Some good reading from the Redoubt Reporter:


Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

“As they landed, I said, ‘How’s the ice?’ And Doc Isaak came back, ‘Good. All kinds of ice. Good and hard.’ And then I heard some kind of exclamation, and I looked out — and the aircraft has come to a stop and just broke through, fell right to the belly.

“And then the airplane sort of slowly filled with water and began to settle. They got out because the Cub door just folds down, and they had enough sense to roll along the wing but not climb on it. They got wet from about their waist down as they rolled toward the shore.

Alaskans are tough as fric'n nails. That was some major work out there!

Wonder how long it token to get that Evinrude started!!

Holy mackerel!! That's amazing! What a great story to be able to tell your grandkids... hehehe

Great story. There are some very innovative folks in our world. Retrieving a "stuck" airplane is often where that innovation really shows.

Wright Air Service once had a single Otter upside down on a pretty short gravel bar, 130 miles north of Fairbanks. I was curious to see how they'd retrieve that beast.

Their Chief of Maint went up there, rigged a tripod from spruce poles they cut, rigged a sling nder the fuselage, detached both wings, lifted the fuselage up. Then, they rolled the fuselage right side up in the sling, reattached the wings, hung a new prop and flew it out. I'd have never though of rolling the thing over. I asked the maint guys why they didn't just winch it back upright. Answer was it'd have done even more damage doing it that way.

Simple and elegant.

MTV

mtv wrote:Great story. There are some very innovative folks in our world. Retrieving a "stuck" airplane is often where that innovation really shows.

Wright Air Service once had a single Otter upside down on a pretty short gravel bar, 130 miles north of Fairbanks. I was curious to see how they'd retrieve that beast.

Their Chief of Maint went up there, rigged a tripod from spruce poles they cut, rigged a sling nder the fuselage, detached both wings, lifted the fuselage up. Then, they rolled the fuselage right side up in the sling, reattached the wings, hung a new prop and flew it out. I'd have never though of rolling the thing over. I asked the maint guys why they didn't just winch it back upright. Answer was it'd have done even more damage doing it that way.

Simple and elegant.

MTV

Hope they turned the wings over

Tim

Atlee Dodge JR was an expert at recovering A/C from the bush. So many stories

Great story. I just love that attitude that "we can fix this with enough ingenuity and work".

Heaps more good stories like this in "Bent Props and Blow Pots" by Rex Terpening.

-DP

denalipilot wrote:Heaps more good stories like this in "Bent Props and Blow Pots" by Rex Terpening.

-DP

I just ordered this!

CapnMike wrote:

denalipilot wrote:Heaps more good stories like this in "Bent Props and Blow Pots" by Rex Terpening.

-DP

I just ordered this!

Mike- have you ever read "Fly the Biggest Piece Back"? Different time and place, but I always liked the title!
-DP

denalipilot wrote:

CapnMike wrote:

denalipilot wrote:Heaps more good stories like this in "Bent Props and Blow Pots" by Rex Terpening.

-DP

I just ordered this!

Mike- have you ever read "Fly the Biggest Piece Back"? Different time and place, but I always liked the title!
-DP

Reminds me of a box of parts I once saw in a mechanics shop marked in red crayon "ALMOST AIRWORTHY"

Tim

I like the paint job on those wings.

DonC wrote:Atlee Dodge JR was an expert at recovering A/C from the bush. So many stories

Dang it, Don. What's it going to take to get some stories for articles out of you?? You have all these great photos.

denalipilot wrote:Mike- have you ever read "Fly the Biggest Piece Back"? Different time and place, but I always liked the title!
-DP

No - this just went on my reading list, though! Thanks!

I am interested in knowing how long the plane survived after its swim in the lake. It does not seem to be on the registry any longer.
Charles

"Wings Over The Wilderness" is another great book with plenty of stories about crashing as well as recovering aircraft in the Alaskan bush.

I am interested in knowing how long the plane survived after its swim in the lake. It does not seem to be on the registry any longer.
Charles

Looks like it's still flying.

Lake Hood:

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Jerry Near for a short time while I was in Alaska. If you can get him talking, he's got some humdinger stories. Funny, funny guy. He waxed nostalgic on the Cessna 170, and then told me this story of the Super Cub recovery.

He smokes a mean rack of ribs too.

What a great story that was.

Jorgy told me a story once about a Stinson 108 that he had to rescue after a mishap while landing someplace not too far from Bettles as I recall. I don't remember a whole lot of detail but the major point was that the prop and both wing struts were damaged and the airplane ended up on it's nose. He had to hike in to the village to get a few tools and schedule a propeller to be flown in from Anchorage. He hack sawed portions of the bent wing struts out of the way and tied everything back together using black spruce poles and tie wire. A couple more trips for fuel and the propeller and he was able to fly back out. He was a tough dude in those days for sure.