Posted on 05/05/2014 11:01:42 PM PDT by skeptoid
Wind gusts on Monday afternoon blew a Wasilla pilot off course at takeoff from a rural airstrip in the Matanuska Valley — and stuck him and his plane into a tree 40 feet off the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
You’re near Wasilla.
Any chance you were the tree sitter?
The plane doesn’t look to be in very bad shape. I wonder if that can be recovered without much more damage?
Years ago, I worked with a retired AF Colonel about 20 years older than me. At one time he was the assistant base commander at a base that was in Washington (probably in Tacoma, I don’t recall).
One Sunday afternoon, he and a radar operator took a P-38 two-seater out to log some flight hours. One engine quit and the plane was hard to control (the P-38 had counter-rotating props, so the plane would steer toward the dead engine).
My friend killed the 2nd engine and glided into the top of trees, rather than crash on the ground. He suffered a broken arm and ribs, while the radar operator had a concussion and broken bones, but the aircraft remained intact... just sitting near the tops of the trees, about 60 feet above ground.
They were there for about two days before they were found and rescued.
Maybe, but the cost of a heavy lift chopper or airship and crew would probably be more than the repaired value of the aircraft (unless it's some kind of classic).
Actually, I was thinking along the lines of a crane.
Given sufficient road access, that makes sense.
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