Northern Wilderness Otter in Dryden.

[chicken hawk]

http://www.ckdr.net/news/1499968308/air ... hap-dryden

[crazyaviator]

Hmmm, Nowhere in NW Ontario he could have set her down for 20 min to wait out the storm? Must be ice on the lakes still ! OR, Maybe he wasn't checked out in his parallel parking yet,,,,,,

[GyvAir]

Hmmm, Nowhere in NW Ontario he could have set her down for 20 min to wait out the storm?

Isn't that exactly what he did?

[Maynard]

Hmmm, Nowhere in NW Ontario he could have set her down for 20 min to wait out the storm? Must be ice on the lakes still ! OR, Maybe he wasn't checked out in his parallel parking yet,,,,,,

What a dumb idiotic post.

[Cat Driver]

What a dumb idiotic post.

Is it possible that poster actually fly's commercially?

Nothing will surprise me anymore.

[trey kule]

You don't have to have a license, be able to fly, have a stick of common sense, or even bother to read to push the post button.

Looks to me that it was a bit of bad luck getting the float under the dock.

Despite the crazies who post, sometimes accidents do happen that do not require finger point
ing or blame.

[Cat Driver]

I can't think of a better choice to land and dock to wait out a thunderstorm with such an expensive machine than a float plane base.

[Cat Driver]

I can't think of a better choice to land and dock to wait out a thunderstorm with such an expensive machine than a float plane dock.

[crazyaviator]

According to the article. He put it down. AHEAD of an advancing storm. And came to the dock in HIGH WINDS I have over 1500 hrs flying floats. Mostly commercial. And in NW ont. Without a prang. I have landed away from the storm. And waited. Have you ?

[crazyaviator]

Duh! Cat. He didn't get there without damage because of the high winds from the approaching storm. I expected a better answer from you than to suck up to your buddies !

[Cat Driver]

Code: Select all

 I have over 1500 hrs flying floats. Mostly commercial. And in NW ont. Without a prang. I have landed away from the storm. And waited. Have you ? 

Actually I have thousands of hours more time flying floats than you do and also without damaging them.

In fact I was flying floats in NW Ont decades before you were born.
.

[GyvAir]

Nowhere in the article does it say that it happened while docking. Nor does it say anything about the size or number of storms in the area. For all we know, a tornado could have passed right over the aircraft after it was tied. It certainly doesn't give any information about what other choices the crew had available to them at the time.

[crazyaviator]

Here is the Dryden article:

A Turbo-Otter bushplane landed ahead of a thunderstorm in Dryden Saturday afternoon but suffered a mishap in strong winds regardless.

The pilot of Turbo-Otter, owned by Northern Wilderness Outfitters of Fort Frances, saw thunderstorms advancing into the area while flying over Dryden and elected to take refuge at Government Dock before the storm him.

In the high winds, one float of the aircraft was jammed under the dock and the plane was pushed up into a near 45 degree angle, where it remained stuck after the storm passed.

There were no injuries and crews are working on releasing the aircfraft, although it is not known if it will be able to fly

Do you see a tornado mentioned?
Dont you think a tornado would be mentioned IF it happened???

In the high winds, one float of the aircraft was jammed under the dock and the plane was pushed up into a near 45 degree angle, where it remained stuck after the storm passed.

Can you read Gyvair?

[crazyaviator]

Shit happens ! I get it, WE all make mistakes! I am not the investigator here. I am just commenting on the options and the possibilities ( Just like the AC "landing" short of the runway and how the sanitized report did NOT answer MANY questions !)
I would imagine turbine otter pilots in NW ont. have at least 3 yrs and 2000 + hrs on floats in the area so it isn't a lack of experience,,, It MAY be a lack of good judgment though and we ALL can do that !!!

[Cat Driver]

Maybe the high winds did that " after " it was tied to the dock?

[crazyaviator]

Maybe the high winds did that " after " it was tied to the dock?

You know as well as I do that IF the floatplane was properly tied at a government floatplane dock, It would NOT end up that way !!! You are scratching at the bottom of the barrel to defend the pilot/company/aviation/etc...

[CpnCrunch]

You know as well as I do that IF the floatplane was properly tied at a government floatplane dock, It would NOT end up that way !!! You are scratching at the bottom of the barrel to defend the pilot/company/aviation/etc...

You leave your floatplane tied to the dock in 43kt gusts and it isn't damaged?

[PilotDAR]

You know as well as I do that IF the floatplane was properly tied at a government floatplane dock, It would NOT end up that way !!! You are scratching at the bottom of the barrel to defend the pilot/company/aviation/etc...

I guess I'm on the other side of this. I have flown toward approaching storms, and realized that being tied on the surface would be much more safe, than any other choice I could imagine - so far, so good for me with that!

From the photo, I can imagine a plane wisely tied to a dock, which was then blown so hard by storm winds, that a float was driven under the dock. Had that pilot been flying my plane, I'd be giving them a pad on the back for making, then executing the better decision. An aircraft was damaged by weather, it did not crash while being foolishly pushed into a storm.

In my opinion, nothing is gained by criticizing a fairly good outcome, when the pilot actually did what they should have done, rather than any number of things they should not have attempted. Outcome not ideal, but very much better than it could have been.

So count me among those defending this pilot for making the better choice in a difficult situation, the company for training that pilot to do that, and supporting that decision, and aviation being populated with pilots who see the better outcome in a difficult situation, and be willing to comment favourably about a good decision.

This event was a bit sad, but it was not stupid, nor negligent.

To drift this thread, I see endless videos on Youtube and Facebook (until I ended my participation with some groups there) of eager pilots doing really dumb things in planes - indefensibly pointless stupid risk taking. Airplanes being badly damaged with no benefit anywhere to be seen. Un prepared pilots, exposing themselves to injury for nothing more than a show off thrill. In the context of that, I feel no need to judge or criticize a pilot who made the best decision, even if the outcome was not ideal.

[Cat Driver]

Of all the float planes I have flown and that is so many I can't remember them all the single engine Otter is the most difficult to safely tie to a dock period.

And it also was a real bitch to try and dock in a wind and then jump out and tie the thing to the dock before it dragged you off the dock.

[crazyaviator]

Are you folks not wise enough to fly AWAY from the storm,,,left or right OR even behind it and tie down or EVEN beach it in calm conditions for an hour till the storm passes ? I perceive that pilots are like Police officers , always defending their own regardless of the FACTS! I have seen some pretty f_____g big storms and have steered well clear and have landed NOT in front of them but away and waited. Am i judged for those things