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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Dec 22, 2009 - 04:52pm PT
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End of the runway, jungle in Ecuador:
smokejumpers loading up:
Down at the office of my favorite airline:
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Dec 22, 2009 - 04:59pm PT
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Just to keep it climbing related- getting the rig ready for the trip home after a fire jump on the Bridger-Teton NF:
After the airport:
Places to land are where you find them!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Dec 27, 2009 - 10:57am PT
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Cheers Pate, many of us have shared those moments. One daughter airport adventure when young Natalie was 12; I took her in to DIA for her return to Reno. They decided she was the most threatening passenger and took her in for special treatment, analized her Sportiva flip flops and everything
Today she is twice your daughter's age and asleep upstairs. She's with me into the new year. Today we have an exciting day of clutch driving, learning, to do.
the adventures never stop....
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 28, 2010 - 05:41pm PT
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Pip, you're right, some days (not necessarily today) my job has been a good one.
I was reminded as I scanned some old slides and found this one, from an airport that not
even Michael Hjorth has landed at. (I'm guessing!)
My friend Eyjólfur flew us there in a borrowed Piper Tomahawk one fine day.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 28, 2010 - 05:44pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 28, 2010 - 07:04pm PT
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The 'airport' at Dzhirgatal, Tadzhikistan.
Special high density altitude T/O procedure for overloaded Mil-8 bound for Pamirs.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 29, 2010 - 10:22am PT
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Reilly, so they taxi before takeoff?
Unrelated odd-takeoff note ... also in Iceland I spent a pleasant hour watching folks launch
manned gliders using a truck, instead of the usual drop plane.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 29, 2010 - 11:22am PT
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They have to taxi to find less rutted areas to perform their
patented T/O. The place is so high and warm and they're
so overloaded they can't lift off directly. They start by
rolling forward at about 20 mph, then they pull the collective,
which gets the rear wheels off, then they pitch forward to
generate more forward speed, then they start bouncing on
the front wheel until they can bounce high enough to continue flying!
They build 'em tough at the Mil plant!
I'll scan some slides of fixed wing ops there; almost as exciting.
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kinnikinik
Trad climber
B.C.
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Mar 29, 2010 - 11:32am PT
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 29, 2010 - 11:46am PT
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Kinnikinik, were you down there climbing Vinson?
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Michael Hjorth
Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Mar 30, 2010 - 06:50pm PT
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You're right, Chiloe, never been to Eyjólfur. Nice photos.
Getting back to Pip's story from Lukla, Nepal, I have these shots:
Flying into Lukla, April 1990:
And while waiting to get out in 1988, frustrated tourists queuing up for the army Puma:
I didn't get on it and had to wait a few more days...:
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Michael Hjorth
Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Mar 30, 2010 - 07:03pm PT
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Some more from Nepal...
Flying in to Taplejung, Kangchenjunga area in 1992 there was a thick cloud cover. Doing figures of eights for 15-20 minutes the pilot suddenly saw the grass airstrip though a hole and dived for it! Passengers were screaming when he banged it to the ground, but we were told that we were lucky as it was a buddhist pilot. Had it been a hindu he would most certainly have gone straight back to the Biratnaghar in the lowlands without even trying...
Getting picked up 1996 in Juphal at Dolpa Airstrip in Western Nepal the incoming Pilatus Porter exploded it's nosewheel on landing. So we had to wait for this former Sovjet helicopter:
These tibetan traders wanted to come as well, but didn't have the cash...
Michael
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 30, 2010 - 07:03pm PT
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Running for the plane in Vancouver:
Some of the competitors in the winter Olympics:
An intriguing place for someone like me, combining work and play:
(Actually, I'm not the sort of lawyer who goes to court.)
Sunrise over the east coast of Baffin Island, from 11,000 m somewhere north of Clyde River:
(Sunrise there goes on for several months.)
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Michael Hjorth
Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Mar 30, 2010 - 07:12pm PT
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Some silly "heliports" in Greenland:
Getting picked up on a snow ridge after looking for gold in South Greenland. Pilot was somewhat nervous for the up- and down draft rolling over the edge:
Loading mineral samples while the chopper is on one ski:
Michael
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2010 - 07:26pm PT
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By the way Michael, it's looking like I might see CPH again early June. You around or off somewhere?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 30, 2010 - 07:31pm PT
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Michael,
Too bad your Twin Otter pilot didn't train under my brother-in-law.
