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There's a very old saying, "when all else fails......punt". Maybe this
is what that old saying was referring to.
If I ever find myself up a canyon without a paddle I'd try
'anything' as a last resort!
Bob Saville
PS.....I had a good friend out here in Oregon (back in the mid '80's)
who was crazy in a car and even crazier on a motorcycle. I made the
mistake of getting him interested in airplanes. He had 'big bucks' so
when he went up for an introductory flight and fell in love with flying
he bought his own plane and started taking lessons. In about a year or
less he had made lots of progress and now had several ratings including
multi-engine seaplane.
He got the franchise from 'Lake' to be the Oregon distributor. I
don't know the model designations off hand, but he had a twin engine
four place of his own. When Lake came out with a new model 6 place
version he went to Florida (I think) and bought a new one and flew it
back to Oregon as his demonstrator and personal plane.
Shortly after he got home with it, I was invited along with another
couple, to go on a Sunday morning introductory ride with him and his
wife in their new plane and fly 'right seat'. I had a previous
commitment so I was unable to go along but was supposed to go at a later
date.
That morning, he was demonstrating his new plane at a nearby
reservoir at a very low altitude and flying up the winding canyons,
barely skiming the water (I mentioned he was crazy, didn't I?). All of a
sudden he rounded a bend and guess what.....It was a blind canyon and
there he was 'boxed in'. No way out but UP!!!
He had neither the altitude nor the speed to clear the ground so he
tried to do a 180 in this narrow canyon and, yes, you guessed it. He
stalled, crashed, and killed all four who were aboard. I was supposed to
be the other 'extra-weight' in that plane that morning.
Now, I'm not going to say that if I had gone with him I could have
talked him out of doing this 'stupid' flying, nor am I going to say that
he 'might' have done anything differently if I had been along. I'm only
going to say that what he did was careless, reckless, and yes,
'stupid'. I'm obviously very sorry that it happened but I'm also very
glad that I wasn't along with them that beautiful Sunday morning in May,
several years ago.
He made 'several' mistakes, to bad it cost him so many lives. There
was a large graveside service for him as he had lot's of friends. I flew
over, 'low and slow', and wagged my wings to him in a final farewell.
I shall never forget that day.
Bob Saville
BTW, This is a true story. I didn't make it up just to argue with
anyone about the pro's or con's of practicing these so called 'canyon
turns'. Just remembering.
"Goodbye, Larry and Kathy".
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
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