It was a cold blustery day in October 1981 that 3 friends and I were flying to northern Minnesnowda for a late season Bear hunt. I was driving a 1955 vintage Cessna 180 with ancient Edo electric amphibs. We had decided to make at quick stop at Garrison Mn to pick up a few items we had forgot to pack. The landing on Mille Lacs Lake was rough but tolerable we taxied to shore got the gear, and taxied back about a mile into the bay for the takeoff run.( those old Edos were groundlovers!)

Just as I was makeing my upwind turn to take off, I noticed my right float was starting to submarine in the turn!!Not Good!I yelled to my terrified friends to get ready to bail and swim as I gave it full power and full aft elevator to somehow get back to the safety of the distant shoreline. The old girl plowed and thrashed along about one quarter mile before it started to submerge enough so the prop was hitting the two foot waves.

As I pulled the mixture to lean and ordered everyone to bail out before she slowrolled onto her back I cycled the gear switch down. After I jumped into the freezing water I joined my former buddies clinging to the left float. we were all dressed in heavy hunting gear and would surely drowned quickly if the Cessna sunk. After a short time the left float took on water through the pumpout holes and also started to sink!

Then something miraculous happened! With the Amphib gear in the down position the plane came to rest on the sandy bottom with about 1 foot of the wings and tail high and dry!It turns out we had sunk on the top of a small ancient submerged island in the bay! We were resued by a group of amused Walleye fisherman that had watched our ordeal from a distance.

After floating and towing the wet plane back to the Garrison beach with the help of 4 boats, I secured the use of a logging truck with a hydraulic clam to lift the Cessna. then I proceeded to remove the Amphib floats(with a 3 foot gash on the right bottom from hitting a submerged rock) and install the wheel gear. I drained all the oil and gas,replaced with fresh. Then Filed the poor damaged Hartzell prop until it was almost pointed at the tips.

This was October, so I had no choice but to tie her down at the beach in front of the Garrison Dairy Queen.Two months passed and by Dec10th there was 10 inches of clear snow free ice. She fired right up and I made my escape from the Demon Mille Lacs. the things you do without insurance! No one ,the FAA the sheriff or the game wardens ever even inquired as to what this plane was doing parked in front of the Dairy Queen for so long. Times have changed. Yes I do believe in Angels...

Being somewhat of a sea-faring man, I've always adhered to this maxim: "Never abandon ship until you have to step up to the life raft". Often times, just like in your case, the vessel doesn't sink all the way. Might not be an island to come to rest on, but sometimes there's just enough reserve flotation to get the job done.

Glad you made it. Drowning in cold water is a bitch.

gb

in a seaplane till that day, since then I always wear my SOS inflateable vest. and check my gear alot closer. live and learn. Those friends still have yet to ask to go flying if it involves water.

wwingsong, you don't happen to know what happened or where the floats ended up??

You're going to become the king of Live to Tell.

Great stories, Woody.

Z

say i have many more to bore you with, Woody

...well, Woody, we are all ears.... or in this case, eyeballs! John

gbflyer wrote:.......... Drowning in cold water is a bitch. gb

Yeah, it's a LOT more fun in warm water.....

And to think, I get to fly for about 10 hours over water Fri. from Ft. pierce Fl. to Guatemala city. At least it's "warm" water huh?

Ahh, those reliable turbine choppers!

(don't worry, the most common killers in the Gulf are only Tigers, Hammerheads, Bulls and Mako's. The White's tend to hang out enmass elsewhere...)

This is a Thrush Ag plane. We fill the hopper with 500 gl. of Jet A, which gives me 728 gl. total or 18 hours endurance at altitude. We have even hung 150 gl. drop tanks under each wing and other people have flown them to Australia. I'm not that crazy.
John Eggas flyes the crazy ferries. He tells a story about flying from California to Hawaii in a crop duster. Soon after leaving he got a Commercial flight to pass a position report. The airline pilot went on and on the flight back to California the next day got another request on 123.45 to pass a postion report. The airline guy wanted to know how many of those crop dusters were on the way to Australia. John asked why and the airline guy responded with the fact that he passed on a position report for one yesterday. John thanked him and told him that was him he had passed the report for.
Not sure how long the flight is, but I think it is over 20 hours or so.

It's just shy of 20hrs in a Maule carrying 235 gals of fuel. to Hawaii from Santa Barbara.
Jeremy

maules.com U R NUTS! my plane runs ruff just crossing the lake unless im on floats then it runs ruff over land!

Actually,what I meant was that you might get lucky and have time to tread water and wait for the Coasties in warmer water. Where I live, you get to live about 15 minutes in the water with no protective gear...give or take...if you're in good shape.

Thanks for not letting that one slide.

gb

maules.com wrote:It's just shy of 20hrs in a Maule carrying 235 gals of fuel. to Hawaii from Santa Barbara.
Jeremy

Let's see 235 x 6lbs per gallon = 1,410 lbs
Pilot, raft, misc gear & food = 350 lbs
Lead Shot on cowl for w/b = 200 lbs
Stick to jetison lead shot = 1 lbs

Total load = 1,971 lbs

Not bad for a plane with a useful of probably 1,100 lbs.

How close am I ???

100lbs too much lead. However, you forgot the weight of the NoDoze and peetube so close enough.

The leg from California to Hawaii is apparently the longest overwater flight on earth that the airlines fly. I don't think it get's longer than that one.
The worst one we ferry is the Bangor to the Azores leg in the middle of winter. I won't fly that one either. I would but my skirt keeps blowing up in my face and I can't see the instruments

No they do LAX ro Sidney or Aukland non stop, a bit further!

The mainland to Hawaii has the longest over water distance between destinations. You can fly farther and many routes are, but by choice rather than geography. The shortest distance to Hawaii from a regular airport is the Great Circle Route from Monterey to Hilo which is 2012 NM. Many light planes have been flown over to get them there or to points farther west.

I thought about it a while back. In my case, at 125 kts average (and need to wait for no wind to go to Hilo) it's 16 hours plus a two hour reserve at 12 gph comes to at least 215 gallons. A 150 gallon ferry tank would be just right. The plane will carry the load, but alas, it is not economical and not much to see along the way either.

More and more it makes sense to containerize aircraft. We can take apart and pack a Thrush in 1 day. Insurance is much less, the boats are faster than you might think and they run on a schedule