so hows your engine heater work?

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Posted

I was still a student pilot but I had about 100 hrs as I had just been having too much fun flying to think about a check ride. I was doing my second Solo Cross Country and figured what the hell, I would get a hunting trip out of the deal too. I was renting a PA 12 at the time and had done the preflight calc with the instructor (and owner) and he was real happy with my flight plan. It was the 3rd week of March 1993 and a huge high had settled over the state. It was -15 at the lake I was taking off from, and -35 at my destination about 35 miles south of Illiamna. There was not a cloud in the sky, sun shining bright, yet colder than a witches titt. I load the pane up, and get all bundled up in my goose down arctic gear. The flight over was picture perfect, my turns and times were damn near dead on with my preflight route plan, sumbitch I think to myself, I am one good MOFO for sure, I got this shit down pat! It is about a 2 hr flight down to the hunting area and I start seeing Caribou scattered all about. I fly around till I find a bunch of about 150 off to the side of a VERY small lake. This area is nothing but frozen tundra. small lakes dotting the low rolling hills. The lake Mr. Einstein decides to land on is in a bowl about 25' deep and the lake is about 600' across. I was on short final and pulled the mixture so I would not scare off the animals and I did not want to over shoot the lake. That little bit of thrust on skis and ice will make her slide a long ways!

I just put and put the engine blanket on as it is now -35 and blowing about 20. Grab my rifle and climb over the bank and pick out the two animals I wanted. I knew I was in a short ticht spot so instead of the 5 I was allowed, I just wanted to take 2. I get steadied up, put the scope on the first one and squeeze off a round, jack another shell in and move over to my second animal, squeeze one off and look up. The herd runs off and I have 2 animals down and one limping.. SUMBITCH, jack another round in and finish off the 4th one. This was the first time I had hunted with the "new" black tallon round and after thinking about it, I can distinctly hear in my head the boom, thwack thwack pting. It was the round passing through both animals then ricocheting off the frozen tundra. I go back to the plane, tie it down with ice screws and grab the knives. I quartered out the animal and drug them back to the plane, got them loaded up and decided it was time to get the hell out of dodge as the winds were now blowing about 30 and it was DAMN cold. Quartering the animals was a chore as the blood was freezing on the knife with every cut and I had to keep scraping it off so I could cut.

I pull the engine cover, prime it and hit the starter button.. I got one blade, a slight pop and that was it. GREAT... I jump out (the plane was still tied down) and prop it. I pulled on that damn prop for about 30 minutes and never even got a pop out of it. I got the engine blanket back on and tried to fire up my coleman burner to get a good preheat going.. well at -35 and in the wind I could not get the damn thing to light off and keep going long enough to get the generator bar hot and turn the raw fuel into gas vapors. I get the bright idea to put it on the floor boards of the plane and try to light it out of the wind. Yeah a moment of pure genius... so next thing I know, I have blazo dripping down the stove and onto the floor boards and a fire inside the plane.. SHITTTTT. I toss a bunch of snow on it and get the fire out, but an now stuck without a way to preheat the plane. I tried to make a wind break with the wing covers but to no avail, I just could not get the damn stove to get hot enough to burn right and it eventually ended up burning up the generator bar on the stove. Now it was time to do a little soul searching. I put my head set on a listened for traffic in the area, but I did not hear crap on the radio. I was stuck, with the weather deteriorating and me without ANY emergency gear. I made the decision to kick on the ELT and hope for the best. After about an hour, I heard a plane in the distance, and got on the radio. It was a twin from Illiamna air taxi out spotting planes in trouble (turned out I was only one of 7 or 8 planes in the same predicament that day). I talked him in to my position which he radioed to another pilot in a 206 that was making rounds picking up other dumb asses such as myself. He told me to hike about 2 miles away to the east where there was a lake big enough for the 206 to get into. I shut the radios and ELT off, grabbed my rifle and started hiking. The pick up and ride back to Illiamna was un-eventful and we all ended up staying at a bed and breakfast (that charged us each 250 for the night). I found a guy with a cub and a generator and flew out with him the next morning to the plane and got it fired up after preheating for about an hour with the generator and charging the battery. The flight home was very pretty except my ass was sore from the raping I took from the air taxi and b&B. Turned out to be about a $2000 cross country with some moment of terror and panic mix into the lot as I figured out just how dire my situation was. It was by the grace of god I did not freeze on that little frozen lake that day as my stupidity and un-preparedness should have cost me my life!

Before I flew again, I had the latest and greatest multi fuel mountaineering stove, a full survival pack that would see me through most situations, and the knowledge and experience to know that I would never go out on a trip like that solo. From then on it was a 2 plane minimum trip. I have since made that trip many times and have always come back with lots of meat, but I will never forget that hard learned lesson. There is a reason the state of Alaska has a list of minimum survival gear for both winter and summer flying. I knew about the list but said bullshit on it as that was another 50 pounds of crap I did not need to carry. With the newest gear available, I now have a dry bag in my Avid that has all the required equipment in it and I have it down to about 28 pounds. I never leave home without it even if I am just planning on flying in the immediate area.

:beerchug:

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Posted

Hi Akflyer,

Have you posted the contents of the 28lb. Bag?

Wayne

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Posted

WOW! I know this post is old, but man! thanks for sharing.- I can almost feel the blizzard in my face.

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Posted

Hi Akflyer,

Have you posted the contents of the 28lb. Bag?

Wayne

 

No I haven't but if I remember, I will dump it out on the garage floor and get pictures and a list.  Alaska has a requirement for what we are spose to carry in summer and winter, for flights over 50 miles.. I leave it all in the plane as I need weight in the back to get the CG back where I like it anyways.  Survival gear beat the crap out of useless lead any day.

 

:BC:

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Posted

Here are the basic contents of the survival bag I carry in the plane.

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The basic contents.  First aide kit with a few suplementary items stored in it such as a strobe light, flashlight, razor knife, bast match and normal steel and flint bar, wet start fire cubes and a small roll of duct tape.  Additionally I have a hatchet, wyoming break down saw, cordage, tarp, heavy duty space blanket, wool blanket, TP and a speed steel knife sharpener.

 

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All this goes in one dry bag with my 2 man 4 season tent in its own bag.

 

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Additionally in the winter I carry this little unit.  An ammo can with an MSR multi fuel stove and some scat hose make a very good engine preheater or you can pipe the heat into the tent and keep the4 flame and gas container outside the tent.  Very light and very handy!  I used it yesterday to preheat the plane and engine at -18.

 

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Last one needs no explanation... waiting on the rescue chopper can take some gtime, may as well enjoy the camping trip while your there right :dunno:

 

:BC:

 

 

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Posted

Aye eye, Cap' i' tann ! Leni, you crack me up!

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Posted

Hey Bryce... funny thing, yesterday while sitting in my study room contemplating the intelligence of the jalapeño poppers from the night before I was looking through my stack of reading material and come across an article by mr. J.T.Graham. has a pic of you in the avid in the article :lol: nice write up about the PB fly in that your a cofounder of. Sweetness, it made me head down to the hangar n dust off a foamie and do a little hover session in the front yard!

:BC:

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Posted

Small, small world, ain't it!?! That's too cool! Yeh, I've found the older I get and the more jalapeño's I eat, the closer I can get to hovering in the "study"!â—

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