Plane crashes on squamish Glacier (again)

[Invertago]

Haven't found it online yet, but a small yellow two seater (couldn't tell from the fotage, but looked like a cub maybe) tried to take off from a glacier in Squamish. Pilot couldn't get airborn, so dropped off his passenger and tried to take off again and crashed into a crevis. The dropped off Px called for help and 442 Sqn picked them up. Minor injuries for the Pilot, Px was fine. Hopefully someone can find a link, it was on Global this evening.

Density altitude anyone?

[E-Flyer]

Okay wait, the pilot kicked out the passenger during take off roll ?

[2R]

Or did the pilot jump out and leave the pax to fly ?
You have contol

[Whistler2009]

I'm glad everyone is OK.

I didn't see the news tonight, but from your description Invertago, I think this might be a friend of ours.

There's a very experienced airline pilot who keeps a yellow Super Cub on skiis in Squamish and does lots of Glacier landings in the area here. I'll find out tomorrow if it was him.

There's a lot more to high altitude glacier landings than meets the untrained eye.

Wishing a speedy recovery to whomever it was.

[Finn47]

There´s a description of the rescue operation here, but next to nothing on the accident aircraft:

http://www.aviation.ca/content/view/7157/1/

[Whistler2009]

Rescue crews airlift 2 men stranded on B.C. glacier

Two men were rescued Tuesday afternoon from a glacier near Squamish, B.C., after their plane landed in a crevasse following a failed takeoff attempt, a Canadian air force official said.

The pilot of the plane, who's with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association in Comox, initiated an emergency call to the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, Lt. Alexandre Cadieux of the air force's 19 Wing Comox said a release Tuesday night.

A Cormorant helicopter and a Buffalo aircraft from the air force's 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron responded to the emergency, he said.

Cadieux did not mention the type of plane the pilot was operating, nor did he say why the aircraft was on the glacier in the first place. He did say, however, that it is common for pilots of small planes to practise landings and takeoffs on glaciers.

The pilot had left his passenger on the Mamquan Glacier because he had failed to take off with him once and was trying to reduce the weight of his aircraft, Cadieux said.

The passenger became worried when, after some time, he still hadn't seen any sign that the pilot had successfully taken off, Cadieux said.

Rescue crews spotted the downed plane and hoisted search and rescue technicians down. The rescue personnel found the passenger, as well.

"The [pilot] was suffering from back pain," air force Sgt. Kent Gulliford said in the news release.

"We immobilized the patient as per our procedures for back injuries, but thankfully the gentleman was alert and had not experienced any loss of sensation, which is a good sign," he said.

The Cormorant crew hoisted the pilot and the passenger back on board and flew them to Squamish airport and then transferred them to an ambulance, Cadieux said.

The current condition of the two men is unknown, Cadieux said.

[Whistler2009]

Long live the satellite phone!

The #1 most crucial, vital, must have piece of survival equipment.

Everyone should carry one.

It probably saved his life.

[marktheone]

You know I have heard that the cub is the safest airplane ever made. It can just barely kill you.

[Invertago]

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loca ... lumbiaHome

True Glacier landings there are common, Glacier Air does it for the tourists.

[5400AirportRdSouth]

Glad to hear everything turned out ( relatively ) Ok.

I saw some video on the news of the rescue, the tracks going into the crevasse, plane at the bottom, looked like it was upside down.

I have to admit, I got a chuckle when I saw that the passenger ( I assume ) had tramped a message in the snow to alert overhead rescuers.

No SOS, or HELP, our typical Canadian. He took the extra time to stamp out HELLO in giant letters in the snow.

How very polite, and good of him not to provoke alarm...stiff upper lip and all that.

Must be hard to see a crevasse like that, sunny day, blindingly white snow. I would bet theres more than a few tricks to glacier flying.

[Westward_Bound]

No SOS, or HELP, our typical Canadian. He took the extra time to stamp out HELLO in giant letters in the snow.

How very polite, and good of him not to provoke alarm...stiff upper lip and all that.

That made me laugh too.

Not sure if it's proper to put names, but they said that one of the passengers was a certain high time frenchman who is an excellent stick 'n rudder pilot. Was a CFI at ZBB and is now the CFI at Glacier. Will be interesting to hear what really happened.

[MichaelP]

Frenchman?
If it was who it might have been, he's not French...
Let's wait for the facts

[Kilo-Kilo]

No SOS, or HELP, our typical Canadian. He took the extra time to stamp out HELLO in giant letters in the snow.

How very polite, and good of him not to provoke alarm...stiff upper lip and all that.

That made me laugh too.

Not sure if it's proper to put names, but they said that one of the passengers was a certain high time frenchman who is an excellent stick 'n rudder pilot. Was a CFI at ZBB and is now the CFI at Glacier. Will be interesting to hear what really happened.