He could have taught him the Ultimate Twin Otter Approach. Nose it
over into a vertical dive and put the props in 'Beta'(reverse thrust)
then 'hover' to a landing. Then you would have really heard some screaming!
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Michael Hjorth
Trad climber
Copenhagen, Denmark
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Mar 31, 2010 - 03:46am PT
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Reilly: He-he, sounds like good fun! But I would not like a Nepalese pilot to do that trick. Somehow I do not trust them too much. Heard a lecture once by a young Danish pilot, who by want of flight hours took a job as 2nd pilot at a Nepalese air company. His conclusion after two years was that Nepal is THE most dangerous place to travel by air. His stories of bad maintainence and lousy pilothandwork were fascinating.
The best "bush" pilots I have met are the Islandic. I am sure they know that trick. Once we were landing in a Twin Otter in East Greenland. Soft gravel landing, first time in, no airstrip. Pilot tuched down softly, took off immidiately, went back down to observe the impact tracks and from that knowledge landed us safely.
Chiloe: June? Sure, I am going nowhere! A reunion of our peripheral ST fireside is on! Send me a note and I'll arrange.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Mar 31, 2010 - 08:30pm PT
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So here's the 'ramp' at Dzhirgatal International!
It lies about 130 miles east of Dushanbe, Tadzhikistan.
This beauty is the justly famed Antonov-2; the most produced
commercial aircraft in history! Want to fly through brick walls?
This is your rig. It seats 15 lucky pax and anything and everything
they want to bring aboard. Max T/O weight - whatever fits.
Lose an engine? No probs - with the wing loading of a griffon
vulture you could float this baby down anywhere you want.
The young gent in the foreground was one of my buddies and he is
proudly sporting his new US Ski Association "I Ski" window decal.
I can guarantee you that was cherished for a long time!
Here's the 'ramp crew'. I'm not sure what they're guarding but you
wouldn't get far stealing anything here; there's sort of a road in
here (open a few months per year) and everybody knows everybody's business.
Oh, they also offer rampside haircuts there! How cool is that?
Carlos Buhler enjoying such:
Now if you harbor dreams of seeing the boondocks of Russia you're
going to go in an AN-2 at some point so I should point out it does
have a few limitations. While weight and balance is generally not an
issue we did discover it can be. On our last flight out of here all
15 seats were filled, the baggage area in back was stacked to the
rafters, and the aisle was full of packs too. It wasn't like we were
worried about no stinkin' beverage cart! So I ensconce myself in the
front middle seat. The cockpit door's latch was busted so I propped it
open so I could keep an eye on Igor and Valerii. Despite a downhill T/O
roll I could see we were running out of the 'improved' portion of
Dzhirgatal International's 'back 40'. Just before we ran into the weeds
it looked to me like both Igor and Valerii had to heave on their respective
yokes to haul her off the ground. We're doing maybe 75 kts and the
stall horn is sounding like a New York City traffic jam; we're 'hanging
on the prop', as the saying goes, and pedaling for all we're worth. I
look at the boys and it is obvious this is Standard Operating Procedure.
I mean they haven't lit up a Pamir or anything but they don't look
concerned. Luckily, the terrain contiues to fall away beneath our wheels
as Dzhirgatal lies on a plateau high above the mighty Vakhsh River, one of
the biggest in Central Asia. Valerii leans back and yells, "Start passing
the heaviest packs forward!" I stuff a couple in the cockpit and then
pile as many more as high as possible in the aisle. After about 5 minutes
the horn goes off and the boys relax enough to light up their fags; a job well done.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Mar 31, 2010 - 10:22pm PT
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Thank you all, for the travel show. Amazing photos. I've done a lot of flying out of dirt strips, but of course have not digitalized those photos.
Reilly: I am most amazed at your photo of "Antonov-2; the most produced
commercial aircraft in history!"
Looks like a flying boxcar.
Here is my illegal photo from the end of the Lukla, Nepal airport in 2005. I took it through the razor wire with the automatic-weapon toting guard studiously looking the other way.
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bmacd
Trad climber
Beautiful, BC
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Mar 31, 2010 - 11:06pm PT
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