Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:21 pm
well since there are so many interrested in JC experiences I figure I'll retell the crashes I've seen in my many years of going up there... Maybe it will help shed some light on the difficulty of flying the mountains and canyons.... First or second year back in the 90's the sprinkler system was like the farmers use... long 4 inch pipes laid out on the runway with sprinkler heads every 40 or 50 feet... Gene and Cody were caretakers and we, my flying buds and I, offered to help with the job and it was a job laying all that pipe....we were almost done having started at the north end laying pipe on the west half of the runway so that aircraft could still land closer to the east side... we were about at the southern most outhouse when we heard a plane approaching from the North...we watched as he crossed the threshold about 75 ft above the grass.. it was a newly overhaulled turbo 182 flown by a midwest pilot and his wife as passenger... both were pilots... he added power at about the first runway distance marker but not enough to climb and go around... kept coming and stayed about 75 ft above the runway to the caretakers house and we began to wonder what his intentions were... there was no decent and when he got to our location we hightailed it to the trees as it was evident there was something not right.... at about 100 ft past the outhouse he stalled and slammed it on flat and went back up about 35 ft rolled left and nosed into the runway about a hundred feet from the parking area... turns out they were arguing about what to do .. He wanted to salvage the landing she was yelling go around..so in this instance pilot distraction was probably a major factor... we got them out and both were shaken but unhurt... vacation over...next one was a couple years later... a new low time pilot in, if I remember correctly, a 125 HP grumman T cat... loaded and afternoon... wind naturally out of the south so he made the decision to take off to the south,,, several pilots advised him that was not a good idea and urged him to wait till evening when wind shifted and lessened.... he waited about an hour and launched to the south.... flew around the house at tree top level and wound up in the creek upstream... Third was a newly overhauled 210 with 5 hrs since overhaul when pilot decided to venture off to the mountains... entered down wind on the south side at well over the tops of the ridges... turned base and final about a mile from the runway same altitude... turned final and realized how high he was so he pointed the nose at the ground and dove... no shit we were looking at the top of the aircraft as if we were directly above it on the ground... well all that speed built up and he rounded out about 20 feet above the grass doing about 90... then tried to force it on whereby it bounced, and he tried it again, this time the nose wheel departed and we all once again hastily left the shade of our parked planes and ran... he wound up in the trees on the west side by the wind sock...third was a twin that couldn't get airborn in the heat of the afternoon g oing North... wound up in the tall grass down by the old mink farm....fourth was a piper 140 loaded and trying to take off to the north again after noon,... we and several others advised him to wait as he was asking advice.... advice ignored and we watched him clip a tree at the end but luckily kept going... he made it to McCall....didn't see the one during a BCP fly in years ago but there was a pilot new to mountain flying wanting to go to big creek for breakfast... turned up the wrong canyon after yellow pine and found it was a box canyon... not enough room to turn, didn't practice canyon turns i gather, not enough altitude and not knowing what to look for in the drainages....he didn't make it but his wife did....so low time not withstanding decisions were made in spite of advice from knowlegable pilots familiar with the mountains, diving to an airport... ( my old instructor told me you don't dive to an airport. if that's your choice to land you've already fucked up your approach and probably will the landing, or arrival , as he called it...taking off with a underpowered aircraft for the conditions into rising terrain, failure to see your no go abort point...flying down the middle of the canyons instead of high and to the right, I don't know I remember being tought all those things when I was a low time student... and I am sure all those CFI"s mentioned those things at least once during their training of these guys.. so what do we do about the galactically stupid... hopefully don't occupy the same airspace as them but better yet, be doubly vigilant in the mountains and if you want to do this kind of flying more than once get some dual from a local or local instructor...hope I haven't pissed anyone off again....lol
