The Mother Lode

[HS-748 2A]

Does anybody remember the 1982 movie, "The Mother Load" with Charlton Heston?

Remember the Beaver crash?

It was a real crash and an accidental one at that.

Art Scholl at the helm, landed too nose-low. It was suposed to be a just a 'rough' landing. It turned into quite the cock-up.

Because of the great footage they had though, they wrote it into the script.

Anyhow, it comes to mind with the discussion of C-GAQW.

The Mother Lode Beaver went through some extreme gyrations and came through with alot less damage than AQW.

Goes to show two things - How tough the old Beaver is, and how hard AQW hit the water.

Couple questions for the floor:

- Does anybody know which Beaver that was in Mother Lode? (Registration and who it belonged to)
- And, does anybody know if there's a link to that crash sequence on line? It really is something to see.

'48

[BibleMonkey]

Your post got me interested in this Movie, so I googled around.

Looks like a good movie. The studio went bankrupt, sold the Movie rights to

One my favorite all-time movies as well. If you're serious about lobbying to get this on DVD (and by extension HD disc), apparently the rights were purchased from Agamemnon Films by Odyssey Entertainment Ltd. in 2004. Haven't seen much of a way to contact them in the past, but I recently came across the following contact info

Odyssey Entertainment Ltd.
12 St. James's Square
London SW1Y 4RB, England
Tel: +44 (0)20 7153 3596
Fax: +44 (0)20 7153 3597
sales@odyssey-entertainment.co.uk

-no dvd currently available of the movie, looks like. Can get a vhs tape.

Plane was-according to this guy-built for Canadian Military, rebuilt after movie crash, ended up winning sun'n fun 2000 in Florida,-

[url=http://www.ssrfanatic.com/forum/f6/1952 ... ver-30376/[/url] Beaver represents one of the most beloved airplanes ever designed. Produced by the deHavilland Aircraft Corp of Canada between 1947 and 1961, the Beaver was originally designed as a military utility aircraft for the harsh operations of the Canadian Air Force in the north country of Canada.

Today, the Beaver remains the workhorse of Alaska and the Canadian north with some 800 aircraft surviving of the original 1657 built. It is the workplane of choice in Alaska and Canada as it can take off and land in less than 650 feet of rough track. Capable of work in and out of extremely short rough airstrips, or commonly on floats in remote water estuaries, the Beaver can carry extraordinary loads into and out of the roughest most remote areas of the earth.

It's all metal construction and legendary Pratt & Whitney 985-14B radial engine make it the aerial pickup truck of the north and truly one of the great working planes every built. N323RS represents one of the finest remaining examples of the deHavilland DHC-2 Beaver. A 1952 model built for the Canadian military, it was featured in the film MOTHER LODE starring Charlton Heston and Kim Bassinger. While filming on location in northern British Columbia, this aircraft was crashed on landing on floats in a north country lake with the cameras rolling.

The crash was sufficiently spectacular that the film was revised to write the crash into the story line. Subsequently, the aircraft was totally rebuilt from the frame up and received a key modification in the process - the Baron STOL (short take off and landing) kit. This modification, encompassing new wing struts, a leading edge cuff, drooped wing tips, and wing fences, remarkably improves the slow flight handling, takeoff and landing characteristics of this already legendary airframe.

We've flown this aircraft well under 40 knots without stalling it. The aircraft was transferred to the United States registry in 1995 and had all new avionics installed in San Diego. With a little over 500 hours since this total frame up restoration, N323RS has been lovingly cared for without a night outside of the hangar and remains in the pristine condition it was in when winning the EAA Sun'n'Fun award in 2000 at Lakeland Florida.

This aircraft was featured in the August 2002 issue of AOPA Pilot Magazine and was the July photo aircraft in the 2004 AOPA Calendar. It remains the Beaver example photo on the AOPA web site in the photo gallery area.

As such, N323RS represents one of the finest, award winning examples of the DHC-2 Beaver in restored condition and has been entirely a recreational plane for those few pilots who wanted the very best Beaver in the world. For the past six years, N323RS has been part of the private collection of Legend Airways of Colorado.

It has just finished an annual inspection, including the five year prop AD in August 2006. It has a total aircraft time of 8427 hrs with 524 hours since the complete frame up restoration and overhaul. It is currently available for inspection at Cape Girardeau, Missouri (KCGI).

Now I'm going to try to track down that movie-thanks for the tip.

[mattedfred]

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.s ... entry=true

and it may be for sale

http://www.legendairways.com/Aircraft/N323RS.cfm

http://www.dhc-2.com/id181.htm

it looks like Tradewinds Aviation Ltd., BC owned it when the left wing struck water after touchdown at Lake Lovelywater, BC., 16/09/81, aircraft damaged but probably repaired

[Blakey]

A Canadian Air Force Beaver. As in DHC-2 Beaver? I'd like to see a picture of that. We had lots of Otters but no Beavers.

[MUSKEG]

If my memory serves me correctly the military did infact fly beavers. Way back in the 80's there were 2 maybe three sitting in the grass at CYEG. Olive green and if I remember one had approx. 2000 hrs tt. At the time I thought who would wanna fly junk like that when you can fly a snazzy twin comanche. If I had bought them I could retire now. Life is a tough master.

