PA-28 down off Iceland - 21/02/08

[Cpt_Pugwash]

Any news on the outcome of this incident yesterday?

"The Piper Cherokee PA 28 aircraft was routing from the Icelandic capital Rekyjavik to Wick in the North-East of Scotland. The pilot told Iceland Air Traffic he was at 9,000 feet (1.7km) at 1122 hrs. Seventeen minutes later he sent a Mayday message reporting severe icing to the aircraft control surfaces and that he was ditching. He is known to be in a survival suit but it is not clear whether he also has a dinghy"

[seenitallbefore]

http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=301352

Appears to be the second one in a matter of days.

[ouninpohja]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7258907.stm

and just seen this link as well.....

http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=301352

[StallStrip]

Lets hope he is ok, odds are slim though he must of had some big balls to do a trip like that in wether like this in a bug smasher.

[CorkEICK]

From The Icelandic Review:

http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/upload/images/templates/jpg_myndir_fyrir_nytt_utlit/daily_news.jpg

02/22/2008 | 11:54

Another Pilot Missing in Iceland

Search was launched for an American pilot yesterday morning after his Cherokee Piper airplane disappeared from the radar 130 nautical miles southeast of Höfn (http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/upload/files/maps/hofn.jpg). He is still missing. Only a few days ago, search was called off for a missing British pilot.

The Icelandic Coast Guard sent its airplane TF-SYN and helicopter TF-LIF to the scene, but the crew failed to spot the pilot or his airplane. Waves were seven to nine meters high and search conditions were difficult, Morgunbladid reports.

The pilot was the only person onboard and was on his way to Wick in Scotland. He was forced to land due to icing. The airplane had taken off from Reykjavík Domestic Airport at 9:20 am and disappeared from radars at 11:20 am.

At 11:56 am, a satellite received a signal from an emergency transmitter, considered a good sign. The pilot had managed to contact other pilots after his airplane disappeared from radars and they confirmed that he had been wearing a dry suit at the time of the accident. This is the second airplane accident of this kind occurring in Icelandic waters in only ten days. On February 11, a small Cessna airplane made an emergency landing 50 nautical miles off Iceland’s southwestern corner. The search was called off after two days.

[robbreid]

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N60842

An international search is on for a veteran Spring Hill pilot who went down Thursday morning in a severe storm off the coast of Iceland.

Greg Frey, 66, was traveling from Reykjavik to Scotland in a Piper Cherokee single-engine plane when he made a mayday call to report "severe icing on the plane's control surfaces," according to a news release issued Thursday from the United Kingdom Defense Ministry.

Frey told traffic controllers that he was "ditching" the plane about 100 miles south of Iceland, the release states.

He was wearing a survival suit that could offer some protection from the icy waters, according to the release.

He also had a life raft aboard the plane, according to Greg Frey Jr., Frey's son, who flew Thursday from California to Spring Hill to be with family members while awaiting updates on the search.

Frey had an emergency transponder that sent a distress signal after the crash, which confirmed that the plane was in the water, according to the defense ministry release.

The Royal Air Force launched its Nimrod aircraft to join the Iceland Coast Guard in the search. This evening, no trace of the plane, or Frey, has been found.

"The weather conditions are very bad with heavy thunderstorms and 20-foot swells," a RAF spokesman said in the release. "We always try to remain optimistic on these occasions, but this is very much a race against time to find the pilot. You have to be realistic as well as hopeful."

Family members have gathered at the Spring Hill home that Frey shares with his wife Maureen, awaiting word from U.S. embassies and the Iceland Coast Guard.

Among them was Frey Jr., who said the news that the distress beacon sounded for more than an hour after the crash is encouraging.

"That means he survived the impact," Frey Jr. said. "That's giving us some hope."

The search had been halted until dawn, Greg Jr. said this afternoon.

The family has gotten calls from the American Consulate and the American Red Cross. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said today that the Brooksville Republican was doing what she could to ensure the lines of communication remained open.

Frey's ultimate destination was Germany, where he planned to deliver the Piper to its new owner. He works for Globe Aero Ltd., a Lakeland-based firm that specializes in ferrying planes throughout the world.

Frey, who'd worked for the company for about a year, left Lakeland on Monday and headed up the East Coast to Bangor, Maine, Globe Aero President Phil Waldman said.

Frey then flew into Canada, across Greenland and on to Iceland, where he ran into storm delays and spent three days "waiting for the weather to move out of his way," Waldman said.

