Fun With Dead Stick Landings

A dead stick landing in deserted sage brush wilderness is an experience that you do not want to repeat, but if you walk away with no greater injury than frayed nerves and sage brush stuck in the tail wheel you have a memorable story to tell. My wife and I have one such story.

On March 17th we departed Burns Oregon with the purpose of ferrying a Super Cub to Sierra Valley in Northern California. I spent a few hours looking the airplane over and flying around the pattern. The airplane preformed flawlessly, we had calm winds and clear skies and decided to depart for our destination, 350 miles to the south. We would fly over Malheur Lake and follow a course of about 180 degrees on a flight that should take us just over three hours.

Approximately 29 miles out of Burns we watched Malheur Lake pass below us, a huge body of water there in the high desert surrounded by miles of wide sandy beaches. I thought "if there ever was an ideal emergency landing spot this would be it!". Little did I know this thought would play out in a sequence of events shortly thereafter.

After we reached 7000 msl and approximately 2500 agl, I trimmed the airplane for hands off flying, sat back and watched the scenery passing beneath us. I was daydreaming about all the times we soaked in the hot springs on the edge of the lake when suddenly dead quiet jarred me fully alert. My first reaction was "what the hell is this", as I made a 180 degree turn back to the beach a few miles behind us. Looking below for an immediate landing spot it was clear that this was not the place to set the aircraft down without a certain amount of pain. Rocky outcroppings and large boulders covered the ground, making landing here not an option, so restarting the engine was paramount.

I instantly began standard engine restart in the air procedures. Best glide speed, mags on both, mixture full rich, switch tanks, etc. etc. Then the thought came to mind, "if it's fuel starvation why not try pumping the throttle?" On the third throttle movement the engine came back to life. But as soon as I stopped pumping the throttle the engine would die. So a roller coaster ride ensued between the dying engine and pumping the throttle, and all I could think of was that wide expanse of beautiful flat beach that was now coming in view of the windscreen. With every cycle of engine failure and restart we lost an altitude of two to three hundred feet, but I estimated that if the present situation continued we would have no problem making it to the beach.

At this point I communicated to the back seater (my wife) that we were going to make it to the beach. She later relayed to me that she had remained silent so as not to distract me from the tasks of flying the plane, and had found it necessary to pull the mouthpiece away from her mouth so I would not hear her whimpering.

We made it to the beach and my hope was to reduce the walking distance out as much as possible. Our best bet would be to land on the firm packed dirt surface of the 60 ft. wide County road that skirted the East side of the lake.

Working the throttle, switching back and forth between fuel tanks, skimming along the sage brush, and flying the airplane with the stick between my knees, I was sure we could make it to the road and communicated this to my wife. Behind me she was preparing for a crash landing, removing her jewelry and glasses. With one hand on the door latch and the other on the seat belt latch, she was ready to bail out.

Beneath us was a well worn cow path that became an old narrow road, overgrown with sagebrush. We didn’t make it to the LAX style County road. Just when I thought all was well the engine quit for the last time. I barely had time to deploy the flaps, and make a 30 degree left turn to line up with the trail below us. Within seconds I was landing tail wheel first in a right turn followed by a quick left turn on the narrow path below us. We coasted to a stop within 300 ft. of the County road. My wife was out of the plane excitedly taking photo’s before I loosened my grip on the stick. She was manic with adrenalin, while I was limp with relief. The plane had clumps of sage brush stuck in the tail wheel, but was otherwise undamaged.

My wife's first question was "now what?" I told her not to worry, we had our radio shack cell phone and we would call our friend in Burns for help. Just then we heard an airplane flying in the distance. I got on the radio and called in the blind and immediately got a response. I gave our position and circumstances and asked where the pilot was headed.

A female voice responded: "to our ranch 30 miles northeast." I asked if she could circle back, pinpoint our position and stop at the airport to get us help. She responded that she was late for an important meeting and wished us luck. I would like to find out who that woman was. Obviously she was too busy to help so our focus went back to the cell phone. Hopefully we would get a strong enough signal to make a call. The phone came to life and to my surprise a very strong signal was present. At the same instant I also noticed that the battery was nearly dead. Frantically I dialed the number and within seconds the phone went dead. My wife’s next question was "now what?"

