C-185 engine failure...

[snoopy]

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/261851311.html

by Chris Bush - Nanaimo News Bulletin
posted Jun 4, 2014 at 2:00 PM

Fourth Lake is located about 40 kilometres southwest of Nanaimo. A pilot had to make an emergency landing after his plane lost power shortly after takeoff from Nanaimo Airport. - CFB Comox
Fourth Lake is located about 40 kilometres southwest of Nanaimo. A pilot had to make an emergency landing after his plane lost power shortly after takeoff from Nanaimo Airport.
— image credit: CFB Comox

Rescuers credit a float plane pilot's good airmanship and pre-planning for a successful deadstick landing and rescue on the weekend.

The incident happened shortly before noon Sunday moments after the float-equipped Cessna 185 lifted off from Nanaimo Airport on a flight to Bamfield.

The aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 1,400 metres when the engine quit, but the pilot, who has not been identified, was able to glide the aircraft to a successful landing on Fourth Lake, about 40 kilometres south west of Nanaimo.

Capt. Trevor Reid, spokesman for CFB Comox, said the pilot was equipped with the most up-to-date emergency equipment, but had just seconds to make correct decisions for a successful landing.

The pilot had also broadcast his emergency by radio when the engine failed, which was picked up by the crew of a commercial flight and passed along to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria.

"He was able to quite skillfully land his aircraft on Fourth Lake and was able to get it to shore," Reid said. "Once ashore he set of his 406 megahertz emergency beacon."

The emergency beacon broadcasts GPS coordinates and information about its owner and the aircraft.

The signal was picked up by the joint rescue centre, which launched a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and CC-115 Buffalo airplane from the 442 Search and Rescue Squadron based in Comox.

The helicopter crew picked up the pilot, who was not injured, at about 1 p.m. and returned him to Nanaimo Airport where he was met by his family, Reid said.

Reid credited the Cessna's pilot with good airmanship that included proper planning and making the right decisions when an emergency happened.

"He had all his gear there and he was ready to go," Reid said. "He was talking with the [search and rescue technicians] on the helicopter and said he had picked his flight path to Bamfield because of the number of lakes that were available just in case he had to make an emergency landing."

[stef]

Congrats! Nice job making it down safe.

Just curious though. Where is this Fourth Lake?

[Illya Kuryakin]

Congrats! Nice job making it down safe.

Just curious though. Where is this Fourth Lake?

Read paragraph one.....I know, it's tough.
Illya

[SeptRepair]

Google maps is your friend Stef. I talked to the owner and he is a real nice guy. I commented on how he handled it very well and it was nice to see a good story come out of it all. He said that 4 minutes after he had turned the ELT on in the air, ( news story screwed that part up) he had a call on his cell phone from Sars. Obviously wasn't in cell range as he was deep in the bush, but when he was back in range he seen the message on his phone.

[CpnCrunch]

Google maps is your friend Stef. I talked to the owner and he is a real nice guy. I commented on how he handled it very well and it was nice to see a good story come out of it all. He said that 4 minutes after he had turned the ELT on in the air, ( news story screwed that part up) he had a call on his cell phone from Sars. Obviously wasn't in cell range as he was deep in the bush, but when he was back in range he seen the message on his phone.

Yes, he did do a really good job (and I'm not using that word in the avcanada sense).

Did you figure out what went wrong?

[SeptRepair]

Not exactly sure of the sequence of events, but the end result had a 3 inch hole in the crankcase with a piston pin siting beside it nicely leaning up against a baffle.

[Blakey]

Congrats! Nice job making it down safe.

Just curious though. Where is this Fourth Lake?

Some of us got it!

[Colonel Sanders]

a 3 inch hole in the crankcase

It is possible, despite what many on AvCan think,
to hydraulic lock a horizontally-opposed engine
with over-priming (esp hot start) and bend a
connecting rod during the start. Gasoline is
simply incompressible.

The damaged connecting rod then fails later
and is a source of great mystery.

[Heliian]

Excellent job on handling the emergency.

It could have ingested a unicorn which then poked a hole in the side.

Sometimes engines fail, no matter how well taken care of and shiney they are.

['CauseTheCaravanCan]

stef wrote:
Congrats! Nice job making it down safe.

Just curious though. Where is this Fourth Lake?


Read paragraph one.....I know, it's tough.
Illya

It would appear, for you, it was tougher still to read not only paragraph 1, but also paragraphs 2 and 5.

That's a double reverse take-over joke smart-ass, and stef nailed it.

[Illya Kuryakin]

stef wrote:
Congrats! Nice job making it down safe.

Just curious though. Where is this Fourth Lake?


Read paragraph one.....I know, it's tough.
Illya

It would appear, for you, it was tougher still to read not only paragraph 1, but also paragraphs 2 and 5.

That's a double reverse take-over joke smart-ass, and stef nailed it.

Bit "frosty" of you?
Illya

[GyvAir]

huh.. I didn't read the article closely enough get it either. I just wrote it off as some sort of esoteric, Monty Python-esque "Explain to me this fourth dimension you speak of, my good man!" joke.

I did get all the frost jokes though!

[xsbank]

I don't get it

[Meddler]

I was going to guess it between third lake (30 k from nanimo) and fifth lake (50 k)

[PilotDAR]

Sorry, I'm missing the humour. Is it something like "The forth will be with you..." on short final of the fourthed approach?

[CpnCrunch]

Actually, it's called 'fourth' because there are 4 lakes in the Nanaimo Lakes area - as you drive or fly along the Nanaimo Lakes Road, and this one happens to be the fourth. (Actually third lake is more of a puddle, so I'm not sure why they don't just have 3 lakes, but perhaps it used to be larger).

Here's a pic of fourth lake from last year. Couldn't have picked a better spot to land a floatplane.

['CauseTheCaravanCan]

I believe stef was sarcastically pointing out the article writer's poor editing. By naming the location of the lake 3 times.
Is this thing on?!