Dateline NBC

[Larry Mayer]

A Dateline NBC story to air Sunday night about a student pilot crash in Wyoming will have my Husky in it. In fact, during the interview I tried to say Husky as many times as I could but I'm sure they cut that out. They did use it as a backdrop for interviews and mounted cameras on it for a flight.

 

[Ak Kurt]

Larry,

Great job! You sir and your fellow pilots are the types I would want to have come looking for me if I were ever in trouble. Great job on the tv show too.

When I heard that the CAP or Air force was going to take over the search and order all of you out of the air I was furious, stupid!

I have to say, I am a bit shocked in the lack of survival gear McKinzie had with her. Lets all learn from this, be prepared.

So glad this had a happy ending.

Great job Larry!

Kurt

 

[Meadowlark]

As far as I know, SAR done by GA pilots in their own aircraft has pretty much vanished. The last exercise I participated in, I had antiquated, cheap equipment owned by the State of Montana. The CAP had $30,000 worth of very good 121.5 search equipment installed in their brand new C-182's. But DHS/CBP had stuff that would make your mind spin. They were sitting miles off and thousands of feet higher than I was and told the "crash victims" that their shoe laces were untied and the time on their watches was off……

J/C GTF

 

[lowlevelops]

As far as I know, SAR done by GA pilots in their own aircraft has pretty much vanished. The last exercise I participated in, I had antiquated, cheap equipment owned by the State of Montana. The CAP had $30,000 worth of very good 121.5 search equipment installed in their brand new C-182's. But DHS/CBP had stuff that would make your mind spin. They were sitting miles off and thousands of feet higher than I was and told the "crash victims" that their shoe laces were untied and the time on their watches was off……

J/C GTF

JC, I will have to respectfully disagree... Montana Aeronautics IS the SAR coordinator for the state of Montana. The State has a C206 that they can use but the state is broke up into regions that have local, volunteer coordinators, pilots and observers. All the CAP does is fly around looking out the window from somewhere around 3000' AGL in severe clear weather about 5 days after the accident happened.

You are right about the DHS, they have some great equipment but everything still funnels through the Aeronautics. And that's if they have assets available.

 

[Larry Mayer]

Now available online if you missed it.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/dateline-full-episodes/full-episode-wild-n188591



Larry

 

[DAFLYR]

Great story! Thanks for sharing this.

 

[bumper]

Well done, Larry!

Amazing story, and one very lucky young lady.

bumper

 

[Scott Musser]

That was an awesome story Larry and very well presented. Thanks for sharing.

 

[rhthomas]

Well done Larry! That was certainly one of the best aviation news bits I've seen. Lot's of links in that accident chain, but she did great on the one thing that really matters, flying the airplane all the way into the crash.

 

[rparker]

Great story. There a lot of very lucky people in aviation.
I'm proud of her for getting back on the horse and finishing
her license.

Thanks

 

[Sunriver36]

Amazing! I guess I missed the original News and felt the hair go back up of my neck when I heard of the wind gust that drove her down. I've flown to Idaho Back Country many times and am always a bit quizey when trying to go over the top of a very hi ridge.
My daughter took her cross country at 16 and I never felt so nervous for her in my life!

 

[bumper]

Certainly not gonna Monday morning QB the young lady, but remember she was low time, cross country solo, and flying a Cessna trainer. Other more experienced pilots (e.g. Steve Fossett - though he was reputed to be only an "average stick") have bought the farm too, so the inexperienced don't have a monopoly. In fact, it seems like there is a disproportionate number of mountain flying accidents (and I'm including gliders here) that involve very experienced pilots too.

It's important to keep in mind Mother N. can unexpectedly dish out more than we and our little planes can deal with. Knowing the warning signs, those situations to avoid*, and where trouble may possibly lie in wait is key.

*Or at the very least go timidly while maintaining an out.