PA-12 down Alaska

edo2000

edo2000

Pre-takeoff checklist
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edo2000
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Another good ending to what could have been a tragic event.
 
westslopeco said:
It is being reported that the pilot did not have a certificate....

apnews.com

Pilot rescued with 2 girls from icy Alaska lake was not authorized to have passengers, official says

A pilot rescued with two young family members after they survived a night on the wing of an airplane partially submerged in an Alaska lake is a student pilot who was not authorized to fly with passengers.
apnews.com apnews.com
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Sometimes we might could use a dislike button! Not on the poster but on the updated info.
 
Yeah. He has had a student cert since 2018... no application for PP cert. Apparently it is known that he has often hauled passengers. Big question: did he decide to land there or was it a mechanical problem? He is not talking to NTSB investigators.
 
I'd wager that he doesn't intend to get a license, that he'll be a student pilot forever.
 
Probably a sovereign citizen. There's a lot of them up there.
 
It always puzzles me how people can fly / hike / boat in these remote areas without at least a PLB on them? They start at $250 and don't even require a subscription. :dunno:
 
German guy said:
It always puzzles me how people can fly / hike / boat in these remote areas without at least a PLB on them? They start at $250 and don't even require a subscription. :dunno:
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I agree. The PLB selection these days is great. I attach one to my belt whenever I fly these days. But I flew in Alaska for many years with just the old school 121.5 ELT.
 
Racerx said:
Probably a sovereign citizen. There's a lot of them up there.
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Probably thinks he is a ''sovereign citizen'' and believes the US Constitution does not apply to him, yet will cry that his civil rights are being violated when the FAA catches up with him. Not saying he is, but I met plenty of sociopaths like this in Alaska.

Probably no insurance, will get his student license revoked and the plane is probably years out of annual.
 
Zeldman said:
Probably thinks he is a ''sovereign citizen'' and believes the US Constitution does not apply to him, yet will cry that his civil rights are being violated when the FAA catches up with him. Not saying he is, but I met plenty of sociopaths like this in Alaska.

Probably no insurance, will get his student license revoked and the plane is probably years out of annual.
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My dad's uncle was one of them. Worked for Boeing for as an engineer. Got laid off and moved to Alaska. Half the family thought he retired with money. The other knew he was off his rocker panning for gold playing the sovereign citizen game.
 
Zeldman said:
Probably thinks he is a ''sovereign citizen'' and believes the US Constitution does not apply to him
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Huh? That's contradictory. Most of them DO accept the Constitution, just not other forms of law. I was pretty close to one of those guys about a decade ago. They're not as crazy as people make them out to be, but fail to realize that they can't undo stuff that's happened since the mid-1800s whether it was right or wrong.
 
edo2000 said:
Yeah. He has had a student cert since 2018... no application for PP cert. Apparently it is known that he has often hauled passengers. Big question: did he decide to land there or was it a mechanical problem? He is not talking to NTSB investigators.
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He's lived in Alaska for several years. I'm sure he was aware of the ice conditions and wouldn't have landed on the lake for fun. The girls' clothes were dry, so they got out before the plane went through the ice. The pilot was not so fortunate, and was hypothermic when they were found.
 
3393RP said:
He's lived in Alaska for several years. I'm sure he was aware of the ice conditions and wouldn't have landed on the lake for fun. The girls' clothes were dry, so they got out before the plane went through the ice. The pilot was not so fortunate, and was hypothermic when they were found.
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I also lived and flew in Alaska for several decades. He is based at PASX (used to be SXQ) where I learned to fly at 16. My brother has a 185 parked there. We have accidents like this in south central Alaska every spring. Misjudging snow and ice conditions. From the photos, the landing tracks are wide. Quite possibly he was on skis. It may have been an engine failure but the other scenario is a strong possibility. IMO.
 
francisco collazos said:
This guy is playing 4D chess because you can't take something away (PPL) you don't have.
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It is said that you can't get blood out of a turnip. While that may be true it is also true that you can strip the hide off of it ... :biggrin:
 
edo2000 said:
I also lived and flew in Alaska for several decades. He is based at PASX (used to be SXQ) where I learned to fly at 16. My brother has a 185 parked there. We have accidents like this in south central Alaska every spring. Misjudging snow and ice conditions. From the photos, the landing tracks are wide. Quite possibly he was on skis. It may have been an engine failure but the other scenario is a strong possibility. IMO.
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Too bad he didn’t complete his Private Pilot certificate…ski landings on lakes are in the ACS. :rolleyes:


That was sarcasm, for those of you who don’t recognize it.
 
AV8R_87 said:
He had a student certificate, that probably puts him in the top 20% of Alaska flyers?
:rofl:
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I flew for a company in the village formerly known as Barrow that fired a pilot for having a fake medical... for at least 7 years.

RyanShort1 said:
but fail to realize that they can't undo stuff that's happened since the mid-1800s whether it was right or wrong.
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That I can agree with. After 9/11 it was really tough when these guys found out they could not ride their 4 wheeler or snow machine on the ramp anymore. And finding out they cannot import cigarettes from Russia and sell them without paying tax or having proper paperwork. Or take alcohol into a dry village for resale..... and on and on....
 
Zeldman said:
I flew for a company in the village formerly known as Barrow that fired a pilot for having a fake medical... for at least 7 years.
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I used to have a friend in the lower48 who got caught flying with a forged medical…I have no idea for how long, but I suspect it was several years.
 
AV8R_87 said:
He had a student certificate, that probably puts him in the top 20% of Alaska flyers?
:rofl:
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It’s a meme but there is definitely truth to this stuff. There was a state house rep without a medical a few years ago who crashed into a plane full of tourists in a beaver, also down on the peninsula. The state is too big for the FAA to effectively enforce the rules, as the vast majority of their resources go towards Pt135 carriers.

Especially once you get out of the bigger towns like ANC, JNU, and FAI. Those are the only three actual FSDOs here although the FAA has started “remotely assigning” people in some of the larger more remote communities. I think they’ve got a full-time person in Homer, Kenai, Bethel, and Ketchikan now as well.
 
My brother flew out to the landing(?) site yesterday. Sent me these pics. The shot of the plane is fuzzy, cellphone pic + turbulence. He noticed that they had managed to attach large floats to the wings. Should keep it afloat as the ice goes out. He took a clearer pic of Tustamena Glacier which flows into the lake near the site.
 

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