Yes, they said his name on the news.

BTW, exactly how many people were in that Supercub? The reports are kind of vague on the tv, but lead one erroniously to believe more than two people were involved.

[Westward_Bound]

Frenchman?
If it was who it might have been, he's not French...
Let's wait for the facts

Really? He speaks good french, and with a name like that.....? where is he from then??

[Old Dog Flying]

Austria!

[Westward_Bound]

Well there ya go, forgot about that country!

[Airtids]

Didn't the artist (sorry, name escapes me right now) that piled his Bucaneer into the Fraser a few years ago also have a wreck up on the Glacier?

This is the worst time of year for crevasses: Snowpack starts to thin out, and the crevasses that you can't see also can't support your weight.

[Westward_Bound]

Maybe the only things that should go on the glaciers are heli's then?

I mean, how the hell do they judge the slope, or topography of a blinding white surface??? Airplanes landing on snow covered mountains always amazed me.

[ZBBYLW]

Would be interesting to know who the pilot was, I know the passanger but would be very interested in knowing who was flying the Cub. Good to know they are both alright though!

[Golden Pilot]

Didn't the artist (sorry, name escapes me right now) that piled his Bucaneer into the Fraser a few years ago also have a wreck up on the Glacier?

This is the worst time of year for crevasses: Snowpack starts to thin out, and the crevasses that you can't see also can't support your weight.

Toni Onley, flying a Polish Wilga of some sort....

http://www.ubalert.com/alert/1690/photos

A veteran Pacific Coastal Airlines pilot flying his light aircraft triggered a daring helicopter rescue in darkness after he crashed while attempting a touch-and-go manoeuvre on a glacier in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The pilot and two passengers were uninjured in the crash Saturday at 3:15 p.m. of a single-engine Cessna 172 aircraft specially equipped with big tundra tires, enhanced engine and a "tail-dragger" tire at the back. Names of the three were not released. The people aboard the aircraft turned to a variety of devices to attract attention: a satellite-based emergency locator transmitter on the aircraft; a commercial beacon, which, for a fee, transmits a signal to a Texas company, which then forwards the location to B.C. search officials; and a VHF marine radio. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre dispatched a military twin-engine Buffalo aircraft and a Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox. The latter executed the rescue about three hours later in darkness, using a hoist to lift each person from the glacier at an elevation of about 2,000 metres in the park's southeast corner. "A night hoist from a helicopter is never routine, but it's what they train for," Capt. Dave Bowes said. The dangers of glacier landings came to light in 1984 when artist Toni Onley crashed his Polish-built Wilga 80 ski plane on Cheakamus Glacier in Garibaldi park. He and a passenger escaped with injuries. Onley died in 2004 in the crash of his Lake Amphibian plane into the lower Fraser River. Bowes said glacier landings are considered acceptable for experienced pilots, but are more common in northern Canada. Pacific Coastal vice-president Spencer Smith said it's none of his company's business if the veteran pilot wants to land on glaciers, or gravel bars for that matter.

[Ogee]

Frenchman?
If it was who it might have been, he's not French...
Let's wait for the facts

If I was who I might have been, I wouldn't be me either.

The question hanging in the air though is, what was going to happen to the passenger?

[Widow]

Golden Pilot - I think the info you gave was for the accident back in December (see this thread ... viewtopic.php?f=54&t=49256 ) ...

If this was a new one, it does not yet appear in the CADORS.

[MichaelP]

Our friend was left on the glacier to take a walk... He is known for such things.
He had survival equipment and food for a couple of days if necessary though curiously he did not have any chilli peppers!

The Piper pilot has done many many landings on glaciers, it is why there are skis on his aeroplane (unlike the Cessan 172 that was relying on fat tyres!).
I understand his intent was to firm the snow a bit by doing a few runs, it was not to abandon our friend up on a mountain, though there have been occasions when I might!

I understand the pilot of the Piper got his stuff out of the aeroplane and made himself a cup of tea while he waited.

Our friend called home base and a Cessna 172 was overhead soon after the Piper went missing.

He tramped out HELLO in the snow in his snowshoes for something to do... HELP might call more attention to the place in future. The problem was leaping from one letter to the next while wearing snowshoes...

To his chagrin the TV news misquoted him and he is not pleased with them.
He's seen it before when a few years ago an interview he did was edited by the TV people into something completely different.
They can take what you say and edit it into something completely different, and so be careful with what you say to a reporter.

As for origin, Austria yes, on British territory so to speak, with German as his first language from his Balkan parents.
But growing up in Alsace meant being called by the French version of his name.

[V1 Rotate]

I though he is Austro-Hungarian.

[MichaelP]

Yugoslav