Is this Goose done? [Archive]

PaperTiger

2nd Jan 2006, 16:47

This video pops up every couple of years and gets mailed around.

The Goose was N1257A and the sequence appears in the movie "Endless Summer II". From replies posted elsewhere it seems the pilot was umm... demonstrating his step-taxi technique :uhoh:

The Goose survived and is now with Pacific Coastal Air in Canada.

Update (from propliners group):Back in the "olden days", when Tamarindo was a small village and
everyone knew everyone else, filmmaker Bruce Brown chose the town to
shoot a segment for his new movie "Endless Summer II". The sequel to
the famous surfing movie "Endless Summer" came a generation later than
the original, and, of course, featured new stars: Wingnut and Pat
O'Connor, together with one of the originals, Robert August.

Living in Flamingo at that time was a pilot, "Hoot" Gibson, who had
spent several years obtaining his commercial license in Costa Rica.
Hoot owned a vintage Grumman Goose seaplane, relic of World War II,
and intended to charter it for tours. Given the state of the roads
then - and not much improved since - a seaplane seemed the way to go
to explore a country surrounded by sea.

Robert August had a fine idea: To charter the Goose to fly the film
crew and its surfers around the coasts of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and
Panama, looking for unknown or little-known surf spots to shoot their
sequences. Apart from being much faster to cover more area, the
aircraft was highly superior to a boat, which could only examine the
waves from the "back", or ocean, side whereas a 'plane could approach
from the landward side, too. "Endless Summer II" was Hoot's first
charter in Costa Rica, and was to last two weeks.

On the first day, the Goose took off from the airport. The plan was to
fly out to Cabo Velas, return along Playa Grande and land in the bay
near Tamarindo estuary, where the crew would board, then to take off
on their adventures.

The camera crew set up on Tamarindo Beach, ready to shoot the approach
and landing for the movie. But instead of flying from Cabo Velas,
approaching Tamarindo from the west along the Playa Grande coastline,
the big Grumman twin came roaring down the river from the north,
putting on a show for the camera. On board were the pilot, "Hoot"
Gibson, and local resident and California board shaper, the late Mike
"Doc" Diffenderfer.

Approaching Tamarindo, the pilot started a right turn to follow the
estuary, but his height was insufficient. Presumably he suddenly
became aware of the power lines which cross the river at that point,
and was forced to fly below them. The right pontoon caught the water,
and jerked the aircraft to the right. Overcorrecting, the pilot put
the left float into the water, and the aircraft swerved to that side.

Gibson applied full take-off power to get the aircraft back into the
air, but it careered from the river onto the beach, where it
ground-looped and came to a stop. The whole incident was filmed, and
eventually became part of the movie.

"At this point," said August, "we saw fuel spraying from the aircraft
onto the sand, and there was a distinct danger of a fire or explosion.
As we approached the 'plane, the doors opened and Hoot and Doc jumped
out, fortunately both unhurt. From a nearby beach house, a resident
came running, carrying a big club and shouting at the pilot that he
was in a national park, and polluting the beach. We managed to calm
him down, and the incident ended at that point."

Eyewitness Dean Butterfield adds: "I was up the hill looking over the
estuary, watching Hoot Gibson fly the plane through it. He was doing
touch and go's in the estuary, I was wondering why he felt he had to
do that in there. As he came out to the mouth I think he saw the cable
stretched across at the last minute and tried to duck under it. He
caught the wing tip and stuffed it into the sand.

By the time I got down to it, there were a lot of people around. I
took pictures and made a T-shirt from one."

Officials of Minae also attended the site very shortly after the
accident, and charged the pilot with flying in a protected zone
(Parque Marina las Baulas). As a result, Gibson's license, obtained
over several years, was withdrawn after one brief flight.

"As it happened, the club-bearing resident did quite well out of the
crash." August continues. "The plane suffered damage to a wing and one
of the propellers, and parts for a vintage seaplane are not procured
at your local NAPA store, so the aircraft had to sit for a year or so
while repairs were made. During this time the aircraft was parked in
the resident's back garden, he and his family being paid for caretaker
duty against theft or vandalism. I believe someone of the family slept
in their garden ornament every night."

The day after the accident, filming continued with a scene where
supposed crash passengers August, Wingnut and Pat O'Connor climb
cheerfully from the Goose, carrying their boards, and run off to the
surf.

Seriously concerned that accident investigators or other officials
might confiscate the film shot up to that point, Director Bruce Brown
hired a friend to hop a Sansa flight to San José, thence to Los
Angeles for processing. Fortunately, the film escaped customs
examination but, arriving in Los Angeles, it was delayed a couple of
days en route for the processing studio by the Rodney King riots,
which occurred in the vicinity of the studio.

The Goose was eventually repaired and flown out of Tamarindo.

Endless Summer II was released in 1994.