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5 Killed As 2 Planes Collide in Alaska [OT]


Guest Oyster

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This looks to be family tragedies not commuters.

In Alaska we have such a large percentage of people and families that fly and commercial fish and hunt and boat and enjoy the expanse and wonder of our state that we sometimes have occasional tragedies also. When something like this happens, we all feel it and wonder at the price of adventure.

What we do though is check our gear, check our equipment, think about what has gone wrong before, and go anyway-we try to learn from what happened and not repeat it.

There is adventure and wonder out there-it's worth finding.

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Mike, the accident happened in the Palmer area which is about 60 miles out of Anchorage or so. There will be an investigation of course but as Mark says there are a very large number of small aircraft flying in this state and it is just bound to happen once in a while.. Very sad.

You won't here about all the successful flights.

Gary

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Guest Oyster

Thanks for the replies. Mid air collisions, to me, are a waste and troublesome. With as much airspace, unlike highway accidents with the limited areas of roadway, I think many become complacent at the stick.

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Mike that is called the big sky little plane theory. Just like the Golden BB it isn't true. One of my pilots damn near did this same thing about three months ago during a test mission. Eyes on the autopilot and no one looking outside! Ask me about this one when we see each other. :shock:

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The weather has been bad, lots of rain and snow flurries. I haven't seen the paper or turned on the news channel, because I have been moving to a larger place.

However we are surrounded by mountains, and when you can't see didles, sometimes folks use the same land marks. I'll see what I can find out.

I was once flying to Kenai with a friend, the controler out of Anchorage told us to take a certain heading at a certain altitude, we complied. Not two minutes later the same controler came back on the air telling us to dive. He had directed us right beneath an incoming jet liner, we almost got our wings knocked off. :shock:

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My sympathies to their families.

I know from experience it can be very difficult to see another plane. I imagine that at 1000 to 1500 feet AGL the lower plane would blend into the background rather easily.

That article seems to have been written by someone who understands aviation and smaller planes. In Minnesota the press would like report the cause of such a crash as due to a failure on the part of one of the pilots to file a flight plan. :roll:

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Guest Oyster

That was quite a story, Mike. A real shame, indeed. There a bit of a forum hickup. On the main page, previously, it showed Craig's post as the most recent, but now it shows Dave R post. Now my post, which is about one hour later, shows before Craig's post.

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Where they are describing is actually an old tidal plane, nothing but muskeg and low bush that the moose feed off of. It is not really farmed hayfields, unless they are speaking of Point Mackenzie, which I doubt, from the ten mile distance given.

There is a close, range of mountains running along the Cook Inlet to the south and Elmendorf Air Force Base's no flight zones that tend to funnel air traffic around the base between Anchorage and the Valley. Also the sun would have been behind or a bit off to the side of the plane coming from Anchorage, I believe.

I Hate to see such losses of good people and children. And truly, one would think that with all this space, such a tragic event would never happen.

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It always seems like an accident like this should not have happened but the fact is that it does and it does not mean that anyone was being complacent at the controls nor does it mean that anyone was at fault. Sure, the lawyers will make the case that someone or another failed to see the traffic. From a couple thousand feet your looking at hundreds of square miles of various colors which make for camoflage for other aircraft. Your job as a pilot along with watching the engine gauges, headings and flight instruments is to keep an ever vigilant eye out for another 20' airplane in that expanse. Cessnas all travel at over 100 mph. It all happens too quick and with the given number of people who fly in Alaska its just going to happen. Sad when it does but thats the way it is. I've lost several friends to mid air collisions and carried one friend to her grave, thats hard but I wouldn't want to take the freedom of flight from them and I'm quite sure non of them would want to give it up. It is very sad for the families and friends left.

Good Luck to all.

Gary

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