IN ..CREDIBLE

[Clark]

 was just at the coffee shop when an old friend hobbled in.. he has been a flight instructor for 35 years. while I was in alaska he was doin a back country instruction in the Frank Church wilderness  area.. they had just taken off and were climbing out of the canyon that the middle fork of the salmon runs through.. also known since lewis and clark as the river of no return. while climbing out the engine started to sputter.. it is a very narrow canyon and you only have 1 shot at getting out. long story short they crashed hitting on the right side where the instructor was sitting. he sustained multilpe injuries including a broken leg in 3 places broke shoulder several broken ribs broke both orbital bones in his face and tore his thumb off where it was on the yoke.. the amazing thing is he had a portable spot satelite beacon locator and just B4 impact he had the sense to hit the emergency button. within 45 minutes of impact 2 smoke jumper EMT's were on location treating him and within one hour and ten minutes of impact 6 smoke jumpers with chainsaws were clearing an area for the medivac chopper to land.. within 2 hours and fifteen minutes from impact he was in the boise hospital being treated. the student walked away with minor injuries.. I have hunted this area several times and let me tell ya ITS GNARLY.. straight up and straight down.. those boys are REEEAL LUCKY..

[Sludge]

Glad they made it out! 

[CajunRider]

Yes, those satellite beacons are AWESOME.  They use those in the Gulf of Mexico helicopter flights to/from oil rigs.  In these parts, there's no need to hit the emergency button, though.  They have an impact activated switch (more than a few G's shock automatically activates them). 

Several have gone off on "rough" landings... usually no major injuries, but the choppers get banged up pretty bad on those. 

When I was taking flying lessons, my inspector told me a good landing is any landing you can walk away from... a GREAT landing is any landing where you can use the plane again.    

[Clark]

this particular locator is the one called SPOT I believe.. they were sellin them at costco for around a hundred bucks.. we use them on snowmobiles, horse back in the mountains, dirt bikes, and while hunting.. they are cool.. you can program email addresses in and friends can follow your path on the computer. there is a mode where you can email them to say you are fine and an emergency mode that sends an SOS out to your contacts plus dials 911.. ya only wanna use that mode in an emergency cause it will cause a COMMOTION..