Plane Ditching

[chuckar101]

  :DYeah your right these are just normal ducks, never seen a turboduck aroung here.

[YawningMan]

Rofl!  TurboMallard is beginning to sound like a superhero in the world of Roost Air!

"It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's...  True!"

[tundra_flier]

Now here's a scary thought for you:  You land on a lake during the winter on skis.  The lake looks safe.....then just as you shut the engine down, the plane goes through the ice.....

Oh yes, I had heard of that scenario before. I've heard advice in an article where a pilot suggested that it's a good idea to make several runs over the landing area, making passes where you run the skis over the lake, allowing a little more weight at a time and checking for signs of stress until you can let the whole weight of the aircraft down.

You, surprizingly, I've never heard of a fatality from that.  I'd think just combination of cold and wet would result in a few fatalies.  Anyone else hear of any?  I'm wondering if it generally happens pretty slowly?

Phil

[TheSoccerMom]

HA HA, all I have heard was a FUNNY story about a newbie kid flying his first Alaska job....  had to go to a bunch of cabins on several lakes, in the winter...  on skis.

He flew the route with the boss, and did okay, so they turned him loose on another route and said BYE.   

He said all went well until he landed on what looked like an ice-covered lake, with a "thin layer" of snow, and as he got out of the plane, he heard the cracks and, well, it sank -- but only up to the wings!!  The weight was distributed such that the wings were holding the plane right there -- it wasn't sinking out of sight, but he was standing there on his FIRST DAY of work, looking at the TOPS of the wings of his boss' airplane.  Down there by his....  boots!!   

So, being a bright boy from Montana, he figured if it just sank, it would be insured....  right?!? 

So....  since this would all work out a whole lot better if it just disappeared, he did what any smart ("CHUCK, IS THAT YOU?!?")  pilot would do -- he started jumping up and down on the tops of the wings, hoping to give it that last good shove to push it out of sight, into the lake, once and for all.  The boss would get his money, he would still have a job....  YEAH.   

Imagine his GREAT chagrin when he heard an approaching airplane, its engine sound steadily growing across the expanse of the lake, and realized, as it buzzed right over him, that it was......  HIS BOSS, "checking up on the new kid"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

He was fired (and at that very moment!!), but he ended up spending at least 45+ years in aviation, with an outstanding record, and was one helluva pilot.  He never lost his sense of humor and always said "It still works out when you get fired....  it did for me!!"