[Blakey]

If my memory serves me correctly the military did infact fly beavers. Way back in the 80's there were 2 maybe three sitting in the grass at CYEG. Olive green and if I remember one had approx. 2000 hrs tt. At the time I thought who would wanna fly junk like that when you can fly a snazzy twin comanche. If I had bought them I could retire now. Life is a tough master.

Your memory is playing you false. Otters - Yes, Twin Otters - Yes, Norseman - Yes, Fairchilds - Yes, Beavers - never.

It does seem a shame though. However, the US military did buy the lion's share of all Beavers produced but they were all (Except the one they still have at Edwards of course.) gone by the mid 80's.

[HS-748 2A]

C-GHCT

Sans a bunch of Holly Wood 'make-up',this is about how she looked at the time of the accident. Thanks Matted Fred. Too bad, looks like we're not going to get to see it, (the crash), on line...

'48

[HS-748 2A]

BTW, Blakely is certainly correct on that. The RCAF never operated any Beavers. Suprising, really.

[MUSKEG]

Ok I know when I'm outgunned. I still stand on the fact that those beavers were there. I wonder if maybe they were imports from the us. Somebody on here will remember. Gunther could very well have been doing the itran.

[Extradriver]

There is a clip of the accident on Transport Canada's Pilot Decision Making CD, the video is called "It's Your Decision".

If its the same one you are talking about, Yellow Beaver making a glassy water landing, things get a little squirlly and it ends up upside down with a broken wing.

[mattedfred]

i remember watching the movie years ago. i don't recall kim bassinger being in it though. someone must have a copy they can upload a clip from.

[HS-748 2A]

someone must have a copy they can upload a clip from.

Well, I'm not much of a techno geek - can somebody out there with the know-how figure this one out and upload it for us?

I wonder if Widow has seen it?

[Widow]

Yeah, FYI, look at the evidence please. Not even the TSB thinks AQW hit the water "damned hard".

If you are going to keep propagating that AQW hit "damned hard", please provide your evidence.

[MUSKEG]

This thread must be incredibly hard for you Widow. A little sensitivety would be nice. I feel bad for you. Why are some people such oafs?

[Cat Driver]

Actually these pictures and comments should give widow a better opportunity to try and find out why the airplane sank.....if it hit hard enough to destroy the airplane to the point it sank very fast why were there no bodies inside the airplane?

[Widow]

I already know the answer to that Cat. It didn't hit hard. Most of the damage to the aircraft happened in the rollover sequence after the float strut broke. Further, "the engine mounts were in place and showed no impact damage", according to the TSB. Not only did everyone get out, but I remind you all, DAVE WAS UNINJURED and survived for HOURS afterward.

[MUSKEG]

I think we all have a pretty good idea on that Cat. It's the speculation verbalized that's unfair. Just commenting that it still must hurt and until one has been in that position we have no idea how much.

[Siddley Hawker]

Widow I meant no disrespect nor did I wish to cause you any grief.

I thought of that picture of a glassy water landing gone wrong when someone posed the question on just how tough a Beaver is. I'll have a mod remove the post.

Would one of the mods please remove my post? Thank you.

[Widow]

Not a problem Sidley. As flyinthebug pointed out on the other thread, I may have a different perception of what a "hard landing" means.

[Intentional Left Bank]

Here is the video clip from Mother Lode.

[albertdesalvo]

Wow! That was Art Scholl?

[HS-748 2A]

Wow - wholey $^%$&*!

Pull the thread then;

Damn it; - of course this would deteriorate into mud-slinging.

I should have known better. Sorry I ever brought it up.

The incredible clip sequence here of C-GHCT is not of a Beaver 'hitting hard', but of a float plane, landed at the incorrect attitude and the catostrophic result.

The airplane goes through some amazing wing-digging and ultimate flip over and the airplane is not damaged like you might expect it could have been considering the severity of the accident.
Nor are the floats, more importantly.

The 'gyrations' were damn hard -or severe or whatever you'd like to call them.

Perhaps there are no analogies to to be drawn to AWQ. By the same token, maybe there are and maybe it's worth looking at objectively.

If that's not the case, lets pull the thread.

ILB, thanks for the clip, I hadn't seen it in 20 years. Good research on that one.

Widow, my apologies. I didn't intend this as a slight to you.

'48

[albertdesalvo]

How do you know it was Art Scholl flying that plane? The imdb page for this movie lists Scholl as a "camera pilot". There are two other guys listed as "stunt pilots". Isn't it more likely it was one of them flying, rather than the camera pilot?

[Widow]

Widow, my apologies. I didn't intend this as a slight to you.

And my apologies for snapping.

I haven't seen the movie, but it's been referred to me at least a dozen times.

[pontius]

Muskeg wrote............



"Ok I know when I'm outgunned. I still stand on the fact that those beavers were there. I wonder if maybe they were imports from the us. Somebody on here will remember."



The British Army operated Beavers out of Suffield, Alberta. They leased the training area there and could be seen all over Alberta- helicopters, too. The colour you mentioned would fit, if I remember correctly.