Page #12. Tales of an Old Aviator...The Big Chill

Post by **avcanada** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:20 pm

Author Tales of an Old Aviator...The Big Chill
EDO

Joined: Nov 06, 2001
Posts: 87 Posted: 2004-01-17 00:11
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They say you get a certain comfort factor with your wife. Calling from an airport s*itter. thats takes the cake - hope I NEVER get that comforatble!!!!

Duke - welcome back. I have never replied before but have missed your posts. Good luck

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-18 16:45
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1994

I had left my last job as Operations Manager of a company that I had started on behalf of a successful logging road contractor. Before I left I had been given a generous bonus which made it harder to resign.
She was worth it. Besides being pretty she had a house on the lake with a boatshed and dock.
I had been offered a job with a helicopter logging company that entailled establishing a fixed wing division with a corporate turboprop. Often the helicopters were as far away as Alaska and South to Montana on fire fighting duties so crew changes were challenging to say the least, let alone keeping up with spare parts and supplies to the hill crew.
In this, I was schooled and skilled. I had gained immeasurable experience running a charter company that was mainly tied to the logging industry. We had King Airs , Navajos and a Caravan on amphibious floats.
So I started looking around for a King Air which meant I had to be around the office lots. The office was located down by their sawmill which was right on the inlet into which logbooms are towed and secured.

It was ruled by Attilla The Hen.

She was the Operations Manager. Her rule was both vicious and brutally efficient.
On her, nothing worked. I tried oily charm , humour and even hard work occassionally.
But the friendly Bell 222 company pilot made the surroundings pleasant and occasionally I got to fly with him and get some stick time.
The company also had a Cessna 206 on amphibious floats split shifted by two pilots ; the Gambler and a wannabee porn star called ..
Attilla fell for it ... I made my presence obnoxious to her .... and she hissed "Go learn to fly the C206 .. or something ... "
I planned to just ride with the Gambler and get to know my way around so I would recognize the scenery from fifty feet as was pretty well ops normal in these here parts, especially now in winter.
My plan included dual instruction from the porn star as he was the best around but some how he was out of favour with Attilla the Hen .... mmmmmm ... I wonder ... does it have anything to do with the Cruella doll hanging by the neck from the compass?
So the plan was simple. The Gambler was to take of from the City airport and land at the sawmill dock which was only three minutes away, and pick me up for a trip "on the outside".... of Vancouver Island that is.
I sauntered down to the dock having just got off the phone that the Gambler had just taken off from the airport and indeed I could already see him. I walked across the cedar smelling bark mulch in a misty rain. I neared the dock and saw that a small tugboat approached towing a single boom... no problem.
There he is downwind already ... against the steep, dark green mountain backdrop.. so clear .. so clear I can even see his wheels.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-18 17:18
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My warm parka does nothing to ward off the inner chill deep within.
I reach for my cellphone , pulse quickening. Frantically I stab at the numbers ... Gambler! Pick it up for crise-sake ... you phoned me while taxiing ... Base leg. Heart pounding now ..I run towards the dock ... waving ... Gambler is looking at the tug ... yep ... I'm clear he thinks.
The wheels kiss .. then dig in with a splashy thump.. a half second later the nose wheels slam into the water, four momentary roostertails then in a watery blinding flash it upends onto its back with a loud hollow thump....resting now on the floats .... wheels protruding defiantly upwards.
I am already halfway to the office and shouted for an ambulance , RCMP and a boat but I see that the tug has unhitched the boom and steaming towards the floatplane.... Still no Gambler ...the tug crew is looking too .. I near the waters edge... and I see him ...b*bbing with the waves .. he's OK.

Well it turns out that there is a lesson here and that is that the Gambler DID indeed put the gear lever in the down position but because of a worn out limit switch that would not shut off
the hydraulic pump ,it had been the practice for the last few days to shut it off by pulling the circuit breaker.
A three minute flight? No checks ... Oh well.
If you have to do that while awaiting parts , then the circuit breaker should be flagged and the item put on the checklist.
But who reads checklists eh?
The Gambler never flew again and went back to his trailer in Vegas.

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-01-18 17:33 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-01-18 17:35 ]

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Cat Driver

Joined: Feb 15, 2003
Posts: 1194 Posted: 2004-01-18 17:20
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Duke:

Right on, Cruella had to be the worst...any truth you tried to add her to your trap line?

