Search continues for missing pilot

[C J Campbell]

http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2004-03-08/local/420302.shtml

I take students out over this area to practice every single day. The whole
area is heavily forested (as is all of western Washington), but there are
also several private airstrips, golf courses, farms, a pipeline right of
way, beaches, and many other spots suitable for an emergency landing.

If he landed in the woods anywhere in western Washington, you could walk
within ten feet of the crash site and never see it. In fact, when I was an
Explorer Scout (back in the '60s) I was taken to an area near Monroe to
learn search and rescue techniques. They had an actual crash site there that
they used for training. You could stand within arm's length of the airplane
and not see it.

The area is also dangerous for searchers because the trees are full of dead
wood that is constantly falling to the forest floor. The extremely uneven
terrain filled with dense undergrowth means that off-trail travel will be
less than a mile a day. Most of the undergrowth consists of salal, which
grows well over eight feet high in the wild and is more dense than any hedge
plant, interspersed with blackberry and devil's club with inch long thorns.
Relatively open areas will be filled with huge nettles and thistles. The ten
foot ferns give a Jurassic aura to the place, along with the enormous vines,
clover with four inch leaflets, skunk cabbage, vines and moss.

The skunk cabbage, blackberries, nettles, thistles and several other plants
are edible, but not very tasty.

Animal life is abundant, but you will see little more than curious deer.

Still, if the pilot had any warning at all, he should have been able to make
it to a relatively open area for an emergency landing. The trouble is, if he
was only at 500' above Case Inlet, then he could have been below treetop
level on the shore, as the land rises steeply to 400' almost immediately.
Students here typically practice ground reference maneuvers at between 1100'
and 1500' MSL.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.

[Peter Duniho]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
> Still, if the pilot had any warning at all, he should have been able to
make
> it to a relatively open area for an emergency landing. The trouble is, if
he
> was only at 500' above Case Inlet, then he could have been below treetop
> level on the shore, as the land rises steeply to 400' almost immediately.

As of last night's evening news, they were focusing on an oil slick not too
far from Olympia, in the same location where a couple of boaters say they
saw something sink (they thought it was a sail at the time).

Sounds to me like my original guess, based on the wife's comments, that the
pilot simply flew the plane into the water while hot-dogging or that he had
an engine failure at very low altitude, was most likely correct. If one
assumes the radar track was for the missing plane, the "flew the plane into
the water" theory is pretty plausible (since the oil slick is well past
where the plane went off radar).

Lots of assumptions, of course. Until they pull the plane up (they are
bringing sonar in today to search for it at that location), and determine
whether the engine was developing power at the time of the crash, we won't
know whether it was an engine failure or pilot error (though, to be so low
when the engine fails is pilot error too).

Pete

[C J Campbell]

"Peter Duniho" > wrote in message
...
>
> Lots of assumptions, of course. Until they pull the plane up (they are
> bringing sonar in today to search for it at that location), and determine
> whether the engine was developing power at the time of the crash, we won't
> know whether it was an engine failure or pilot error (though, to be so low
> when the engine fails is pilot error too).
>

Heck, that area is so full of airplane haters someone could have shot him
down.

[Peter Duniho]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
> Heck, that area is so full of airplane haters someone could have shot him
> down.

Well, obviously I'm not in favor of people shooting at airplanes. However,
when pilots are running around skimming the water in populated areas, it's
not hard to understand why the "airplane haters" exist. I fly more than I
sail, and have only done a handful of trips around the south Sound, but
every single trip I've been on, there's some joker flying too low, too close
to our boat. Happens at least a few times a day. A couple hundred feet is
typical, but often they are closer than that.

It just takes a small number of bad apples to create the airplane haters.
But on the other hand, an airplane keeping the legally required distance
would be practically impossible to shoot down with any gun that's legal to
own.

Pete

[C J Campbell]

"Peter Duniho" > wrote in message
...
> "C J Campbell" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Heck, that area is so full of airplane haters someone could have shot
him
> > down.
>
> Well, obviously I'm not in favor of people shooting at airplanes.
However,
> when pilots are running around skimming the water in populated areas, it's
> not hard to understand why the "airplane haters" exist. I fly more than I
> sail, and have only done a handful of trips around the south Sound, but
> every single trip I've been on, there's some joker flying too low, too
close
> to our boat. Happens at least a few times a day. A couple hundred feet
is
> typical, but often they are closer than that.
>
> It just takes a small number of bad apples to create the airplane haters.
> But on the other hand, an airplane keeping the legally required distance
> would be practically impossible to shoot down with any gun that's legal to
> own.

Ah, I forgot the smiley and Pete thought I took the threat of airport haters
shooting airplanes down seriously.

There have been a few planes come back with bullet holes, but those were
probably from druggies who thought the planes were being flown by the cops.
Certainly nothing has been shot down.

The airport haters are more likely to vandalize airplanes while they are on
the ground, though they are not above making terrorist threats in public
meetings.