just hangin around...

[houstondan]

Pilot found dangling upside-down 2 days after crash
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho - A pilot missing for two days was found alive, dangling
upside-down in the wreckage of his single-engine plane in a heavily
forested area.
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Paul C. Herr, of Pasco, Wash., was in fair condition at St. Joseph
Regional Medical Center in Lewiston after his rescue Wednesday, a
nursing supervisor said.

Members of the sheriff's rescue unit had to rappel into the site in the
Clearwater National Forest from a helicopter, then use chain saws to
cut a landing pad.

"He was in a very steep area, and topographically it's really, really
rugged," sheriff's spokeswoman Trudy Slagle said.

Herr was making a final leg of the trip from Jackson, Wyo., to Pasco on
Monday when he reported engine failure over Idaho, state Transportation
Department spokesman Mel Coulter said.

Though air traffic controllers in Seattle tried to direct him to an
airstrip in Kooskia, Idaho - just 20 miles away - he never arrived.

Bad weather kept the rescue workers from carrying out an aerial search
until Wednesday.

Herr and his wife had gone to Iowa to visit grandchildren. Christine
Herr had taken a commercial flight while her husband flew the
40-year-old Piper 180 home solo.

[John Galban]

houstondan wrote:
> Pilot found dangling upside-down 2 days after crash
> Associated Press
>
<snip>

That's one very lucky pilot. The terrain in that area is more
vertical than it is horizontal. It looks like a severe case of acne on
the sectional chart.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[Morgans]

"houstondan" > wrote
>
> BOISE, Idaho - A pilot missing for two days was found alive, dangling
> upside-down in the wreckage of his single-engine plane in a heavily
> forested area.

I know he was glad to be alive, and so am I.

Two days is a long time to go without relieving one's bladder. Taking a
leak upside-down is a pleasure I have never had, thankfully. ;-)

I can not imagine how his head and eyes must have felt, with all of the
blood rushing to his head for that long.

Are there any medical studies on prolonged exposure to negative one G, for
that long?

I can only presume that he was afraid of shifting weight upsetting the
plane's stability, and having it all fall further, if he attempted to free
himself.
--
Jim in NC

[[email protected]]

houstondan wrote:
> Pilot found dangling upside-down 2 days after crash
> Associated Press

[snip]

> Though air traffic controllers in Seattle tried to direct him to an
> airstrip in Kooskia, Idaho - just 20 miles away - he never arrived.

Assuming total loss of engine power of this Piper 180, at what
elevation (above ground) could a glide 20 miles be expected? Sounds
like a long way. I realize we'd have to know winds aloft to make a more
accurate estimate. Wonder how short he was of making Kooskia.

Mike

[George Patterson]

wrote:
>
> Assuming total loss of engine power of this Piper 180, at what
> elevation (above ground) could a glide 20 miles be expected?

About 12,000' AGL.

George Patterson
"Naked" means you ain't got no clothes on; "nekkid" means you ain't got
no clothes on - and are up to somethin'.

[John Galban]

George Patterson wrote:
> wrote:
> >
> > Assuming total loss of engine power of this Piper 180, at what
> > elevation (above ground) could a glide 20 miles be expected?
>
> About 12,000' AGL.
>

Assuming flat ground. In the that part of Idaho, much of the
terrain is at around 9K - 10K ft in long ridges. When I'm flying up
there, even at 12K ft., I expect to glide no more than a few miles in
the event of an engine failure.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)