Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

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jetboy
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by jetboy »

MacStork wrote: 3. You can step taxi a Goose at 90 knots on the water without overheating the engines. I did 120 nautical miles in a snow storm once ...... it took 2 hours to drain the hull in Ocean Falls.
Why would you step taxi for 120 miles? Seems a bit crazy to be step taxiing at 90 knots in a blinding snow storm!
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MacStork
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by MacStork »

Well ....... some times you get caught! You are 150 miles from nowhere and it is snowing .... and in those days, we did not have the fancy weather forecasting abilities that you have today. In a heart beat it turns from rain to snow. Shit happens ..... and you deal with it. If you want to save your plane, you do what you have to do ....you head for the nearest ramp. A dock will not save your ass if you are flying a Goose. They leak like a sieve ..... they were 40 years old in those days. So ....you bang her up on the step and use your impeccable knowledge of the BC coast and head for a safe haven. Oh ....bye the way .....we did not have GPS or Loran C or any other navigation system ..... we just KNEW the Coast.

I am not proud of what I had to do in those days to survive. But I did learn one very important lesson. I learned to make REALLY good decisions when the chips were down. Because of that ..... I did survive and I was able to pass that on to my co-pilots, my friends who were just getting into this industry and anyone else who wanted to listen to a guy who had survived.

In retrospect, I was a survivor. Many of my compatriots didn't make it. They died ..... sadly. We learned from their misfortunes.
in this post .... a guy asked about the G21A Goose and how to survive. I responded ..... honestly and without prejudice.
So .... in answer to your question about why I was step taxing 120 miles in a blinding snow storm ..... simply .... to survive and save my airplane. Life was a lot simpler in those days.

Just my thoughts .....
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Cat Driver
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by Cat Driver »

Interesting comments here, I never flew a piston Goose but did some time in the turbo Goose, in bad weather we filed IFR.

What was your forward visibility when you were step taxiing at 90 knots?
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MacStork
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by MacStork »

The forward vis was very poor because of the snow that was accumulating on the w/s, but through the opened side window I had about 1/4 mile. It was not a fun trip. I had picked up an old prospector (Mac McKenzie) from the old Laredo Limestone mine on Aristazable Island who was traveling to Ocean Falls to catch the Mallard to YVR. I step taxied from there to Ocean Falls, about 120 nautical miles, and navigated over an hour on the water. After that trip, I really understood why they referred to the Grumman Goose and Mallard as a BOAT! Times have changed, and old Coast Dogs like us are just a distant memory now.
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Cat Driver
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by Cat Driver »

Thanks for the reply MacStork, for sure flying the west coast of B.C. VFR can be bizzare if one does it long enough these things can happen.

One of my most stressful flights was in a Turbo Goose IFR . I got into icing so bad the airplane became almost controllable and I had to turn right and let down below the freezing level west of the high mountains just north of egg island as I recall, ATC was truly concerned because I had a full load of passengers and a F.O. with me. The Turbo Goose was a real handful near gross weight once it got a load of ice on it.
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MacStork
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Re: Helpful hints for flying a Grumman Goose

Post by MacStork »

Ya ...... ICE and GRUMMANS are a very bad mix. Another friend of ours had a frightening experience in a Mallard over the Beaufort Range ...... but that is another tale!
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