The porn star thing was not my fault... I was hovering a Hughes 300 on the ramp in Windsor Ontario one day, I had just returned from a spraying a local farmers field and had very low fuel and because I am so small it was a bit aft of C of G....

Anyhow I was thinking of something exciting to keep my manhood sticking far enough ahead to bring the C of G in limits and some movie people happened to see me....

That is how I got in the movies.

Cat Driver:

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-18 17:41
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Quote
"...any truth you tried to add her to your trap line? "

You had the dolly man .. you had her dolly.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-18 20:07
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So anyhow, we float her in closer to shore and pull her up by the prop hub , ever so slowly so as to let the tons of water slowly drain from the wings, tail and floats.
So I got to thinking. We are presently chartering King Airs and then float planes to get the crew and equipment to the helicopter hangar barge so why not one plane does all.
A Turbo Beaver on amphibious floats. So I got the nod from Attilla and indeed I found one owned by the Ontario government. It was that "Baby's First Shit" yellow colour and the maintainence was exemplarary. So I flew out to St Paul Minnesota, the home of Whipline Floats, with a check. I checked in to a motel for a week or so in order to learn how to operate the floats in salt water and to get some experience on type before going back across North America to British Columbia. After all , I only had five hours on floats as part of a bogus float rating.
I enjoyed watching my steed mount those floats and I wandered about. Out on the tarmac I saw an all white Pilatus Porter with a crudely taped N number so I wandered up to the leather jacketed pilot who was engrossed in his clip board. He was supposed to be doing some certification flights prior to these brand new airplanes going on floats.
"I've got some time on these " I mumbled to get his attention.
And get it I did. He hurried away and fetched b Whiplinger himself who quickly asked me to go for an hours flying with the test pilot for insurance reasons and besides, he was having trouble figuring power settings on approach. Even though I explained that I hadn't LOTS of experience (100 hours or so) and that was twenty years ago. They persisted. So I climbed into the left seat and the pilot checked the herc straps on the box in the back and climbed aboard.
Most things were familiar ... the awkward shelf , uncomfortable throttle position, legs wide apart on the pedals, comfortable stick position... I started and taxiied out and was douing checks when I reached up for the rotating flap lever while saying "watch your head" but it wasn't there. Wow! Electric flaps.
I purposfully did a steep take off and she flew wonderfully at slow speeds. After some steep turns I returned for landing with a fifteen hundred foot downwind just to show off, and I turned as soon as the threshold went by and started discing .. "Sit on yer hands" says I as the airplane entered "plummet" mode. The high whine even snarled more as I disced her some more and increased the plummet rate... I poled her around onto a short final and chickened out by applying a little power to flare and she squatted on just a few stripes down the runway.. then full reverse as she does her little squirm as airflow is sucked in the wrong direction past the rudder. I did a few circuits with him and went to the bar. We were in fine form, a mob of lying, drunken bullshitters when the pilot comes in after his flights. He exclaims to , "Wow! b ,what an airplane .. you should see what it can do .. and at 300 pounds over gross weight and at aft C of G too!"
I was dumbfounded.... I thought it was empty.
The box in the back looked so small ... YEAH! Full of lead ingots.

Anyhow it seems that it also had a Dash28 up front in place of the old Dash20.

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-01-18 20:14 ]

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tailwheel

Joined: Jan 18, 2004
Posts: 3 Posted: 2004-01-19 01:09
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Duke,

Had youever needed help climbing onto the wing of an old turkey after a night of too many moosehead and red ram oil.
In Sevogal or Boston Brook maybe?

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-19 01:49
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Most likely Boston Brook where we also imbibed in "Jonestown Coolaid" , a lethal brew that put many a strong aviator on their knees.
It all comes back ....
I think there were twelve Avengers at Boston Brook with one team comprising Woody and his mate Provenzano. They also did a fire eating trick.
Turns out that TBM pilot Provenzano went from Mark to Marcia a few years down the road.... must be painful. Woody was the one who, on take off out of Charlo, shed a prop blade that tore the engine from its mounts and it rolled down the runway after him on fire. I have pictures of this.

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tailwheel

Joined: Jan 18, 2004
Posts: 3 Posted: 2004-01-19 11:36
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Duke,
I've seen the pics of Woody and the firey episode. Did you ever fly with McKinnon or Wilkie?
I got a ride in tanker #3, sat on the hydraulic tank. When you mentioned above about all the turkeys starting up, I know what you mean it's an awsome rumble(the smell of all the oil and fuel-- awesome as well) It must feel good to say that you flew such an incredable bird!!!

tw

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Schooner69

Joined: Oct 18, 2001
Posts: 200
From: Atlantic Canada
Posted: 2004-01-19 14:45
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Duke: when were you in Boston Brook? I flew for the company which owned the strip and have spent a fair bit of time there.

