I'll just relay a story and then you can all make up you own mind about hauling this stuff.

Several years ago a local charter company left town in a Cherokee six with pilot and five pass headed for Glacier Bay. The pax were all park empolyees and had bear spray.

Weather was spotty but basically ok Pilot was familiar with the area. They hit the mountain side at full throttle, slight climb wiith all other controls neutral.

The sons of the pilot, both commercial pilots in the same company believe that pepper spray went off in the cockpit, the pilot was instantly blinded and gagging, she did the only thing she could in a canyon with lots of turns when she couldnt see, she went full power and tried to climb blind.

Having personally seen the lack of effectivness of this stuff on bears and the high potential for disaster if it gets in the pilots face I will not carry it any way any how.

If it makes you feel better to carry, fine but not me.

Shane

If a 135 operator was carrying this stuff on a charter, especially for the NPS, which means they had to comply with OAS rules as well as the 135 regs, they should have had the stuff contained, not loose in the cockpit.

It really doesn't take much to contain this stuff, honest. I've had one leak in a plastic bag, and didn't know it till I opened the bag. Nasty stuff, but it doesn't "explode" or instantly incapacitate everyone within a six block radius.

Pepper spray, in very specific instances, can be effective on a bear.

Unfortunately, our friendly National Park Service prohibits the carriage of firearms in most parks, even in Alaska.

I agree that a firearm of adequate caliber is a much better choice for bear protection.

One of the many reasons I choose not to visit our National Parks, frankly.

MTV

My mom begged me never to repeat this story, but it's kinda funny.

She somehow got a can of bear-specific pepper spray from a friend. She lives on her own, so she keeps the can next to her bed along with her .38 (good ol' mom!)

Well, one night she heard a sound...turned out to just be the cat screwing around in the kitchen. She grabbed the bear spray to check it out, and when she got into the kitchen, she was relieved to see just the cat tugging on the drapes. For some strange reason (even she admits she has no idea why she did this) she decided to give old kitty a little squirt from the bear spray from about 20 feet away.

She says she was really surpised by how far and how focused the stream was. It nailed poor Totus right in the face. He started gagging and convulsing and really having a hard time. My mom said the cloud of spray was even gagging her and her eyes were watering terribily. She grabbed Totus and took him to the bathtub to give him a bath, all the while gagging. He was just crying and gagging. She really felt bad. Maybe it was her sleepy condition that affected her judgement.

I kinda laughed too though.

Hey, I too have been sprayed right in the face with the stuff, in what was eufemistically referred to as training.

I can identify with the cat.

MTV

Shorton,

It was reading about that accident prompted my question.

Thanks to everyone for their perspectives and ideas.

CAVU

This might just be rural legend, but a woman I met who worked at the glacier national park general store told me that it was very common for an english-as-a-second-language family (usually Japanese) to purchase bear spray for their trip into the park. Unfortunately the brand they sold was labeled "bear repellent spray", and came in a can of similar size and shape to the ubiquitous insect repellent spray which is a staple of the north west.

The following scenario supposedly played out about twice a year, more often if she was lucky: Being unclear on the concept, and able to read just enough english to make the next logical mistake, some well meaning parent would line his or her children up in the general store parking lot and, yup, spray them with bear repellent

I can't guarantee that it's true, but I can sure see it happening. What sort of negligent parent would allow their children to go into the park without a protective layer of bear repellent on them?

Anywho, I use this stuff every day and I agree that if a can of bear spray ruptures (not just leaks) in flight there is really zero chance of being able to control the airplane. If anyone has any question about this, get a little jogger size can (about 1/20 the volume of a can of bear spray) and spray it on the ceiling of a friends car, then see how long you can last inside. I won't even allow the human-size cans in my plane, though I've never had one leak.

I must say that I still like the idea of a piece of aluminum irrigation pipe capped at both ends...I guess plastic pipe would probably be strong enough as well.

As far as how well it works on bears...for most people it's probably a whole lot better than a firearm. I'm a gun person, but I'd rather spray a charging bear with OC than try to deploy a marginal weapon like a .44 handgun. I think the OC has a better chance of stopping the bear from continuing the attack. Given the choice I carry a shotgun with slugs, but if I don't have something that powerful my first choice is OC spray.

At the end of the day it shouldn't matter. Anyone who is willing to study bear behaver and modify their own behaver when in bear country has a very small chance of ever having an encounter. As Doug Peacock was fond of saying, anyone who can't find the bear before the bear finds them deserves to be taken out of the gene pool (not a direct quote, but the same message).

In all but the most remote parts of the earth you are far better arming yourself agains two-legged predators and letting the four-legged predators worry about themselves. Besides, three weeks after you die of prostate cancer your name will be forgotten. But if you get killed by a rampaging grizzly your name will live on wherever people gather to drink.