Greenland DH8B near Narsarsuaq, finds and guides private plane to safety
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Greenland DH8B near Narsarsuaq, finds and guides private plane to safety
Incident: Greenland DH8B near Narsarsuaq on Nov 14th 2016, finds and guides private plane to safety
Well done, great airmanship!
Well done, great airmanship!
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Speaking of GL, a mate of mine used to drive Twotters for them. Many moons ago he was dispatched to deliver christmas goodies to a remote settlement, but ran into very bad weather enroute. He could either return or, as the case was, think out of the box. He took the latter option, landed the Twotter on the inland ice and taxied some 100km to destination.
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Now THAT'S what I call AIRMANSHIP. Excellent job. There was a case many years ago of an ANZ DC10 locating and navigating a lost ferry aircraft, which would otherwise have been forced to ditch. Probably a generation's age difference between these two crews, but it's heartening to see the skill and resourcefulness is still there.
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Of course, we live in an age of fantastic technology but I was still impressed by the report of an aircraft being - no doubt vectored - towards an unresponsive Harrier, by all accounts, brand new and being ferried by a civilian.
The other pilot successfully located the Harrier and flew close enough - in the dark - to positively identify the unfortunate fact that it was flying by itself - its cockpit empty and canopy gone. A sad business but amazing all the same.
The other pilot successfully located the Harrier and flew close enough - in the dark - to positively identify the unfortunate fact that it was flying by itself - its cockpit empty and canopy gone. A sad business but amazing all the same.
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Great work!
Congratulations to the Dash 8 crew! Those Cessna guys owe you their lives.
Why on earth the Cessna crew departed in the first place with a TAF like that utterly eludes me.
ps I have about 6K hours in the Canadian Arctic.
Why on earth the Cessna crew departed in the first place with a TAF like that utterly eludes me.
ps I have about 6K hours in the Canadian Arctic.
Last edited by oleary; 19th Nov 2016 at 20:03.
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Flygoose. That was the unfortunate Taylor Scott, who apparently accidentally ejected himself, and was found dead in a farmer's field. It was a U.S.A.F C.5 Galaxy that was vectored to it, and, I believe, followed it until the Harrier's fuel was exhausted, whereupon it crashed into the Irish Sea.
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Plenty of such stories in the past , like the French air force T33 instructor who intercepted and directed the disabled Spantax CV990 to a Cognac AFB runway after the collision with the DC9 over Nantes.
Because of the Air force embarrassment over the whole affair ( military ATC having taken over during Civil controllers strike) this guy never received due recognition, but he can rest with the fact that he helped saving 107 lives that day...
As to Greenlandair crews : Arctic flying brings the best from the Best ...Been over there a few times (as pax) . Great guys .
Because of the Air force embarrassment over the whole affair ( military ATC having taken over during Civil controllers strike) this guy never received due recognition, but he can rest with the fact that he helped saving 107 lives that day...
As to Greenlandair crews : Arctic flying brings the best from the Best ...Been over there a few times (as pax) . Great guys .

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Re: Taylor Scott harrier business:
As I recall it was the inadvertent and unexplained firing of the ejection seat's drogue parachute which caused his death by in effect dragging him out of the aircraft.
The Galaxy reported the ejection seat itself remained in place in the a/c and the canopy frame was intact.
Various reasons were postulated as to why and how it could fired and whether the pilot had done anything sequence of actions that could have led to this eventuality.........
As I recall it was the inadvertent and unexplained firing of the ejection seat's drogue parachute which caused his death by in effect dragging him out of the aircraft.
The Galaxy reported the ejection seat itself remained in place in the a/c and the canopy frame was intact.
Various reasons were postulated as to why and how it could fired and whether the pilot had done anything sequence of actions that could have led to this eventuality.........
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Was there not a case, >30 years ago, over the Pacific, perhaps SE Asia, where a BA crew (?) who had astro nav knowledge helped a lost light a/c? It was lost and searching for land, and via a Q&A session about sun angles & relative direction the hi-level crew managed to calculate a circle of probability and suggested a steer to nearest airport and thus within range of a beacon ir sight of land? Memories fading fast, but there is always someone who remembers these things.
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@RAT 5
That was the ANZ DC10 / Gordon Vette incident discussed above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_188_Pacific_rescue
That was the ANZ DC10 / Gordon Vette incident discussed above:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_188_Pacific_rescue
Vette was able to use the setting sun to gain an approximate position of the Cessna. He instructed the Cessna to point directly at the setting sun. He did the same, and noted the difference in heading between the aircraft as four degrees. After making an allowance for the differing altitudes of the aircraft, the difference in sunset times between the aircraft and Norfolk Island was also noted. This data allowed the crew to calculate that the Cessna must be south west of the DC-10 by about 400 nautical miles. About 25 minutes after turning in that direction, contact on short range VHF radio was established.