Golden BC Plane crash, 3 survive

[Elman]

Just good they're all out safe Duncan.

[MUSICMAAN]

Hmmmmmmmm.... there's a 170 still in the trees a little farther down the hill too... The Dog Tooth has ate up it's fair share of aircraft.

[Golden Pilot]

That was a Cessna 140, and it's in lower Gorman creek, one valley north. The area has been logged, so it's no longer in the tree, it's laying on the ground now.

There IS still one wing from an old 172 wreck a few miles south if this incident, it was left there in July 1985. I still see it every now and then, I'm surprized that no one ever re-reported it???

Yes, the Dogtooth has it's share of wreckages. It's those east facing bowls that eat unwary airplanes.....

[MUSICMAAN]

Yeah, I recall that wreck... I was but a wee lad, but I remember the fuselage sitting at the airport there after being pulled off the mountain. That was a case of trying to climb up the valley on a hot day, eventually dropping the flap in a weak attemt to get more lift, and well... didn't make it over the ridge. I would have to venture a guess this would be fairly similar to what happened recently.

Glad everyone made it out of this one though.

MM

[xsbank]

Just to stir the pot a bit, are people actually getting proper mountain checks these days before going out rock-dodging? A couple of my friends were killed in the dim reaches of time by turning up the wrong valley in the heat of battle, in smoke. YOU should not be there in those conditions.

If you are going to play in the rocks, some of the rules to stay safe with are NEVER approach a ridge at 90 degrees.... never; get a 'ridge picture' BEFORE you commit to a course (is it rising or falling in your screen?) you should never approach any ridge lower than the ridge unless you have plenty of OUT; practise your turns - you should be able to NAIL a steep turn to the left and the right with no prep; if you are flying on the upwind side of the valley, when you do your turn you are turning into subsiding air (probably) so be ready for it;

More later - gotta go...

[iflyforpie]

Most flight schools I've encountered require some form of mountain training to fly in the mountains, but lack consistency in content and what the definition of 'flying in the mountains' or 'mountain flying' is.

I start off with what kills people in the mountains:
-Over or underestimating the performance of your aircraft (usually overestimating the climb rate/angle and underestimating the ability of an aircraft to turn in a small area-even at only 30 degrees of bank).
-Encountering inclement weather which is:
-Winds and turbulence and
-Poor visibility, precipitation, and cloud layers.

With these I show pilots what to look for in weather forecasts and conditions, route planning, and eventually pilot decision making and maneuvers in the aircraft.

Usually on the way to or from the ranges I can show them using ridge lift, convergence, or thermals to help them increase climb rate or performance and the idea of 'leap frogging' from one potential forced approach area to another.

I also teach students to trim to a specific airspeed and use the pressure they are putting on the yoke combined with airspeed, VSI, Altimeter, throttle, and the seat of their pants to determine whether they are gaining energy from the air or loosing it.

It may not be an all encompassing but in a couple hours gives a low time pilot enough understanding to traverse any mountain range on good weather days and some knowledge to help them get out of a bad situation should it develop.

[iflyforpie]

Pretty sure I saw the wreck upside down on a flat deck westbound on the #1 through Eagle Pass last night. Those guys were lucky.

[Golden Pilot]

That would be it ! It left CYGE on a trailer about 4 pm, heading for Kamloops.

We actually had it all slung out and the site cleaned up my 1200 on the 12th, 24 hrs after it crashed....not bad for the RCMP, the TSB, and the Insurance to act on it ! !

Re: Mtn flying. I suspect that when these guys looked into Holt Ck, the 5 to 10 degree rising ground up-valley probably looked about level to them, so what they figured they could "out-climb", ended up to be about the same climb gradient as a loaded 172 on a warm day. They ended up at the head of the valley at an altitude too low to turn .... that's when the rodeo started !

[Old Dog Flying]

I have done a lot of mountain check rides but one instructor out of ZBB was quite proud of his training procedures...all flying done at 7500 to 10000 feet asl...and nothing down in the valleies because it was "too dangerous". And the flying public actually paid for this type of training. He actually taught stall turns to get out of a tight situation, but never down where it would have removed him from the gene pool.

[swede]

Since it was such a survivable forced approach...

This was not a forced approach ! Nor should it have been survivable, if you had the opportunity to see the cockpit, you would understand.

This was nothing less than A Miracle, as I saw the aircraft descend Vertically - nose down - from several hundred feet AGL into large ( 120' ) trees.

Sarsat was probably not able to obtain a fix due to a very weak signal, AND the limited time that the ELT was transmitting, it was well under 1 hour from crash until Golden SAR turned it OFF.
I was parked 4 km away, clear line-of-sight and still needed to turn on my VHF Squelch to hear the ELT ( gawd, I hate that sound !)

Sounds very remarkable indeed that anyone survived and only minor injuries (if that report is correct)