the Middle Fork Salmon (I was trip leader), we were flying our pax in from Salmon to Indian Creek. As I was finishing boat rigging, I heard the first plane coming in and jogged (yeah, I could do that then ) up the ramp to watch the landing and greet the pax (as some of you will remember, my flying passion began with Carol Jarvis flying equipment to this same strip the year before).

It was a C206, piloted by some fixed wing jockey (I never knew his name) with more mountain hours than ten of us combined will never see, who, as I watched, landed centerline, veered right for some reason and caught the "curb" that defines the landing zone at Indian. He might have been going a bit fast because, when he hit the curb, the plane jumped up, tipped left, dropped down on the left wingtip, and ground looped.

An infinity of time before the plane stopped, I was pumping my 19 year old legs down the strip as fast as possible. Just as I got to the wreck the pilot door opened. The rear doors opened immediately thereafter, and folks started piling out. I'll never forget one of the female passengers puking into her brand new sun hat as she exited. The dust was still flying and I can see it today. The damage to the left wing was very much like that depicted in the video.

Nobody hurt, bags out. The 206 stopped off the runway to the left so the other planes could continue to ferry pax in. You can imagine the conversations that went on that morning. Including mine (as the only land bound witness) with the pilot and the Ranger, during which plans for flying the damaged plane out were discussed as I listened in awe.

The ground loop merely provided an interesting side story to the trip, which went off perfectly. Upon returning to Salmon to prep for the next flight to Indian Creek, I got the story of how the 206 was recovered from Carol.

They flew a bunch of coffee cans (remember when coffee came in cans?), a pop riveter, duct tape, a saw and a come-along in. With the saw they cut down a 3 inch pine and trimmed the branches off. Then they drove a stake in the ground, hooked up the come along and pulled the wing tip down to near level. They cut the cans open to make some sheet metal which they riveted to the leading edge, then took the pole they cut and duct taped it to the bottom of the leading edge of the wing. Somebody flew it out to Salmon.

OK, I never saw the actual repairs, and Jarvis had pulled a fast one or two on me in the past (part of being a good teacher I think). All I do know is that 8 days later, that wrecked 206 was gone from Indian Creek and instead was back in service for our remaining trips.

A couple of guys, a come along, and a lot of balls apparently got the job done.

Years ago (about 30 - how'd that happen?) I was at Alphin Aircraft in Hagerstown, MD early one Sunday morning. T.S. Alphin was a grizzled veteran of the aircraft salvage business. "Come here, I want to show you something," he says. He lead me over to a 206 parked out in front of the hangar that he'd just flown in from somewhere in Ohio, I believe. I don't remember the circumstances, but the airplane had been involved in an off-airport landing. When T.S. got to it, it was literally in two pieces. The fuselage had been torn in half just aft of the rear windows. So, T.S. gets a come-along and hooks one end to something in the front half and the other to something in the back half and cranks them together. Then, he wraps the jagged sheet metal where the two halves met in, you guessed it, DUCT TAPE!!! Finally, he rivited a length of angle iron to either side in the vicinity of the break for good measure. Hooked up the control cables, got it running, and took off for Hagerstown. To show me how strong the repair was, he sat on the horizontal stabalizer and lifted the nose in the air. I also saw him fly a 210 that had been struck on one wing tip by a dump truck. The impact spun the plane around and the wings were no longer at a 90 degree angle to the fuselage. He tore off some flapping sheet metal, wraped it in duct tape, and off he flew. I admired his work but have to say I wouldn't fly them after they had been fully repaired, much less before.

Seems you could have removed the crumpled tip and bent portion of the aileron and fly the 185 out of there. Maybe a bit crosscontrolled. We have all seen pics of WWII warbirds returning to base with huge areas of flying surfaces shot away, holes in props and so on. Now I am not voluntering for a test pilot job but a 180/185 lightly loaded shouldn't need all of the wing area. Tom

I might be wrong, but I think that stinson is pushing 300 ponies

Friend of mine has seen the black Stinson, it has a 0-470, huge cargo area, big cargo door, and many other mods. All field approved and legal. They also have a couple of early Stinson 10-A's with 0-320's and borer props.

Brian.

Kenny wrote:A fascinating story well told. Congratulations on the success! I suspect that it was very expensive. Perhaps flying in a complete wing may have been more expedient?

I was witness to a similar event in 1970 (pre video camera mania days), with a different solution. Working as a river guide on the Middle Fork Salmon (I was trip leader), we were flying our pax in from Salmon to Indian Creek. As I was finishing boat rigging, I heard the first plane coming in and jogged (yeah, I could do that then ) up the ramp to watch the landing and greet the pax (as some of you will remember, my flying passion began with Carol Jarvis flying equipment to this same strip the year before).


OK, I never saw the actual repairs, and Jarvis had pulled a fast one or two on me in the past (part of being a good teacher I think). All I do know is that 8 days later, that wrecked 206 was gone from Indian Creek and instead was back in service for our remaining trips.

A couple of guys, a come along, and a lot of balls apparently got the job done.

I could tell you lots of Jarvis stories, Carols brother Beryl is the one who taught me to fly....We had lots of fun and a bit of trouble all over Idaho and various other western states until they passed.

If you like these kind of stories (I LOVE THEM), here is a book for you.
"Picking Up The Pieces" by Denny McCartney.

It is a collection of many stories of crashes that he retrieved in the Bush, and flew every one of them out like in the video. pg

The gas engine cut off saw........not what I usually think of when thinking of "tools to work on the plane", but it looks like it worked pretty slick! Nothing like HAVING to do it to bring out the best ideas in a person.
After blowing an engine once in a truck between Barstow and Needles, myself and a buddy hitchhiked back to Barstow, bought another engine out of a junkyard, rented an engine puller, pushed it to the junkyard, hung the engine from it and then pushed it to the freeway on ramp where we hitch hiked, hopefully for a ride with a trailer hitch fitting the puller. 5 minutes later our ride arrived, the next day we returned the puller with my now running truck, piece of cake! I had more energy then money then.