Story of the day for you pilots (long)

[slodave]

Hi!

What a day. My dad, his friend and I decided to fly up to Mammoth Mountain today for a day of skiing. I have flown with my dad up and down the Owens Valley many times of the years, but lately, due to a couple of bad weather days up there, I have been jittery of what is known as the "Sierra Wave". Anyway, bumpy ride up, but I made it and we had a great day skiing.

Back at Mammoth Airport at the end of the day, a few people were leaving and one guy came over to our plane and asked which way we were headed because of the winds. He is from San Luis Obispo and said he was going to try and shoot through a saddle that puts Mammoth Mtn. off his right wing. He is flying a bush plane with cloth skin and I think wood.

This is where it gets fun. He gets in his plane, taxis away and a couple min. later, we hear him coming down the runway taking of to the north. As he comes into view, the wind sock kicks up hard with a left cross wind and lifts his left wing up, causing his right tip to hit the ground. He does not cut off power and continues to veer off the runway to the right, heading straight towards us left wing still in air. He crosses a dirt strip, the taxi way and starts across another dirt strip towards us. He finally cuts power and he plane lands back on the left wheel. After a few moments he taxis back to the transient parking and gets out. I walk over and look at the right wing. The fiberglass tip is torn at the rear for about 6 inches or so and the rear tip of the aileron was crushed/bent (looked like it was wood under the cloth).

About 15 minutes later, now in FBO, I hear his engine startup. He decided to fly his no damaged plane home. He almost lost it right after take-off. Pulled up too hard and a gust came up and he nearly stalled. I do hope he made it home alright.

No problems for us. We decided to fly low (500 feet off the ground for the 35 minute trip through the Owens Valley.

Dave

[masraum]

crazy or ballsy or stupid or a combination of the above.

I wonder if he's just flown so much that he's experienced everything so nothing fazes him or if he's one of those numbnuts that you end up hearing about on the news.

Hopefully he's the first type.

[slodave]

I think the fact that the plane was a large bush plane helped prevent him from tipping over. The large fixed gear kept the prop away from the ground - especially the dirt patches. A smaller tail dragger, like a Piper Cub, probably would have wrecked.

[BlueSideUp]

Did he return to parking so he could change his pants?

Sounds pretty scary. I've never personally seen an airplane crash but I'd say you were close to seeing one.

[gostraight]

wow... That's crazy. For the first part of the story I almost forgot how terrified I am of heights and small planes and wishing I was there.... But then again If I was there after the incident I'd be renting a car and drive home...

Were you guys @ the Fox late on Sunday?.. I was hung-over till today.

[slodave]

Originally posted by gostraight
wow... That's crazy. For the first part of the story I almost forgot how terrified I am of heights and small planes and wishing I was there.... But then again If I was there after the incident I'd be renting a car and drive home...

Were you guys @ the Fox late on Sunday?.. I was hung-over till today.

I don't like flying commercially. I know the stats say commercial flying is statistically safer, but....

I left around 5 Sunday.

Dave

[Joeaksa]

Older wood and fabric planes are no different in the hands of a good pilot. If you guys were able to take off in your plane, any other plane should have been able to do the same thing. Just look at the bush planes in Alaska to prove this.

Difference is experience level and how comfortable he was with the conditions. Clearly he was not as comfortable and he needed to wait until the conditions were more to his liking. Any idea what kind of plane it was?

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Older wood and fabric planes are no different in the hands of a good pilot. If you guys were able to take off in your plane, any other plane should have been able to do the same thing. Just look at the bush planes in Alaska to prove this.

Difference is experience level and how comfortable he was with the conditions. Clearly he was not as comfortable and he needed to wait until the conditions were more to his liking. what

+1

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Jesus H. Christ. . .

I used to fly into MMH almost every day - I used to fly a route for Ameriflight in a Piper Lance that went from Burbank to Inyokern to Bishop and ultimately to Mammoth, laying over there all day and then back in the afternoon.

That airport is an absolute widowmaker for stupid pilots - between the density altitude issues, the ripping crosswinds out of the south, the weather that can blow in on a moment's notice, the potential icing issues and the terrain, you better bring your "A" game up there. If I had a buck for all the stupid schit I saw up there I'd be rich. That guy is gonna' end up missing or in a hillside somewhere - those mountains are not anything to screw around with.