Frey took off Thursday and likely encountered that same storm system, Waldman said. Ice on the wings slows an airplane down, forcing the pilot to descend, he said.

Waldman acknowledged this afternoon that, nearly 36 hours after the crash, it would be "a miracle" if Frey is found alive.

"The North Atlantic is not forgiving," he said.

Waldman and others reached today described Frey as the most competent of pilots, a man with a serious love for flying and an easygoing personality.

He started flying at the age of 16, when he left a job in a steel mill to pursue a career in commercial aviation, Frey Jr. said.

He retired at age 60 after flying commercial planes for 34 years. He kept flying, though, doing aerial photography for a real estate company and working as a private pilot for a real estate developer before taking the job with Globe Aero, Frey Jr. said.

"It wasn't a job, it was a passion," he said. "It was something he loved second to his family."

Frey also is well-known in the local aviation community. He is a former board member of the Hernando County Aviation and Airport Authority and an active member in the Experimental Aircraft Association's Hernando County chapter.

Frey was instrumental in securing a hangar at the county airport for the chapter, fellow EAA member Bernie Berger said.

Berger described Frey as "an idea man."

"He has an ability to get people together," Berger said.

Frey, who owns a single-engine Cessna, also works to instill a love of flying in young people as an active member of the Young Eagles program. He and other EAA members recently made plans to visit local schools to talk about the joys of aviation and the career opportunities in the field, Berger said.

Greg and Maureen Frey moved to Spring Hill in 1981. They have another son, Chris, and two daughters, Megan and Lisa.

The couple would celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary on March 2 and Frey's 67th birthday two days later.

Frey Jr. said the family knew the possible perils of crossing the ocean in a single-engine plane.

"Everybody understood the risk, and we had confidence in him," he said, "but sometimes situations tend to be out of our hands."

[Skydrol Leak]

The met report should be read thoroughly every time and who is really smart enough to fly Cessna across the Atlantic in the winter with all the lows around? Than this happens...

[JJflyer]

My first job was ferrying aircraft. Hard work and extremely dangerous. Some of the people I worked with had ditched several times. After a few years and a few hunderd long over water sectors over the Atlantic and Pacific to all directions I quit. I lost 2 people that I worked with within a few weeks time. I had several close calls myself. Today I am lucky to be alive and every time when I fly over any of the oceans I look at the displays of a 747 and though I am not religious, thank god that I have 100 tons of fuel and 4 turning and burning.

This is not the time of the year to go and play arond the Atlantic. It is asking for it. With the C310 accident a few weeks back and now this. I feel that the dangerous part has been proven.

[Cactus99]

Its beggars belief that he thought he could fly at FL90 across the Atlantic at this time of year, in an aircraft with no anti/de-icing equipment and not come to grief!! :rolleyes:

Another very avoidable loss, which for the sake of 2 or 3 days could have been so different. It appears that the wx forecasts for the area at the time were acurate.

What was the rush/ urgency that was more important than his life? I guess we will never know.

[ferrydude]

Condolences to the friends and families.

Looks like the previous odds of 1/200 light aircraft losses for the NA may have increased.

[Flintstone]

I've always wondered whether the NA ferry pilots are either brave, stupid or mad. I still don't know the answer but the loss of this pilot saddens me.

Vale.

[ferrydude]

Sounds like Margrit Orlowski, a German. She is neither stupid or mad, rather very skilled and knows how to manage risk. Just as any professional pilot and especially ferry pilot should do. Although she has many crossings, I highly doubt she has done the most.:D

[MungoP]

I mentioned earlier in this thread one occasion where I was offered the chance to deliver a S/E home-built from france to the mississipi in the middle of winter... (things were a bit slow after 9/11 and the money though not great was needed).. On that occasion the engine began tearing itself to pieces at night over the Moray Firth but the Gods were on my side and it held together long enough to complete the last 50 miles... Had it been the following day while en-route to Reykjavik or beyond I would have just been another statistic.. I've often wondered why anyone would do that work on a regular basis and I'm not shy to undertake the odd testing flight in remote parts. With the north atlantic route I believe there's a Russian Roulette factor involved.