Boston Brook and spray season. Listening to the single engine behemoths warm up at Oh-dark-thirty in the morning....nearest thing to heaven you can get!
_________________
FixedWing, GoldWing, FlingWing..Life is good!

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Jetman28

Joined: Jun 24, 2002
Posts: 41
From: Ontario
Posted: 2004-01-22 12:12
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bump

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-22 17:43
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Schooner
I was there in '77 and '79 I think. There was a Douglas A26 with a fire-bombing tank there owned by Irving but we thought the strip was a little tight for a '26. Airspray ended up buying it and it was the glass nose model that became Airspray Tanker 13.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-22 18:29
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St Paul Minnesota is not the prettiest of places in late winter and the chocolate coloured Mississippi does nothing to enhance its beauty but it sure is a fun river to brush up on one's float flying skills. After the company test pilot had flown the appropriate testing flights and a few adjustments were made I got him to give me a checkout.
He gave me forty five minutes of his time and told me to "learn" on my cross continent flight back to British Columbia. So armed with the maps, a compass and a credit card I headed West across the plains states and got to know my steed.

Bathed in sunshine I flew. Free of any airway or tower. If the airport had a tower , I never went there. Navigating was a breeze as railroads snaked their way from town to town and large watercourses fattened out into lakes and I did alight thereupon. Into South Dakota now ... and flatter ... and not so adorned with features to the mighty Oahe Resovoir. There too, I did alight, and floated around while having a lunch but more importantly, to take pictures of myself. AAAhhhh! The solitude. I lay on the comfortable flat topped float and bagged a few rays while I re-evaluated the haste with which I was expected to carry out this mission. ZZZZZzzz

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-22 19:17
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I awoke ... the silence was deafening.
I have a plan , thinks I and I decided to make the next leg up into the mountains while the weather was good and worry about the rest of the trip tomorrow. I chose a small town called Hot Springs which was south of the busstling Rapid City SD.Nestled by a large resovior it was about 3200 feet above sea level so I landed at the airport on wheels which was very easy.
However , on downwind , some words of advice were recalled. Always ask yourself , "Where am I landing , where are my wheels?". Cat Driver told me that.
It sounds simple , but you have to think about it. Checklists aren't enough.

Next day I skirted around the Edgemont MOA and flew towards the rising ground across the state line into Wyoming. I wanted to find a spot on the North Platte River where I could land ... just to say I'd done it and so I did ... at Glendo. Wow! The old dash twenty sure was sucking wind on take off at 5000 feet above sea level.
And westward .. even higher yet. Casper Wyoming is 5300 feet ASL.
I cruised above the high , rolling hills amazed at the private strips on cattle ranches and the spectacular surroundings. Always something to see.
By the time I got to the menacing 13,000 foot mountains west of Riverton they were draped in a crown of thorns , big black bags of thunder and lightning.... and its late winter. I had to waste my westing and fly straight north to Billings when I really wanted to go to Jackson Hole but couldn't find a way up through the ten thousand pass.
More to follow

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-22 21:31
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By flying north and paralelling the massive mountain chain only postponed the inevittable and I had to bust through sooner or later so I flew by Bozeman and Butte all of which are 5000 feet or above , very impressive , especially in a float plane. The lazy , relaxed flight over the high plains states was long forgotten in the turbulent, thumping, wallowing fight through some of the most impressive mountain scenery on the planet. I'd abandoned my desire to touch down on waterways that were laced with skittering winds dancing hitherto as any lake was at the mercy of the hammering downdrafts.
Until Couer D'Alane Idaho. I'd busted out of the mountains through the Mullins Pass and the country widens out to the south into the fruit growing Eden which is a basin containing Wenachie , Yakima and Walla Walla. But Couer D'Alene Lake was still breasted my brown hills and at the north end of the lake I burst upon the town just as a blue sky brightened my arrival. It was so beautiful that I didn't want to land . The floats hissed onto the azure lake as I kept her in the sweet spot with deft, maestro-like manipulating of power and in a wide arcing turn on the step I aimed towards the terminal and let her settle , awash, like a curtsy in front of the Queen.

