Hammer wrote:I love how people villainize the motives and actions of groups they see as Other-Than-Them... Since they don't think the way I do, they must be wrong, suspect, and immoral. Also stupid, apparently.

Take care that you don't become what you detest Hammer.

For those who want more to the story, here is the video of the incident!

From what I heard through the grape vine, the Toilet Company had just dropped them off, the incident occurred, the individual driving the truck heard the racket and turned around before leaving the area. He gave the pilots a ride into town to get service and call for help. Last I heard was that the individual put the toilets EXACTLY on the GPS coordinates he was given.

Look out for flying porta-johns!

https://youtu.be/esvCCgaRDPs

BDJ238 wrote:For those who want more to the story, here is the video of the incident!

From what I heard through the grape vine, the Toilet Company had just dropped them off, the incident occurred, the individual driving the truck heard the racket and turned around before leaving the area. He gave the pilots a ride into town to get service and call for help. Last I heard was that the individual put the toilets EXACTLY on the GPS coordinates he was given.

Look out for flying porta-johns!

https://youtu.be/esvCCgaRDPs

Oh, it couldn't be a simple mistake. They're ENVIRONMENTALISTS...it had to be an act of terrorism.

I still can’t get my head wrapped around why they would want to have a get together on a runway. It’s not like there isn’t a whole lot of open space in Southern Utah. It seems unnecessary for them to want to meet on an airstrip and to close the strip down for its intended purposes. I’m sure there is more to the story.


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Too bad the gopro wasn't on the other wing! Watching that video it was hard to see those until he was right on them, and I had the benefit of a non-moving, non-bouncing position knowing it was coming. If he had been quick on the reflexes he might have been able to get to the right, maybe not. It's a shitty one all around.

And no those were not camoflauged, they're just port-a-shitter tan which happens to match nicely with the surrounding terrain (and the contents within). Wrong place, wrong time.

I haven't see this strip before other than this video, but would a low pass have found them earlier? From the video it doesn't look like there's anything preventing a 50-foot pass (especially in a Husky), but maybe I am missing something. Those white tops should have seemed out of place overhead, but side-on they are almost invisible.

Grassstrippilot wrote:...It seems unnecessary for them to want to meet on an airstrip and to close the strip down for its intended purposes. I’m sure there is more to the story.

My guess would be that is exactly the story, and exactly the reason for meeting there.

colopilot wrote:I haven't see this strip before other than this video, but would a low pass have found them earlier? From the video it doesn't look like there's anything preventing a 50-foot pass (especially in a Husky), but maybe I am missing something. Those white tops should have seemed out of place overhead, but side-on they are almost invisible.

This should give you an idea. It’s tucked up right at the mouth of a canyon.

https://youtu.be/HEEspWaBcZc


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Grassstrippilot wrote:This should give you an idea. It’s tucked up right at the mouth of a canyon.

https://youtu.be/HEEspWaBcZc

Thanks, very helpful.

Last time I was there, I made a low pass to the south and climbed up through the canyon, though it's quite intimidating if you've never been there. Actually, it's intimidating even if you have. Going north would work as well, but it's rising terrain that way. Either way, it's not quite a trivial thing to take a close look at HS.

Fwiw, both of my buddies were in Huskies, and both were stopped by the road that crosses the runway. Looks like he could've easily been stopped by the time he hit the John - he put it on pretty close to the end. Major bummer, but at least nobody was hurt.

I'm surprised I hadn't seen this video already - it was posted in Nov 2016.

Some might ask why some old pilot always lands on the numbers, even though there is lots of runway? You never know everything. The tactical situation is always fluid.

Hammer wrote:

BDJ238 wrote:For those who want more to the story, here is the video of the incident!

From what I heard through the grape vine, the Toilet Company had just dropped them off, the incident occurred, the individual driving the truck heard the racket and turned around before leaving the area. He gave the pilots a ride into town to get service and call for help. Last I heard was that the individual put the toilets EXACTLY on the GPS coordinates he was given.

Look out for flying porta-johns!

https://youtu.be/esvCCgaRDPs

Oh, it couldn't be a simple mistake. They're ENVIRONMENTALISTS...it had to be an act of terrorism.

I'm with Hammer. Shit happens. Call the insurance company and go grab a beer in Moab while the insurance figures out if they want to go to excruciating lengths to get the porta-potty place to pay for the repairs/replacement. Also, it's just a Husky... click on the banner at the top of the site and get a new one.

(panties not in a wad while I call BWI to increase my hull coverage and ask about porta-potty impact coverage)

What I've learned from this incident: you can give a GPS waypoint to a porta pottie outfit, and they will send them out to that exact location, it's amazing what technology can do.