I pondered that for a minute and the thought came to me: "maybe we can hot wire the phone to the battery of the plane." Upon checking the tag on the back of the phone I was pleased to discover that the phone was indeed 12 volts, same as the airplane. I cut the wires to the battery pack, noted where the positive lead was, opened the cowling of the aircraft, stood on the tire, and leaned in holding the wires onto the battery terminals. A spark jumped as I touched the wires to the battery and I was afraid I had crossed the wires and fried the phone. My wife was standing behind me manning the phone that was balanced on my shoulder and I told her "quick …turn it on." Low and behold the phone came to life and she quickly made the call, but got an answering machine. She left a message telling what had happened and gave our location as the east side of the lake about 3 miles from the main road that crosses the lake. On another try we got through to our friend who said he was on his way.

We were in a good spot to be stranded, as the hot springs were just a short walk, and we had food, warm clothes, and a blanket. As it seemed there was nothing else to do we climbed the highest bluff, exploring and watching for arrowheads and fossils along the way. We sat atop the rocky bluff watching the setting sun turn the mile wide lake gold and fiery red, and watched eagles flying in to perch at their nests below us. It was so remarkable there, enjoying that incredible panoramic view, that for those moments we forgot we might be facing a long cold night in the middle of nowhere.

Then, off in the distance, far across the lake we could see the dust of a coming vehicle. We were elated to see that help was on the way but our moods changed fast when the truck made a left turn down the far side of the lake shore. Much to our relief the driver turned and drove back to the main road and started towards us across the lake. We watched from our vantage point as the truck crossed the lake and took the south turn onto the County road towards us. We climbed down the bluff back to the plane and it wasn't long before our friend founds us.

He got out of his truck and walked down a little hill to the plane. When he saw where and how we had landed he exclaimed "I will fly with you anywhere." It was getting late and nothing could be done to get the plane out until morning, which was a worry as the neighboring free range cows had a fondness for the fabric covering the plane. We were back in town by 9 p.m. with a cold beer and a comfortable warm bed, instead of a campfire and a sage brush pillow.

Maniac, is this a cliff-hangar or what? Is there another episode forthcoming, kinda like the "Perils of Pauline"?
What caused the engine stoppage? And did you get it fixed and flown out? Inquiring minds want to know! I hope we don't have to wait for next saturday's matinee to find out.

Eric

Maniac,

Welcome and good job !

I too would like to know what caused the failure...

Also, did were you able to fly it back outta' there ?

Mark

The engine problem was in the fuel selector. Also there was debris in the fuel line. Where it came from is still a mystery . We cut a trail up the hill to the county road then taxied the bird to the top. Then we removed some road signs( for wing clearance) And flew it out!!

You don't have a cat living in your hangar, do you Jr?

You also need to be careful using cans to fill the airplane. If a Mouse gets in the can they disintegrate from the fuel. All that is left is the hair that settles to the bottom and the rest is history!

Curious how a mouse would get in the gas can, unless you left the lid off. I've seen people that do that, seems dangerous to me- gas fumes in the hangar. Someone walks in with a smoke (which they better not do at my hangar), or an electrical appliance sparks when you plug it in, and BOOM. Bad enough to have cans with the caps left on, of course I have empty cans in the hangar as we speak.I think the empties are probably more dangerous than full cans, as they're full of fumes-- very explosive, compared to gas in the liquid state.

Eric

My dad fuels his Cub using a filter with a chamois filter in the bottom. Takes out water as well as mouse remains. Never had a problem.

Darn meese anyway, just heard a funny story on the TV news-- some guy caught a mouse in his house, took it outside, and threw it on a burn pile he had going. The mouse caught fire and then ran back into the house, whcih caught fire from the mouse and burned down.
That's his story, anyway.