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Tinpis

Joined: Jan 08, 2004
Posts: 7 Posted: 2004-01-23 04:36
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Ah... Butte Montana I guess you mean Duke..Do you remember a wonderful helo mechanic in Goroka by the name of Kirk Samsel?
He invited us all to Butte Montana.
By the way my initails are the same as treefrogs.

[ This Message was edited by: Tinpis on 2004-01-23 16:45 ]

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-25 14:28
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tinpis

I don'r emember a Kirk Samsell by name but could he be Thirsty 's (Bob Thurston) helicopter engineer? Thirsty used to fly a Bell G3B1 up Mt Otto every day.

Well Thirsty was a Canadian and years later he taught mountain courses at Okanagen Helicopters. I was lucky enough to run into him again in Canada and often flew him and other helicopter logging crews out of some amazing places in a King Air. Kwatna Bay comes to mind , and Kimsquit.

Thirsty died in his sleep aboard his newly purchased sailboat a few years back. The cause was CO2 poisoning due to a faulty heater.
And tinpis, I probably flew that Cessna 185 you're standing next to into unforgettable places like Marawaka and Menyamya.

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Jetman28

Joined: Jun 24, 2002
Posts: 41
From: Ontario
Posted: 2004-01-29 15:05
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bump

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-29 15:52
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Sorry for the delay in writing .... I'm spooked again.

Gadzooks! I couldn't feel better about life and am told I look good too, so today I ambled in to the Intravenous Chemotherapy ward to say hi to the nurses and blab away to some of the patients. They couldn't escape with all those tubes and things so I told them a few lies and fled. (I did get a few laughs though.)

And yet for me , the fight continues.

Third round .... down on points.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-29 16:13
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I guess you could say I was lucky to have such an opportunity to fly across North America in a Turbo Beaver. Well , I was in the right place at the right time .... standing by the dock at the sawmill when the 206 went over on its back.

Once again I would be in the right place at the right time.

In 1982 I took a whole year off and went aboard the mighty cruiseship Canberra (P&O Line) for a voyage from San Fransisco , Hawaii , Fiji , New Zealand , Australia. A twenty one day trip aboard a nine hundred foot orgasmatron.
I got a cheap last minute berth well below the waterline , seventeen hundred bucks if I remember.
It was the first voyage for her after release from the Royal Navy where she was commandeered to carry troops to the Falklands war.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-29 16:59
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The details of that voyage will be revealed at a later date.

As the ship steamed slowly through the heads into Sydney Harbour we were in awe as to the splendour that lay before us .... the sparkling blue water, the Opera House .. and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This peacefull moment was shatterd as three RAAF Mirage 3 fighters roared overhead as a salute to the ship's recent military service.
t day in the paper it was reported that the Captain "was not amused" because the ship was always on the lookout for Mirage fighters of the Argentinian Air Force during the Falkland Islands war.
So after a few hell-raising days in the city I phoned a friend who I had done my officer training with in the Army so he said to meet him at the Opera House as we were all to go on a harbour day trip on a sailboat.
So I wandered about in the sunshine doing a little birdwatching while I waited. There in the distance comes Randy with a group of seven or eight. The women veer off down to the boat with the food and bubblies and Randy and an older gentleman approach me.
It sure was good to see him as we had shared many nights laying in the mud during an ambush....
The older chap just listened for a while ... strange .. Randy didn't introduce him yet. We chatted. The man spoke.
He was shorter than I. A square determined jaw and strong paws. Very friendly ... mmm .. Eastern/Southern accent maybe?
Randy grinned inappropriately occasionally. A setup? It dawned on me .... . Yeager.

You see , my mate Randy was the organizer of the upcoming air show and . was the main guest ... especially since the movie "The Right Stuff" was about to be released. Wow! Got to spend the whole day with . and his wife Glennis aboard a sailboat for a sunny cruise around Sydney harbour. I told a few TBM stories but he always had be beat.
We had dinner one night too , over at a Qantas pilot's house who had bought a DC3 for romantic charters. At this dinner . had us watch him on TV as they showed his cameo role in the film. He is the old drunk who comes up to Sam Shephard in Pancho's bar and offers him a whiskey.
What a nice man.

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-01-31 13:13
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OOOOHHH! Skullcramps ......
Went to the first Vancouver pprune bash last night.

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Cowboy McLoskey

Joined: Sep 24, 2003
Posts: 128 Posted: 2004-01-31 14:39
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Skullcramps, sheesh, all you did last night was try to chat up the women!!

