BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...

Subject: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: gnu
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 03:21 PM

Someone told me about an incident, which I shall let them relate if they care to do so.... and I replied with this, all of which happened in Labrador some 30 years ago. (Yeah, it IS like the scar scene from Jaws, innit?) Tell us your tales, 'Catters!

Here is my reply....

Oh my!!! Scarey stuff.

I nearly was killed BY a chopper... walked toward the tail rotor and just happened to see the pilot frantically waving at me to go the the other way... one more step and I would have been crow meat.

In an Otter : Nearly overturned at the end of taxi in the wind a mile offshore in water about 35F. Nearly crashed in a canyon as the plane was overloaded and couldn't climb with the tail wind. Nearly crashed when we hit water after getting up 20 feet... another overload.

In a Beaver : Flown into a lake and dropped near a fishing cabin. two morings later, we were in the water up to our necks as the forest fire was heading our way. The Beaver could not get near us due to the darft of the fire and we had to swim about 60 yards. But what REALLY pissed me off is that the rudder cables broke when we landed in Wabush and we ended up smacking into the shore of the lake... the cables were CLOTHESLINES from the local hardware store. I worked for Transport Canada - Air Division and guess ***CENSORED for the general public***

If God had wanted us to fly, eh? >;-)

g

PS.... When the cables broke and we were heading into the shore, the young lad on the dock knew he had to get a line to us. Thinking quickly, he slung a rope over his head and should, ran down the dock at great speed, lept into the air as if he was Mark Spitz, swam even faster, and reached the Beaver just in time... to hear the pilot ask, "Wha da fook good is dat gonna do?" The other end was not tied to the dock.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 07:33 PM

etc.?? You want land vehicle stories too? This will be a LONG thread.

I'll wait and see.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: gnu
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 07:42 PM

Hey, if you got a good one, cut it loose.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 07:50 PM

Somebody please remind me any time it looks like I might be sharing the same plane, bus, oxcart or ski lift as gnu that it isn't that much harder to walk.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 07:50 PM

Driving to a swimming place (sand pit in the boondocks) with 2 friends when I was in high school. Gary was driving. Gary drove fast. Car ahead of us on shoulder of 2-lane road. Another car approaching from opposite direction. Gary was not slowing down...and I was about to s**t.
Gary says..."Hey, that car's not MOVING!", and simultaneously whips the wheel left, then right,...around the stopped car as approaching car swerves almost into ditch! It all took about 6 seconds, and we were sailing onward, never slowing for a moment. That was the last time I rode with Gary.

Last I heard of Gary, he was flying jets for the Navy.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Oct 09 - 08:00 PM

One year ago, driving from Wash DC to Baltimore to pick up my son at college, I got to the Baltimore beltway (huge road circling general area).
It was cold and 'slightly' icy-wet. I was tooling along in relatively moderate traffic at maybe 55 MPH in center lane. Suddenly a movement to my left and slightly ahead of me in far left lane....and this kid goes swerving and spinning IN FRONT of me towards the right! He missed me by about 20 ft. and spun about 4 times, ending facing backwards in far breakdown lane. He never hit a thing....

After picking up my son, we headed back, and that car was still there, surrounded by 3-4 police cars. I never did learn what happened to him...his car looked uninjured...but who knows....

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Peace
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 05:21 PM

Going into Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories: Plane we were on was turning to land. We hit dead air and dropped about 100'. Wouldn't have been a problem but we were only about 150' off the ground at that point. I cleaned my shorts later.

Single engine Cessna working like hell to get over a mountain range near Fort Good Hope in the Northwest Territories. Engine stalled out at the top. Pilot was able to clear the 'rim' of the mountain saddle with what looked to me like about two coats of paint to spare. We ended up diving and he did something with the prop which caused the engine to restart as we dove toward the ground. I cleaned my shorts later.

When I was young and foolish(er than I am now) I walked out on the tarmac and went between two props that overlapped. The pilot saw me just as he was reaching to start the engines. A stewardess (that's what female flight attendants were called then) met me at the top of the stairs. She was white as a sheet. She told me how close I came to being food for crows (as Gnu put it). I cleaned my shorts later.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: gnu
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 05:24 PM

Senior's Day on Monday at Zellers, Peace. But some new shorts, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Peace
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 05:25 PM

BTW, once more on Mudcat I wish to compliment the FotL company.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: gnu
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 05:29 PM

I prefer Hanes. FOTL has a fly built for a fly. I Am Irish.

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 06:30 PM

Ahhhhhh, plane crashes!!!

Well, I happened to get a kick out o' mine... Of course me and my buddy got in alot of trouble for breakin' my dad's best friends Cub in half but, hey, we were 16 years old and 16 year olds look at things kinda differnt than growed ups...

But back to the stall that Brucie went thru... Engines rarely just quit on ya' but all pilots have to learn and relearn stallin' engines and restarting them by dropping the nose down which causes the prop to spin quick enough to restart most engines so...

Now stallin' small planes can be somewhat disconcerting if you ain't been thru that so my brother used to love to do it when we were flyin' just to try to scare me... Yeah right, bro...

So we were heading down to Nags Head about 20 years ago in a 210 Cesna Turbo... The ceiling was 2000 feet so we never got it up high enough to use the turbo... Now stalling small planes, like I said is disconcerting... They rattle and shudder and then once you get under the stall speed theres a loud warning bell.. So my brother (licensed pilot) gave me (unlicensed pilot) a course heading and said he was going to take a little nap... Hey, what was I to do??? So waited until he nodded off, pulled back on the yoke and put a little scare into him... Boy, was he ever pissed...

Too bad, Stevie... Don't mess with yer ol' hillbilly brother...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Near crash incidents on planes, etc...
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 09 - 09:50 PM

We were flying from DC to Cleveland and had a short stop in Pittsburgh. However -- the pilot came on and told us that the front landing gear wasn't locking in place and this could cause some small problems if we landed. He flew around for about three hours to dump fuel and then took 'er in -- when the wheels hit concrete he was in reverse thrust and flaps full down, with firetrucks pacing us along side. Now comes the unbelievable part, but I was on the damned plane: the pilot kept the nose up until he gently dropped it into the back of a pickup truck ahead of the plane!!

We overnighted in Pburgh and flew to Cleveland the next day.

But then...

We were flying from DC to Cleveland, direct. Cleveland was socked in with about four inches of ice on the runways. The pilot told us to hold on and he must have had that plane doing 10 mph within two seconds of the wheels touching ground. The passengers applauded and the ATCs closed the Cleveland Airport.

And there's this story from my Army days:

My driver missed stopping at a T-junction and drove about fifty feet into a minefield before he stopped. This is not a good thing to do, and you can quote me on that. Being at the time a) a sergeant and responsible for the driver and and six guys in the back and b) young and stupid, I crawled out of the "shotgun" seat, into the back of the truck (the canvas was off because it was hot), and lowered myself into the tracks the truck had made going in. Working under the assumption that if I walked in the truck tracks I wouldn't be blown up, I ground-guided the truck back onto the road by having it back in its own tracks as well. The driver bought the drinks that night.