Posted on 11/20/2009 8:27:40 PM PST by skeptoid
RESCUE: Snowmachiners come to aid of passengers, including infant twins. Without a word, with the plane at 4,500 feet, pilot Bradley Amos tapped something on the instrument panel. Seven passengers -- including twin 8-month-old girls -- were in the cabin. Soon came a loud popping sound. The plane's single propeller suddenly stopped turning and the smell of engine smoke filtered past the seats. The Cessna 207 glided without power above the tundra in Southwest Alaska. That was the low point of the Wednesday night flight. Here's the highlight: Within what felt like two minutes, the plane was on the ground. The babies were safe and sleeping. Their father, Quila Dock Jr., said the forced landing on the hard snow and grass was so smooth it felt like touching down on an asphalt runway. The 31-year-old pilot stayed calm the entire time, Dock said. "He wasn't shouting or panicking, which made us feel good." Dock was flying with his family from Bethel to their hometown of Kipnuk, four miles from the Bering Sea coast. The plane made it about halfway, going down roughly 15 miles from Tuntutuliak, where a rescue team scrambled to haul the passengers and pilot to safety on snowmachines. No one was hurt, troopers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
SNIP - -"He was just letting the plane fly down and he wasn't turning very fast. He was just turning very slow for the plane to get to that good spot," Dock said.
snip - -
The nearest helicopter was too far away, so local snowmachines rescued them.
I love it when it ends with "not a SCRATCH"
(N1653U - '74 C 207 recip)
Excellent job by all.
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