Great to see you there last night, it was certainly a good time.. We'll have to do it again before too long..

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29chev

Joined: Dec 11, 2003
Posts: 22 Posted: 2004-02-06 13:22
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move up

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Dockjock

Joined: Oct 18, 2001
Posts: 298
From: TBA
Posted: 2004-02-09 14:19
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Duke I've never replied before but just wanted to say thanks and good luck.

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WRC

Joined: Jan 28, 2002
Posts: 64
From: Wild Rose Country
Posted: 2004-02-10 07:22
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Duke, how was the pprune bash @ the Beaver?

I spend endless nights there when nothings going on, then when its bash night, I'm on the other side of the country. Same thing later on when our company has its birthday bash on the 28th, we'll just have to raise one in spirit...

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-02-10 22:57
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WRC

The pprune bash was excellent , especially since it was impromptu and it was the first one. There were pilots ,an ATC controller , engineers , a civil engineer (Aviation enthusiast) , a Canada 3000 flightie (remember them ... she had some great stories and is writing a book) and other wonderful people.

Danny Fyne , the owner of PPRuNe is a very likeable chap even though he is a Pommie and remembers the origional Lobster story that I wrote on pprune three years ago.

He encouraged me to "cut/paste" my thread on pprune a few stories at a time which I have done.
I told him of my loyalty to Avcanada and he understood.

There is no reason why we should not have an Avcanada bash that would rival that of PPRuNe so maybe I will start a new thread to that effect. It is fun to mingle with a cross section of our profession from newbies to Grumpy Old Farts.

Remember , we all have one thing in common.

Anyhow , on the world wide pprune site I only have just over a thousand hits. But even though the Tales thread slipped to page four on Avcanada , the hits were climbing like crazy to nearly twenty six thousand. That is beacause someone in Australia posted a link direct to the avcanada Tales thread. So they must be going direct. That is a lot of reloads.

On pprune I get PM's from Northern Europe , Australia, USA and even India so I'd better get writing eh?

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-02-11 00:57
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I can't recall much of the flight from Cour D"Elaine back to Port Alberni as I was now in familiar territory. I do remember however , just how efficient Attilla The Hen could be. The customs dude shuffled the import papers that were brutally perfect and compiled by lla herself. He'd glance furtively at her ...... he'd avoid the eyes that burned clear into his soul ... and shuffled off forthwith.

It didn't take young Wayne very long (he was the company owner) to order the yellow paint stripped and the airplane painted in sleek black with gold stripes to match the three huge S61 helicoptes and the corporate Bell 222.... it became the tall black steed astride the two pure white amphibious floats. This company meant business. We had blade latches installed to prevent the PT6 engine from bleading off into the feather position upon shutdown. This allowed the airplane to be started in a zero pitch condition enabling instant control when untying and departing from the dock.

Well if I wasn't in heaven , I was at least in the waiting room. I lived with a sleek , blonde school teacher with a large beachfront house on Sproat Lake.... get this .. with a float dock. It wasn't my fault she had gained all these assets provided by her ex-husband... No siree! It was like sorta getting all my sh*t back that I had "shared" over the years. She had two wonderfull little girls that I loved dearly and I took on complete parenting responsibilities.

So with the Turbo Beaver occasionally tied up at my float dock and the speedboat in the boatshed , I busied myself replenishing her depleted sexual inventory that had been denied for seventeen years.

But I hadn't bargained for what came next ....... they wanted me to work.

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-02-11 00:59 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-02-11 02:09 ]

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182driver

Joined: Jul 14, 2002
Posts: 75 Posted: 2004-02-11 01:35
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Sign me up for the AvCanada shin-dig, Dukie. You and me can pound the 50's and then get jiggy with the ladies. I love cutting rug, and I sense you do too.

My idea of a good time is getting blotto and starting a ruckus--any objections?

Didn't think so.

Name the time and place and I'm in, brother!

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Duke Elegant

Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 264 Posted: 2004-02-19 23:57
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I thought I would bump this up .... I am told that one disadvantage of the new board is that you can't edit a post ...I am such a clumsy typist that I NEED to edit.

Also , since there are over 26,000 views on this board I will look like a rookie on the new one.

More stories coming folks ...

And 182 driver , a drunken free-for-all is in order soon. I am off the piss for the time being but I am still a million laughs.

I take that back about the edit thing.. I just successfully edited a post on the other board

[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2004-02-20 00:20 ]