Eric

I hate it when that happens!!
I guess that's one time it would have been worth having a cat!!

Nessus wrote:My dad fuels his Cub using a filter with a chamois filter in the bottom. Takes out water as well as mouse remains. Never had a problem.

I've found that the chamois will remove small amounts of water, but if it's more than just a couple of thimbles full, it'll pass right on through into your tanks. Any other's experience confirm this? (A well-meaning passenger brought me the gas in "washed out" milk jugs - apparently not "dried out" though.) The plane coughed a few times after T/O, but was fine afterward. Then sump-sampling got the rest out, later.
I look more closely now. Berk

zero.one.victor wrote:Darn meese anyway, just heard a funny story on the TV news-- some guy caught a mouse in his house, took it outside, and threw it on a burn pile he had going. The mouse caught fire and then ran back into the house, whcih caught fire from the mouse and burned down.
That's his story, anyway.

Eric

That reminds me of the story of the old miner that got tired of having his cat get into his food while he was out working. Took the cat with him to the mine and dumped it, but the darn thing always beat him back home. So one day he took out a stick of dynamite tied it around the cat and lit the fuse. Burning fuse scared the cat, run under the cabin and guess what?

Also, a few years back the FAA put out a bulletin discouraging the use of chamois for a filter when fueling. Tiny bits of the chamois were coming off and collecting in the fuel system causing fuel starvation in some instances.

Urhm... about the 'empty' fuel cans... I do have a little experience with that.

You know... stuff you might have done in your youth that doesn't make you proud to remember...

Dad had a gas can in our garage for the lawn mower and other gas powered tools, and I thought it'd be a hoot (I was probably about 8 years old at the time) to see what happened if I tossed a lit match into it.
I never claimed to be the wisest kid in town.

Actually, I think it had something to do with an argument a couple of other kids had at school earlier about being able to put a match out in gasoline, so long as the fumes didn't ignite, but that was nearly 20 years ago, so I don't remember the details.

There was a loud oilcanning sound, and the gas can jumped a bit. Dad came running into the garage to see what happened, and I told him that I was setting the can on the workbench, and dropped it.
He said "Lucky it was empty, huh?" and went back into the house.

Whew.

velojym wrote:Dad had a gas can in our garage for the lawn mower and other gas powered tools, and I thought it'd be a hoot (I was probably about 8 years old at the time) to see what happened if I tossed a lit match into it.

Yeah, you'll fit in well with this bunch.

Gump

maulmaniac wrote:Fun With Dead Stick Landings

,A female voice responded: "to our ranch 30 miles northeast." I asked if she could circle back, pinpoint our position and stop at the airport to get us help. She responded that she was late for an important meeting and wished us luck. I would like to find out who that woman was. Obviously she was too busy to help so our focus went back to the cell phone.

I'd like to know who she is too. It is sad to hear that, in what I think we generally regard as a small and fairly tight community, that there are people like this.

I'm glad things turned out alright.

An emergency landing in the desert and a passing pilot says "late for a meeting,... good luck!?" Hmmm... "what goes around..."

Grassstrippilot wrote:

maulmaniac wrote:Fun With Dead Stick Landings

,A female voice responded: "to our ranch 30 miles northeast." I asked if she could circle back, pinpoint our position and stop at the airport to get us help. She responded that she was late for an important meeting and wished us luck. I would like to find out who that woman was. Obviously she was too busy to help so our focus went back to the cell phone.

I'd like to know who she is too. It is sad to hear that, in what I think we generally regard as a small and fairly tight community, that there are people like this.

I'm glad things turned out alright.

I know it's been almost two years, but glad too things worked out too. I could never ever leave someone hangin out in the middle of nowhere. No matter how much of a hurry I'm in! And what whynot fly says "what comes around, goes around". But, then again I would not have a good feeling about myself for not helping someone out stuck out in the middle of no where or anywhere!!

you guys have it right...never ever never leave your 'bro in the hills alone...
not with a broke down bird,snowmobile,motor-cycle, etc...jomac