Those I’ve met who do it by choice I have nothing but the highest admiration for. They are well aware of the risks involved and most are supremely capable of dealing with them. They also know that the circumstances are there waiting for them that all their experience, courage and coolness under pressure will not be able to counter. It will be no fault of their own if one day having received a reasonable weather forecast it turns out to be wrong and the only airport within range will not be accessible. No fault of theirs if the projected cloud base is incorrect and they are unable to stay clear of air-frame and/or engine icing. They cannot be blamed if the engine of the aircraft destroys itself through an oil leak or poor maintenance carried out months before, thousands of miles from the ice-strewn ocean in which they are now about to ditch.

If the money was great I could maybe understand the temptation but ferry-flying is pretty low on the aviation pay-scale.. I spent many years as a professional yacht-delivery skipper before taking up my flying career and had enough near-misses to write a few articles but the sky is even less forgiving than the sea and the winter North Atlantic is not a sea that a pilot should be ditching in.

Best wishes for a long profitable summer to all of you people out there who earn your precarious living in the world of ferry flying.:D:ok:

[repulo]

Any one out there who has some knowledge about the whereabout of the pilot? Has he been found?

[FerrypilotDK]

No, the pilots have not been found. It was with a strange feeling, that I removed their names from my Skype. I hesitated, thinking perhaps, that I should keep them there...as a memorial of some sort. But like crossing them out of a book, they are now gone.

Why do we do it? Part of it is freedom. Part of it is being able to go on your own time (which is again a part of freedom, I guess) instead of arriving at the airport at 0900 for a 1030 departure. At 1015 the client calls and says that we will depart 1200. Send cabin off to get lunch and give the breakfast to the FBO folks....

Client calls at 1210 and says he now wants to go at 1500, has three extra people and orders dinner.

Client cancels flight at 1530 and reschedules for next day.....back to hotel, split dinner with FBO folk.

With ferrying, you can more or less call your own shots. There is no endless discussions with fellow employees about whether they should choose gold or silver stripes for the new uniforms, etc........

I have been to countries I didn´t know existed, there is hardly a place in the news that I haven´t seen first-hand and I have favourite restaurants in the most out-of-way places. There is a strangely good feeling, landing in some place in Africa and the man says "Hello Captain, long time since last." ...or meeting up with colleagues on Pacific Islands, then in Arctic Canada, then India, then Cape Town..... knowing that we can both flight plan, file plans, obtain weather, fix the odd item, clear snow, tie it down in a freak storm at 0300, deal with customs, drive 2 days to pick up the fuel at another airport, that the locals delivered to the wrong place, roll barrels across the tarmac and use a day to fuel by barrel and hand pump...then go to a party on the beach with the locals you have been working with all day.... So even though I have left this behind for the time, and enjoy for the most part my new life, I would never be without these things, and knowing that if the connection to ops fails, and the FBO guy is sick, the catering company truck had an accident----I can get weather, file a flight plan, find my own hotel and attach the tug and pull the aircraft out of the hangar. Then I can go to a grocery and a bakery and make a pleasant meal.

I once saw a couple of airline guys, ferrying a 727 to a new place. They were away from their life-support system for the first time....and a local student pilot was helping them obtain weather and file a flight plan. They had no clue how to do any of this............

BIRK

[Roy Bouchier]

The freedom is the thing that makes ferrying attractive. It's one of the last outposts of real aviation. I started to deliver across the pond in the 70's when the sheer boredom of schedules got to me. Never singles I admit.
And as you say, the folks you meet along the way come from a different planet to the average FBO ramp rat.
Ran a starter motor in Sondestrom once. Danish line guy says 'You want me to fix it? I am a mechanic.' Next morning he had it back, rebuilt courtesy of the USAAF workshops on the other side of the field. Had to be forced to take money.
See you are at BIRK. What was the name of the fellow running the FBO there? His father was an old time Loftleidir pilot. Took me sightseeing around the island when I was weathered in once.
Singles are risky I admit - but so are many things in life.

[Newforest2]

I feel intimidated posting on this thread with such an esteemed band of pilots, but FerrypilotDK, it sounds as though you have a book in you?:D

[MungoP]

but FerrypilotDK, it sounds as though you have a book in you?

And why not... ??? Plenty of us out there that have had enough close calls to warm a long winter night with a firelight and a glass of something that warms...

we could put together a few experiences to interest a publisher... anyone game for it ?

[spittingimage]

Cowardly though it may seem, while I might be able to recount a tale or two as a humble contribution to such a publishing venture, I am not keen possibly to provoke any more administrative or regulatory scrutiny on these trips than I already have to cope with. Not until I hang up my immersion suit for good anyway.

RB did you mean Sveinn in BIRK ?