Winter flying

[Richard Flanders]

I heard about that incident John. Icing certainly not unlikely. It's been cold and wet with mixed rain and snow there. Had to be bad if that was the cause. My plane will fly just fine even when completely covered with ice to the point where I can't see out the windshield. You can get away with a lot.

[Big D]

I talked about this with a friend of mine who is probably one of the few private pilots I fly with, and iceing was his call. Apparently, the field they were trying to land at was not a good one, and was not a straight landing - required a 90 degree series,and perhaps contributed to the accumulation of ice, leading to the crash. I'm sure the NHTSB will spend a lot of time on this

[Richard Flanders]

Generally, by the time the NTSB gets an aircraft incident report out it's ancient history. A year or two for the final report is not unusual. The trick if you're interested is to get the N number of the plane so the final report is relatively easy to locate on the NTSB website.

[Richard Flanders]

I went back down to camp on the 14th to see if I could find a grouse I figured was living around a trailhead on the edge of the airstrip. I had a pretty good idea where to look for him and took snowshoes and my 24" PHE16 along. Took me less than 5 minutes to flush him from a roost along the trail. Didn't get a shot, but that was fine. It was a win-win day for me and the bird and I won't bother him again. I had figured out where hung out and had a good idea where to look for him and I was right - The bird was smart enough to flush soon enough that I had no shot, so we both won. It was a good hunt for me and I was happy to let him go and saluted him as he disappeared amongst the large spruce trees. I also found his roost and his grit mine, where he clearly spends a lot of time. His roost told a story. I think he started out back in under the tree then moved out into the open a bit more to get more sun as he snoozed, as the sun would be to the left/south in the picture and low in the sky. I've had them do that in my yard before; one moved twice as the sun moved across the sky. It was a very good day.

[Dean Romig]

Good spot for grit!





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[Richard Flanders]

Roger that. It's a unique spot there. It's a little overhang on a Cat pushpile along the edge of the airstrip consisting of spruce logs and sand/gravel/silt. The overhang prevents it from being buried by snow so it's an ideal spot year round. He won't be leaving that area anytime soon.

[Tom Flanigan]

My friends daughter crashed his Cesna 172 a couple of weeks ago. Luckily she walked away but the plane was totalled. The FAA is doing an investigation but I suspect, by the way the plane was loosing power, that her problem might been icing in the carburator. The accident might have been prevented if she thought to engage carb heat. She is only 15 years old.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Tom Flanigan

My friends daughter crashed his Cesna 172 a couple of weeks ago. Luckily she walked away but the plane was totalled. The FAA is doing an investigation but I suspect, by the way the plane was loosing power, that her problem might been icing in the carburator. The accident might have been prevented if she thought to engage carb heat. She is only 15 years old.

20 hours? Kinda young to be flying solo.... adult judgement plays a big part in getting out of critical situations. I get it that she walked away... that may have been her only chance. I’m sure she was trained in all sorrs of critical situations and when to apply carb heat is certainly one of them.

Lucky girl.






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[Tom Flanigan]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;322632]20 hours? Kinda young to be flying solo.... adult judgement plays a big part in getting out of critical situations. I get it that she walked away... that may have been her only chance. I’m sure she was trained in all sorrs of critical situations and when to apply carb heat is certainly one of them.

Lucky girl.


She is young, but she was well trained and was flying solo on a training flight.

She picked the only spot where she could have survived a crash, the sparse area under high tension wires surrounded by tall woods and hills. She kept her head and somehow got the failing plane under control enough to make the landing in a very daunting area. Seeing the crash area, I was amazed that she was able to land where she did. Her father, despite the airplane loss, is very proud of her and rightfully so.

Carb heat is something that could be forgotten by someone not reading what his engine is telling him. I was flying with a friend in a J-5 Cub and he was losing airspeed and responded with more throttle. I screamed at him carb heat and the problem went away.

As for her young age, it all depends, like guns, on the maturity of the individual. I started my son flying when he was 14. He never had an incident. The only incident I ever had was when I foolishly took off with an overloaded airplane. In retrospect, it was a very foolish thing to do. I ignored the basics and almost paid the ultimate price.

I’m hoping my friend will replace the 172 with a 182. It’s a much safer airplane to fly on our somewhat limited airstrip.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash but, as Richard mentions, it will be at least two years before we know anything definitive.




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[Richard Flanders]

Well, that's very unfortunate, but in pilot circles and based on the alternative, if she walked away from it, we call that "a good landing".