Post by Glider Rider on Jan 11, 2007 23:27:30 GMT -5
I flew into Moose Bar Fishing Camp yesterday to deliver some much needed supplies and decided to spend the night helping to "get rid" of all the extra fish that these sportsmen caught. This morning I receive a call from headquarters saying that one of the guest at the camp needs to be delivered to Port Rupert ASAP! It seems that he's an accomplished heart surgeon and a donor heart has been readied for one of his patients but he needs to get to the O.R. fast. Of course, the weather this morning is lousy. Fog has cut visibility down to about half a mile and the winds above the mountain tops are too strong for my little Travelair.
With time being against us I decide to take off and fly about 200 feet above the water and use the tall mountain walls has a guide to get us out of the gorge that the camp is located in.
Almost as soon as we make altitude the fog wraps around us like a misty cocoon, disorienting the senses. I guide the plane close enough to the mountain wall to make it visible but far enough away so that a sudden gust of wind won't entice us to kiss the granite.
About ten minutes into the flight I notice that something is not right! Instead of the 220 degree heading we should be flying we are now traveling roughly 185 degrees. Also, I notice that I can now see the wall on the opposite side of the river which shouldn't be because the main waterway out of here is wide enough that I shouldn't be able to see it in this weather. I quickly pull out my map of the area....
OH GAWD! I've made a rookie mistake! I should have followed the wall on the right side of the craft but instead I took the easy way out and used the pilot's eye view. Now I'm flying down Getaway Gulch which I know will eventually narrow down to a solid rock wall. The right way to do this would be to land on the water, turn the plane around and fly out the opposite way but that donor heart is not going to stay fresh forever. So, I push the throttle to the firewall to grab a little altitude and bank the plane at a 40 degree angle. At this point I'm flying blind in white soup but by some miracle I complete the turn and get back on course.
As we get closer to the sea, the winds have blown much of the fog inland and we have much better flying conditions.
Looks like we've got smooth sailing ahead of us.
We now have Port Rupert in sight.
An uneventful landing in the harbor is made and now the doctor is taken by jeep up to the airport to a waiting jet for transport to the hospital to save another life. As for me, I think I'll pay a little visit to one of the many well stocked pubs in this fine little town to calm my fragile nerves.
Bill
With time being against us I decide to take off and fly about 200 feet above the water and use the tall mountain walls has a guide to get us out of the gorge that the camp is located in.
Almost as soon as we make altitude the fog wraps around us like a misty cocoon, disorienting the senses. I guide the plane close enough to the mountain wall to make it visible but far enough away so that a sudden gust of wind won't entice us to kiss the granite.
About ten minutes into the flight I notice that something is not right! Instead of the 220 degree heading we should be flying we are now traveling roughly 185 degrees. Also, I notice that I can now see the wall on the opposite side of the river which shouldn't be because the main waterway out of here is wide enough that I shouldn't be able to see it in this weather. I quickly pull out my map of the area....
OH GAWD! I've made a rookie mistake! I should have followed the wall on the right side of the craft but instead I took the easy way out and used the pilot's eye view. Now I'm flying down Getaway Gulch which I know will eventually narrow down to a solid rock wall. The right way to do this would be to land on the water, turn the plane around and fly out the opposite way but that donor heart is not going to stay fresh forever. So, I push the throttle to the firewall to grab a little altitude and bank the plane at a 40 degree angle. At this point I'm flying blind in white soup but by some miracle I complete the turn and get back on course.
As we get closer to the sea, the winds have blown much of the fog inland and we have much better flying conditions.
Looks like we've got smooth sailing ahead of us.
We now have Port Rupert in sight.
An uneventful landing in the harbor is made and now the doctor is taken by jeep up to the airport to a waiting jet for transport to the hospital to save another life. As for me, I think I'll pay a little visit to one of the many well stocked pubs in this fine little town to calm my fragile nerves.
Bill