Machine down?

[Winnie]

Rumors are flying that a machine got into whiteout and struck the ground somewhat hard about 60 miles from Resolute a couple fo days ago, anybody know anything?

 

Hopefully it is only the rumor mill, but who knows???

[Needles Split]

You heard right Winnie, a little slow on the receiving end of the news, however , better later than never. It happened a couple of weeks ago(give er take a few days), it was an L4, operated by a YYR based company, and there were no injuries.

Apparently got into a white out or possibly a no horizon situation and tried to land, unfortunately the landing didn''t work out. A Twin Otter picked them up about an hour or so after the fact.

It''s not friendly country up there, it''s the type of place you should only fly when the sun is shining!

[Bladestrike]

Thank goodness no one was hurt. One of the contributers here put one into the ice 1/4 mile in front of me at cruise speed, what a show! Thankfully everyone walked away from that one as well. Same day, same contract, another buddy of mine "bounced" while flying along happily in cruise. That''ll get your ticker going!

[cap]

Logged lots of hours in the Arctic Islands and I have only two pieces of advice for anyone going there or newly arrived:

 

(1) The North does not tolerate a 'fool' for long......be it on the land, in the air or on the water.

 

(2)if you like to 'push' or 'skip the light fantastic' on occasion down south and have even gotten away with it because of your fantastic pilot skills or an abundance of 'horse shoes', then stay in the south. Ignore the above and you'll come south in a pine box. In fact some have ignored the above and never been found, to come home at all.

 

Do it right and it's one of the most fantastic and beautiful places to fly in the world.......and no trees for blade strikes.

 

As long as nobody was hurt in the accident then that is the bottom line. They make helicopters everyday, but all our parts are "back-ordered".

[RDM]

Cap...... as always you are so correct. Nothing but good advice from the old and the wise.

 

Personsally I got the north of 60 t-shirt in the early 90's and still have the nightmares to go with it. Flying in Nanasivk and Arctic Bay in October in a Longranger rippin drills will open anybodies eyes to reality.

 

BTW.......when I say OLD I mean it in the most respective way

 

[cap]

RDM ------ not offended at all by the word 'old' no matter how it's meant. I have been in fact, thrown out of a place called "The Arctic Circle Club" in Resolute Bay on many occasions. I even have one of their Arctic Circle 'Shooter' Glasses......about as big as a large A & W mug.

 

That 'old and wise' part came from making some of the STUPIDEST mistakes known to man and living to tell about it. That is also what the word EXPERIENCE means.

[gov]

And I thought I was the only one threatened with expulsion from the Arctic circle club. 1977 during the Polargas Project days and I guess after weeks on the tundra a few beer made us think we were good singers. The idea was to show Kenny Rogers how "LUCILLE'' was supposed to be sung but the very properly dressed Bouncer/security decided that our music was inappropriate for such an upstanding establishment.

[Winnie]

Yeah, not too good to plant one for sure.

Saw a program on Discovery the other day, Storm Warning, that talked about the misfortune that TEMSCO had in Alaska 2 or 3 years ago, when they first planted one on a Galcier during white out conditions, then the rescue machine did the same (same company) and not  long after they planted a third machine (on the same day!). luckily all survived that one too! Just goes to show you can never be too careful for sure!

 

Speaking of the arctic, I became a member of the Norwegian Coast Guard Skinny dipping Club, after skinnydipping at 80 degrees north! ''twas cold for sure!