Old Thread. Bump to go along with the lastest landing on mountain tops in snow discussions.

I saw a refrence to this on the oskosh 365 forums and didn't believe it. A google search brought up this story on Historylink.org.

Lieutenant John W. Hodgkin, U.S. Air Force, lands his ski-equipped Piper Cub on top of Mount Rainier on April 12, 1951.
On April 12, 1951, Lieutenant John W. Hodgkin, age 42, a pilot stationed at McChord Air Force Base, flies his ski-equipped Piper J-3 Cub from Spanaway Air Strip to the top of Mount Rainier (14,410 feet), establishing a new world record for a high-altitude landing. However, when Hodgkin prepares to leave, the engine will not start in the rarefied air and he is forced to spend the night on top of the mountain, huddled in the Cub’s cockpit.

The rest of the story:
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Di ... le_id=8469

What a great story, great find tcj!

Gotta love guys like that.

Great find. Thank you!

Reminds me of a story about Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Rag-and-tube ski-plane forced down on the slope of the mountain in winter, and pilot forced to leave it there for a period of time. Returned, fixed plane, flew it off. Unfortunately, the blowing wind had packed the tail section with snow, and the W&B made for a very exciting decent to the valley.

Was he related to Pop's?

Great story....Great history. Thanx for sharing it. That guy was a real backcountry pioneering pilot.

The main reason I got a tailski....deadstick takeoffs on steep snow covered slopes! It brings out the snowboarder in me. Steeper the better!

What a great story!

I especially like the part of him landing on a grass airstrip, with skis, what in the hell was he thinking It doesn't say whether or not he took off on the grass? With maybe a little snow to help him gain speed?? Nah, that'd never work.

Wow, cool story. I like this part:

"Hodgkin declared that private aircraft should not be banned from national parks; the mountains were his religion and the flight was his crusade against the injustice."

courierguy wrote:

It doesn't say whether or not he took off on the grass? With maybe a little snow to help him gain speed?? Nah, that'd never work.

From Histroylink.org

To facilitate the takeoff, Hodgkin seated the Cub’s skis on a pair of skids with a towing yoke attached. Straw had been scattered over the grass runway to make the surface slipperier. A friend, George Brooks, assisted Hodgkin by pulling the skids down the runway with his automobile until the Cub became airborne.

Another idea to put in your bag of tricks.

It's a great story, and to me it reflects a bit of the can-do spirit that people in this nation had after WWII. It's also shows the beginning of over-regulation rearing its ugly head, which has now progressed to the point that our entire population is terrified to do anything out of the ordinary lest they get fined or jailed.

On a more practical note, It made me think about something. I always carry a few small tools, but I don't carry a spark plug wrench. I think I will add one to my tool bundle!

Now what do you think the reaction would be, if this guy had used his WayForward machine to post here on BCP what his plan was, and what he intended to do before he made this flight...

Let me guess.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Now what do you think the reaction would be, if this guy had used his WayForward machine to post here on BCP what his plan was, and what he intended to do before he made this flight...

Let me guess.

Gump

Well I would have told him he was a dick. Which by all accounts he was.

But so what? He did his crime and paid his fine and everybody was happy as a clam afterwards.

I got stuck today, briefly, as in about an hour and a half. Off camber, side slope, sticky wet snow etc. At one point I realized I had left my cell phone in my snow boarding jacket (GREAT new snow today up at the ski area, and I always carry the phone where I can get at it quick in case it's a crane job, as I'm "on duty" 24/7, but sometimes I forget to move the phone once I'm done boarding). Once I realized I didn't have the phone it changed the seriousness of my getting stuck, as in spending the night, what to eat etc. (though I did have emergency gear in a real pinch). But anyway, after the 5 th. or 6 th time digging out and using most every trick in the book, I got moving finally, and got out of there, (and man does that ever feel good, once you start moving.) Then I realized, or remembered from other times, there is NO cell coverage back where I was anyway! I'm sure I'm not alone.... in that places where 5 years ago there was no cell coverage, but now there is...on the other hand other places quite nearby, by tricks of geography and population density may never have it. So, I went from thinking I had my butt covered, until I realized I had no phone ( I had a friend who lives 4 miles away I could have called, if I had been real stuck, and had a phone), to realizing I was on my own, to later realizing I was on my own all the time even IF I had packed the phone! The punch line is once landing at home, on wheels for the first time all year (the snow is going quick at 5400', plenty up higher), I got bogged down in the mud and had to leave it tied down overnight about 25' from the hangar door, tomorrow AM, it'll be froze up, and I'll just taxi it out.

My landing today back at my strip was 50/50, as in on skis or wheels? It was going to be messy either way. I chose to use the wheels, and didn't get bogged down, but I did spray mud all over the TOP of the wing, both sides of the hor stab., and of course the bottom of the wing. Tricky this time of year, and having the choice between wheels or skis with the flick of a switch, can be just another thing to have to decide, I do know my skis are heavily mudded over top and bottom, must be spring!

That is a great story. Thanks for sharing!

Bump.