One porta pottie bit of wisdom I recently saw magic markered on the inside by some construction site sage : THE 4 WORD PATH TO INNER PEACE "NOT MY FUCKING PROBLEM", made me laugh out loud.

Although it is a video and we knew what to expect, my impression is that the johns are quite visible. Secondly, the rollout was unnecessarily long for the aircraft which tells me he wasn't looking down the runway; if he was he would have recognized the obstruction with plenty of time stop. I guess y'all spotted the john at the approach end... Hitting that one would have made for a bigger tragedy.

With that said, the john placement is in the runway and one has to question why... it is a WIDE open landscape. A few feet to either side would not have been an inconvenience and not an obstruction. The guy delivering the johns would have known the placement was in the runway. I'm sure he questioned it but ended up doing what he was told... He at least placed the approach end john out of the way. The john delivery driver knows the answer to all our speculations.

DeltaRomeo wrote: Although it is a video and we knew what to expect, my impression is that the johns are quite visible. Secondly, the rollout was unnecessarily long for the aircraft which tells me he wasn't looking down the runway; if he was he would have recognized the obstruction with plenty of time stop......

I disagree -- other than the edge of the white top, that tan outhouse really blends into the surrounding landscape.
He shoulda been on the lookout for deer, etc but who woulda thunk to look for a shithouse on the runway?
The long landing / roll-out might be cuz he's planning on parking off the far end of the strip.

I just showed the video to my wife, without any pre-story. Even before he got to the road crossing she said "he is taking a long time to stop".
Granted it is a Husky driver . I think he was just going to the other end. I can tell you that I have come very close to hitting stuff in the past doing the same thing myself. Lesson to be taken from this is to keep the tail up when high speed taxi or wag like the old fighters. He had a lot of room on the right side for the gear from what I could see. Lots of places to put the crappers other then on the runway. In a pissing contest everyone gets wet.
DENNY

"Granted it is a Husky driver ."

So what do you "drive" Denny and what does that have to do with the incident?

The Pot-O-Potty guy put it exactly where he was told.

So, he may have been the liberal, or the liberals told him to put it on the runway. Or he was dumb. Still could have been a dumb liberal, just sayin'

The video was great. I'd love to take the Maule there. Looks like a very dirty dusty place though.

Also strikes me as a very odd isolated place to have the greenies gather. I would take it's purpose as an airstrip to be non-accidental in this case.

contactflying wrote:Some might ask why some old pilot always lands on the numbers, even though there is lots of runway? You never know everything. The tactical situation is always fluid.

I agree most of the time but...

As is often the case in aviation, there are sometimes extenuating circumstances.

I was flying the Maule into an easy 1,000' grass strip last year. I needed about half of that to stop comfortably but still was aiming to put it down on the first 20' of runway.

I put it where I wanted, but missed a signpost that was buried in tumbleweeds right at the threshold.

I scolded myself for that. There was no need to touchdown in the first 20', and if I aimed 100-200 feet down I'd have still stopped with half the runway to spare and would have not risked hitting the hidden sign.

Just one example.

Sometimes the middle of the strip is appropiate. Maybe there are other obstacles. Maybe there is mud or something you don't want to taxi through. Maybe there is a bend in the strip. Or a deer at the threshold you can just fly over.

DENNY wrote:I just showed the video to my wife, without any pre-story. Even before he got to the road crossing she said "he is taking a long time to stop".
Granted it is a Husky driver . I think he was just going to the other end. I can tell you that I have come very close to hitting stuff in the past doing the same thing myself. Lesson to be taken from this is to keep the tail up when high speed taxi or wag like the old fighters. He had a lot of room on the right side for the gear from what I could see. Lots of places to put the crappers other then on the runway. In a pissing contest everyone gets wet.
DENNY

Hard to say but I have to agree, it looked like a fast touchdown and a long rollout. Also looks like he missed the first POP and rammed the second.

Maybe it was 120 degrees, or he was forced to land with a tailwind, or there is a steep down gradient we can't see in the video. Like you suggest maybe he was doing a 'step taxi' to get to the other end.

I doubt it was liberal/greenie sabotage however, but a worth discussion nonetheless.

BDJ238 wrote:.......From what I heard through the grape vine, the Toilet Company had just dropped them off, the incident occurred, the individual driving the truck heard the racket and turned around before leaving the area. ........

After reading this again, I will revise my opinion that it was a greenie plot and admit that maybe it was just an idiot honeywagon driver.
This is just as believable after seeing how non-aviators often park their cars around my home airport- blocking hangar doors, blocking or crowding taxiways, etc.. Actually, some of the aviators don't do too well at this either.