Forgive me if this has been up before, this is the first time I saw it. Happened in 1989 in some pretty rugged terrain. Must have been a pretty nice camcorder for 1989.

Cool video nice find. What a sickening feeling it must of been when she quit when you have most of your family with you.

Nice find, and nice job by the pilot.

Gump

That's N170JA. I rode in the back of that airplane when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I remember in great detail sitting in the backseat behind ___ (name left out to protect the rogue pilot) as we flew from _____ to _______ around midnight, pitch black, in icefog. The pilot had to open the side window and stick his head out to see forward to land as my uncle manipulated the throttle to get us on the ground that January 1st night. It was COLD. Funny these kinds of experiences didn't have an impact on my dream of flying...if anything, at the time, they fueled it... That airplane now resides in some village I know with what looks like my lawnmower blade attached to the crankshaft...

at 2:33 it looked like there was a landing "strip" on the left, far side of the river? Could just be another closed off braid in the river, but? Nice job getting down!

Ahhhhh... the merits of altitude.

born2flyak wrote:That's N170JA.

Amazing how some airplanes up there just keep surfacing. One story after another.

Cloud Dancer and I were comparing our old Arctic rides this morning. Airplane, and native girl versions. Some things in the Universe are a constant. Kinda nice to know.

Gump

The intro to the video says "Barry" and "Randy" and then it says "their 10 year old daughters". I'm hoping that means 2 Dads had one daughter each and left the 2 Moms back at the departure point

I'm kinda pissed that the video didn't show the last part of the landing, but having the airplane upright with a good propeller in the next shot tells me the pilot did a good job.

I saw that "strip" looking thing on the left side too and assumed they would be turning left base for it.

X2 for the altitude comment. As tempting and beautiful as it is flying low, in those situations with family on board and over rough terrain, altitude definitely adds a lot of safety and decision time.

EZFlap wrote:
I'm kinda pissed that the video didn't show the last part of the landing, but having the airplane upright with a good propeller in the next shot tells me the pilot did a good job..

I was wondering why the landing was left out, too. But, I'm not pissed about it.

The one thing I can think of is that maybe the pilot had asked the passenger to hang on tight or stow the camera for a possible rough landing and didn't want a huge camcorder as a projectile inside the cabin of the aircraft. Even back in '89, most camcorders where still fairly large and heavy. That's just what I'm thinking.

Great video! Heaven forbid that I should ever have to go through something like that, but if I do, I hope to be found the same way: uninjured, warm, with a place to sleep and food in my belly.

So, I know I am reviving an old thread but I am brand new here and just starting my journey at 43 to get my PPL. Interesting enough over Thanksgiving we were talking about old family stories and my mom and her siblings were talking about their father (my grandfather) whom I unfortunately never got to meet, and the plane they had. They share fond stories of their time in South Florida out of Opa-Locka flying across the state and down into the florida keys where most were grass air strips. So, my mom found a few photos, that I will share here and notice the N170JA. As I googled, I was surprised how much actually came up and I even spoke to the current owner that has the plane in his hanger in Alaska. My grandfather bought the plane in the mid-1960's and it needed work, he did all of it himself and logged hundreds of hours in in the aircraft until the late 1970's when they moved to Jacksonville and the plane was sold up there. Image is my grandfather and grandmother on the airfield at Opa-Locka, Miami, Florida.

So what is the rest of the story? How did they get the airplane out?

G44 wrote:So what is the rest of the story? How did they get the airplane out?

If you go to YouTube, the pilot's text narrative about the incident shows up. A friend flew a spare engine to the gravel bar in a 206 and swapped engines on the spot. That alone is impressive! The 170 then flew home and the failed engine was rebuilt. I marvel at the "can-do" attitude of pilots up there.

Man, looking at the Palmer-Galena direct line, that braided river was about the best possible spot for the engine to quit, except for a couple very isolated strips. Whole lotta muskeg, black spruce and spruce between the AK Range and Galena.

-DP

denalipilot wrote:Man, looking at the Palmer-Galena direct line, that braided river was about the best possible spot for the engine to quit, except for a couple very isolated strips. Whole lotta muskeg, black spruce and spruce between the AK Range and Galena.

-DP

Indeed......Good for them, been living right.

I was hoping he didn't land on one of the gravel bars in the river.....those glacial streams really rise in the afternoon as melting occurs upstream. He did a great job.