Boy, the stories I could tell about Mammoth. . . Try taking off there at night sometime with no moon or a high overcast and a stiff crosswind out of the south. That'll put some seat cushion up your sphincter the first few times you do it.

[slodave]

Joe: I have no idea what the plane was. It said Bush Plane on the tail and had what looked like a pine tree painted on it, but maybe that was just tail art. The leading edge was movable for STOL. My dad has a Bonanza B36TC. The guys plane was bigger than ours.

Jeff: We saw a crash last year up there. There were a couple of Ameriflight guys next to us during yesterdays fun. They even thought the guy was nuts.

[BlueSideUp]

It's not wood but it does have leading edge slats. Was it a Wilga? I'm sure you'd remember something this ugly!



Jeff- I used to fly into Inyokern all the time, that place was no picnic either, especially with China Lake's restricted area right next door. Circling around with the winds out of the south was always exciting.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

True that. . . Actually that entire route was pretty challenging at times. Beautiful and serene some days, an absolute white-knuckle ride other days. The mountain wave turbulence could get so bad in the Owens Valley it'd blow your mind. There was one day in particular I remember there was myself in the Lance at that time, another company guy in a Beech 99 (went from Ontario to Bishop to Tonopah) and a Pac-Valley guy (FedEx) in a Caravan that ALL were getting the crap kicked out of us (we'd all chat on air-to-air routinely). We tried going low, down around 500', we tried going high, we tried tucking in close against the foothills, we tried going closer to the opposite side of the valley - nothing. There was no escaping the turbulence. I swear by the time we all got to Bishop (it so happened our schedules all put us in there around the same time) we were all sick as dogs. And we were all experienced professional pilots. The Pac-Valley guy had literally puked. When I got back to Burbank that afternoon, I found three rivets popped on the wing skin panels. It was that bad.

There have been a couple of times Inyokern got real interesting. One time I remember someone calling for a weather advisory on the CTAF and the guy on the ground saying "wind out of the east at estimated greater than 40 knots". The pilot inquired as to why it was "estimated" and the guy replied "well, that's what it looked like before the windsock left the pole".

[BlueSideUp]

That's a day I wouldn't want to try flying! I was flying a Brasilia in there and due to the military airspace we were required to follow the GPS approach even in VFR conditions. Even if we were getting the crap kicked out of us we couldn't deviate. Luckily I never ran into any of the severe stuff.

[Jim727]

The guy's bucking for a Darwin award. Hope he's alone next time he tries.

Taking off in those conditions with a known flight control problem is just plain stoopid.

[slodave]

Originally posted by Jim727
The guy's bucking for a Darwin award. Hope he's alone next time he tries.

Taking off in those conditions with a known flight control problem is just plain stoopid.

He was alone.

BlueSideUp: That is ugly! Nope, not it.

Jeff: We ran into the Sierra Wave big time last year. We actually were blown a couple of miles into China Lake. Nothing happened, but we in such a down draft, that auto-pilot was holding the nose up at about 20 degrees trying to keep the plane level. Airspeed dropped to above stall and when we tried to level the nose, the plane dropped like a rock. Finally had to add more power and we flew west over the Sierra's to get out of the wave. Not a fun flight.

[450knotOffice]

Dave, in 12,000 hours I've never flown into the Owens Valley (and I don't think I want to either). I've heard the horror stories from friends who used to fly for AmFlight. Scary stuff.

I have a mental image of the plane you are talking about. I'm trying to find it on the 'net.

[450knotOffice]

Helio-Courier maybe?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Trust me - if the wind is forecast to be 20 knots or greater out of the west at altitude, avoid the Owens Valley. It's gonna' be a stomach-churner.

[slodave]

Originally posted by 450knotOffice
Helio-Courier maybe?

Hmm, that may be it. Close to that anyway.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Those Helio-Cours are amazing planes - tanks. Lots of Alaska "bush pilot" types swear by 'em. Not that I'm justifying what that guy did, but it would certainly explain a lot. . .