Forestry Pads...

[vortex]

Harmonic_Vibe, thats an excellant example of how experiance is gained. Everybody can train, talk, analyze and try and learn from the scenario but the real lesson is learned by being there. Theres no training substitute for being scared by yourself.

As for forestry pads, we pretty much live on them here and if you treat each one like its 10 years old, was made from rotten logs back then, grown in with alder since the last time you were in there, you should be fine. Most pads are used long after they're constructed from the fallers, then the riggers, followed by the tree planters. Later the pesticide guys will go in years after to knock the deciduous down, then the timber cruisers to get access to the adjacent wood. The big timbers needed to fix the pad left with the riggers so you get what you got. If you NEVER put all the weight on a temporary bush pad and you should live a little bit longer. NEVER, NEVER go back to idle.

[Ryan]

Great story HV. Thanks for being able to share it with us! :up:

[Cole]

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that planning ahead and having a good set of "limit switches" is really important... but as a famous General (whose name I can't recall) once said, "No plan survives contact with the enemy"... Having a back up plan and knowing when to say "enough's enough!" will also really help... but nobody's perfect and no one that I know of always knows the right thing to do.

 

HV

 

HV, I think im just not expressing right, but we are actually on the same page, Just wingin' it is not good enough am I right

 

 

Cole

[bleed air]

right on the money, vortex! :up:

 

However, I have had to shut-down on log pads a couple of times (had to remove the 206B door post to get the stretcher in) while doing medevacs. That has to be one of the most uncomfortable feelings there is, to put the pole all the way down then roll that throttle off while perched on a log pad. :shock:

[vortex]

However, I have had to shut-down on log pads a couple of times (had to remove the 206B door post to get the stretcher in) while doing medevacs. That has to be one of the most uncomfortable feelings there is, to put the pole all the way down then roll that throttle off while perched on a log pad. :shock:

Yep, that is the exception...sometimes if you want to save somebodies a** you gotta stick yours out a ways :shock:

[Harmonic_Vibe]

I think we are on the same page Cole... I was just trying to say that we always have to do whatever we can to give us as much breathing room as possible... but sometimes fate can be a fickle ***** and teach us a painful lesson. If you sit around with pilots and listen to the stories, there won't be many tales of heroic accomplishments (except when it comes to dating:); the vast majority of guys I know share their close calls and humbling experiences... a few beers and a few laughs as we realize how human we all are...

 

HV

[Skids Up]

HV!!! that is exactly the kind of non-mistake that is allowable but if you looked at your GFA and it said possible freazing rain, CB's and otherwise that is the kind of poor discision making Im talking about. If you know you are going to be tight on fuel, plan some diversion points, that kind of thing.

Cole,

 

First thing you learn (1st thing of many...) in the bush, is that there isn't any forcasts, terminals, fa's etc that do you much good. Often it is hard (impossible) to get one and where you are they don't mean anything.

 

HV said it well...

 

Back then there was no such thing as the GFA Cole. There was an FA that gave you all kinds of reference points and you could draw a GFA yourself.

 

In the training world they work good and may be fairly accurate and can be amended quickly to reflect any changes, but try to get that in a tent camp just short of nowhere......

 

And don't forget, A weatherman has the only job where you can be wrong everyday and still have a job

 

Harmonic_Vibe, thats an excellant example of how experiance is gained

 

And hopefully we all live to learn from our training experiences..

[cap]

If I may, I'll add my own recipe for "lenghening the odds" towards a lonnnnnnnng flying career..........trust nothing.

 

You are working in the Arctic shall we say and have been told that a fuel cache has been put out for you in your working area, say 20 miles away. This fuel cache has been put out by a very experienced Arctic pilot of some renown in his Twin Otter. You speak to him personally bt ohone and he relays the exact co-ordinates TWICE to you over the phone. You fly to your work site the next day and begin your flying around with many landings. The time comes for somemore "motion lotion" and away you go to your cache. You go to the EXACT spot and NO FUEL. You sp[read your search out in ever-widening circles and still NO FUEL.

 

You are now separated from your on-ground personnel by 20+ miles and in the middle of nowhere. You try one more search and widen that circle, realizing that the "anal orifice" is now tightening because of a low fuel situation.........and bloody ****.......... you stumble onto the cache just as you've said, "that's enough". That fuel guage reading is now very low when you land at the fuel cache and you know that it is yours because your a/c registration is marked on the drums........which are exactly 75 MILES away from the co-ordinates given to you by the VERY experienced pilot. You have now learned that you TRUST NOBODY ever again concerning placement of supposed fuel caches. Forevermore, when given the location of a fuel cache, you go straight to that fuel cache BEFORE you commence your work and DO NOT wait until yoiu then need it later on.

 

TRUST..........be VERY careful where you place it.

[twinstar_ca]

so how do you deal with that after, cap?? do you discuss said location and actual location with the man who set it out and gave you the lat/long?? do you chock it up to experience?? after all, you may need to "trust" what this man has to tell another time??

 

just playing devil's advocate here a bit... i would think it would be **** hard to rely next time on what he/she said....

[Jammed left]

HV..great story and an excellent illustration of an excellent point. I read your story and had an "ah ha" moment. A reaffirmation of the lessons that I have learned in my relatively short career.

 

Theory and the real world sometime stray apart from each other, even when you are trying your damnest to be diligent....and it happens sometimes for the reasons that are very hard to put your finger on....

 

Thank

JL