I have this method I would like to share and then tell me how you do it. I take a Dentingers Feed store feed bag and I place a tennis ball in the bottom of the bag. I then tie a light soft rope above the ball ( so the rope won't slip of off the bag) I place the ashes out of there container into the bag. I fold about 6 or 8 inches of the top of the bag over. I use two pieces of flagging material ( like they use out in the woods to mark trees) I just cross these over the folded top of the closed bag. I put a rubber band around the folded bag and the flagging.Tie the other end of the rope to the bottom of the front right seat in my 182. When we get to the drop area we simple Open the door drop the bag out and close the door on the rope. The wind stream will pull the flagging off open the bag and scatter the ashes. After 30 sec. or so pull the empty bag back in. It works every time... Bob

Thanks Bob,
I've see a number of methods discussed on the supercub.org site. Your method sounds like one of the best. I'm waiting until spring to spread my Mom and Dad's ashes over the Shenandoah River where he use to fish often. The hard part is getting all who want to be there together for the ceremony and having a few other planes in formation without attracting too much attention!
Jim

I have done it several times out of the 210 by taking a 3" PVC pipe cut off at a angle.

A buddy of mine made one with a 4" put an elbow on the front with a hopper and valve that works very well.

I've had a couple experiences with this...one just recently with my father down in Weed. Neither way worked very well but the job got done.

First, my brother (who worked for Logan and Revis in Medford) took the company 182 up with me in the right seat and the relative riding in the back. This plane was equipped with a tupperware container mounted to the foor in front of the back seat. Through this tupperware container was an aluminum tube (about 2") that extended through the floor and the belly of the plane. They used this setup to spread dry ice around the Medford area to try to reduce the fog (don't know if it worked). When we got to the drop site the relative opened the bag and dumped it in the tupperware and stirred it around to get it all out the tube. It worked OK but there was some blow-back into the cabin which nobody liked very much.

Second was with my father last Oct. We rented a 182 and when we got to the drop site, my older brother (who was sitting in the back seat) stuck the bag out the window with one hand sealing the bag and the other holding it into the airstream. The bag was held downwind from the rear edge of the window. When we got to the exact spot, he released one hand to open the bag...when the bag was empty he released the bag. This worked very well with no blow back or anything. When we returned the plane, there was an obvious coating of dust down the left side of the plane. Not sure if this is normal regardless of the method used.

In a Cessna, the cleanest way is to place the remains to be scattered in 3 or 4 of those small paper lunch bags, fold them up and secure them with a small piece of masking tape. Crack the door open and drop them out. The sack hits the horizontal, busts open, ashes scattered.

gb

I have been told that the easy way is to use an old vacuum cleaner hose. just run the hose out the window or door until there is a few feet of it hanging in the air then stick the other end into the container of ashes. The slip stream creates a vacuum that sucks the ashes right out.

Shane

Best way is to put them on the horizontal when pulling the plane out of the hangar and forget to bring nthem aboard. They generally scatter in the area of the runup pad....saving the cost of fuel for actual flight. Kinda disappoints the family members though....
I've heard the best way is to siphon with hose as just mentioned. A friend who did alot of "aerial scattering of cremains" as part of his air service rigged up a piece of PVC pipe mounted on the gear leg with a string for a release- that way, the ashes never even had to be in the cabin. Pretty impersonal though, for any grieving relatives aboard. Also, it kinda looked like a rocket launcher so if you operated out of a towered airport with it you might be getting up close and personal visit with TSA....

Eric

I have essentially the method outlined by SkyBobb in several different aircraft from Cubs to high performance sailplanes.

A funny story:

A friend, world-class aircraft designer, pilot, and generally great guy died and wished to have his ashes spread about the nearby mountains. A "rookie" ash-pilot and a family member went aloft in a glider in front of a few hundred friends and family. At the appropriate time, the family member opened the bag and wooosh! About 75% of my friend blew back into the glider. The glider lands short and rolls up to an open hangar. The next sound I hear is the quiet whirr of the shop vac.

The glider and crew (with some grit in their hair and teeth) shortly reappear in front of the waiting and applauding crowd. A great memorial and feast follows.

The happy ending is that my friend now gets to attend all airport functions as some of him resides in the hangar shopvac. The deceased, I am 100% sure would have thought this to be absolutely hilaroius and completely appropriate.

I have heard a number of stories were a large percentage of the remains returned to the airport . That is why I came up with my method and just wanted to share, with new scatters, before they get to use their shopvacs.

Bob

Hey Skybobb,

Gale would appreciate the plug for his feed store I'm sure....and that sounds like a great method to put someone to rest in the appropriate place vs the shopvac....heard that name and got me thinking of a great pheasant hunt we had with Gale and his family....

Yes the Dentinger family is one of Vales finest. I hate to inform you that Gale passed away a number of years ago if you haven't heard. Lindy is running the feed store and is almost out of it as he has turned things over to his son and daughter Rick and Pam. It is one of the oldest family businesses in the community. When I go down to get a bag to help someone out they always give me a brand new bag. It seems the wind tears the top away from those plastic bags. So I can only use one for one time.

I found Ed Guthrie's method (described below) to be very effective when I scattered my father's ashes from my Citabria a few years ago. No ashes came back into the airplane. It helped to make a few trial runs with flour first. I took a safety pilot with me.

This was done over our farm with the family watching down below. I came back around after scattering his ashes and did a victory roll and a loop in his honor (my father was a pilot). Then a friend flew up in his Extra and did an aerobatic tribute to him for the family. I made a video (put to music) of the event and gave copies to all the family members. Afterwards several family members told me that it was actually an uplifting experience and said that's how they wanted to go too.

Ed's method:

"I used a 3'x3' piece of bed sheet and a small (~8') length of kit string. Spread the sheet on a table top. Pour the ashes into the center of the sheet. Pick up the corners & edges making a sack around the ashes with a "neck" in your hands. Starting at one end of the kite string and working from the bottom of the neck working upward (start near the ashes in the "sack" part of the sheet) wind the string around the "neck", winding the successive loops over the free, starting end of the cord string. When 1/2 way up the "neck", fold the "neck" back on itself and wind around the folded "neck" back towards the "sack". At the end, pull a loop of the string back through the last wind and snug tight. At this point you should have a quick release knot around the "neck", not unlike a 1/2 of a shoelace knot, that will release if someone pulls the free end of the kite string. The free end should be ~4' long or more--sufficient so that someone in the cockpit could hold on to it while you push the sack out a window. Go flying.

In flight, hand a rear seat passenger the free end of the kite string and ask them to hold onto it. Slow the aircraft and open the side vent window (in a C150/152/172/182 etc. just open the pilot side window). Push the "sack" out the vent window, holding the neck in your right hand. When the "sack" is fully outside, extend your right hand out the widow into the slip stream, holding the sack by the "neck" just behind the vent window opening. Let go.

The bag will fly backwards until the kite string comes up tight, at which point the loop knot will release, the loops around the "neck" will unwind, the sheet will release from the kite string, and the ashes will disperse in a "puff" behind the wing. No ashes in the cockpit and no betting on which way the airflows through the vent window.

Pull the kite string back into the cockpit, close the storm window, and fly home."