Posted on 10/22/2008 12:09:30 PM PDT by papasmurf
A father and son crash-landed upside down on a plateau between Lands End Road and U.S. Highway 50 on the south side of Grand Mesa. {snip}
Pilot Tom Haefeli of Del Norte and his son John were over the Kannah Creek area, and Tom was making a soft turn. {snip}
A plane landed safely at the Grand Junction Regional airport after a mid-air collision over Kannah Creek. Scanner reports indicate that the plane was carrying prisoners. The other plane is down near Kannah Creek and U.S. Highway 50.
(Excerpt) Read more at gjsentinel.com ...
A Cessna 180 is a single engine, fixed gear aircraft. It is a "tailgragger" and one of the most popular "bush" planes ever produced. It can, also, seat up to 6 passengers, or a combination of both passengers and freight. Cessna produced more than 6000 of these models, and they are no longer in production.
The 180 is real a workhorse of an airplane, and is preferred to this day as a bush plane by many who fly to and from remote, unimproved airstrips in places such as Alaska and distant parts of Canada, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. The 180 is used by Colorado Division of Wildlife for monitoring wildlife and re-stocking fish in remote mountain lakes; it is also used by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Will the Media say The One was responsible for this miracle?
I have news alerts set for Palin, and this came up? LOL I thought maybe it had to do with the guy the cops drug away from her motorcade.
I’d love to take the “One” up, just ONE time. LOL
Thanks.
Perhaps your Aviation pingees might be interested in this?
Looks like the Cessna 180 has lost it vertical stabilizer. Maybe in the mid air collision.
Post flight debriefing: “Whoa, Dad, what a rush!”
As a private pilot I would like to set the story aright.
It is a 99 44/100% lead pipe cinch that the plane did not “land” upside down. Taildragger airplanes, having no nosewheel to support the plane and prevent it flipping over when the main gear touches down, sometimes do what is known as a “groundloop” in which they flip over on their back. That is surely what happened in this instance. After a second look at the rough vegetation where it landed, it’s obvious that an airplane could not taxi in that stuff, and the instant the wheels descended into that brush and brambles they would have caught and flipped the airplane over on its back.
FWIW.
It did. I wonder if he used his doors for some control?
You’re absolutely correct. I should have pointed that out in my comments.
Thanks.
*Aviation ping*
Is Aeronaut still with us?
Actually, a ground loop is when the plane spins horizontally on the ground as the greater mass behind the landing gears tries to overtake the front on a tail dragger.
Why the Hell wasnt the 210 on flight following? No excuse for that. You cant fly prisoners unless you have a Commercial ticket in this state. I flew a lot of them when I was in Kansas. FF would have notified him of traffic. It appears the 210 flew into the 180, as the 210 is missing its nose gear and the 180, its tail.
That will be judged as pilot error. The county will be buying a new 180 out of that deal.
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