March 21, 1998
We landed on the ice, taxied to the unloading area and had just shut down the engines when the left main landing gear broke through the ice... The rest of the plane quickly followed. N800NC (c/n # 98) sunk up the her wings in the water. The insurance company hired Joel Natwick and his salvage crew out of Port Alsworth to keep the aircraft floating and get it to shore... No small task! The ice had to be cut with a chainsaw and then moved out of the way in order to pull the plane to shore. One week (and many man hours), later, N800NC was tied off the shoreline.
One week (and many man hours), later, N800NC was tied off the shoreline. May 4, 1998 Greatland Air Cargo buys the aircraft back "As Is, Where Is", from the insurance company. The pressure is on to get the plane back home! May 5, 1998 Greatland Air Cargo begins assembling the necessary tools and equipment to recover the plane. We've never floated a plane before, but we love a challenge.
Jim decides this is a good time to convince his wife he needs a boat for the recovery effort. (It's just a coincidence that fishing season just started.) May 6, 1998 Jim, Darryl, Evy, and Chuck mobilize all our equipment to Kokhanok. Everything is staged in Kokhanok and transported (in the newly acquired boat, of course) about 11 miles to Intricate Bay. Began preparing plane for float trip. May 12-13, 1998 Jim, Darryl and Kim head
to Intricate Bay to complete the mission. There was a lodge close by where
we thought we might stay. However, Tex, the caretaker met us at the boat
with a gun and suggested otherwise. Camped out in the plane for two
days and listened to the wind howl, wondering if the weather would ever
calm enough to float the plane.
Jim rigs all the "floats" (14-500 gal. Roll-A-Gon fuel bladders). Darryl makes a temporary repair to the back of the plane using 400 nuts, bolts and screws (600 if you count the ones Kim dropped in the water). Kim cooks, and moves a thousand rocks to make a path for the wheels into the water, while keeping Jim and Darryl from killing each other
May 14, 1998 God smiles on us and gives us a few hours of calm weather. Now the fun begins. After a couple of hours of struggling to get the plane into the water, Jim decides to ask the man with the gun if he could bring his loader down and help out. He comes back with a jack... We take what we can get in this venture.
Finally got the plane into the water using the borrowed jack, two boats, towropes, a come-along, 2x4's, and sheer will power. The moment we've all been waiting for... It floats! Dan and Doyle Roehl from Kokhanok used their two boats to pull the plane. We ran interference in the small boat to check security of the floatation. It took 4 1/2 hours to tow it to Kokhanok. Big storm brewing on the horizon. Had to use the boat battery
to get the cat running. Worth the wait though... The cat worked like
a charm and pulled the
We had lots of extra hands to assist and by 7:30pm we had the plane on the runway. It seemed the whole village turned out to watch the show. Jim ferries aircraft back to Anchorage. Darryl decides he's done all this work on it, He wants to fly too. Kim gets a few gray hairs waiting for the crew to land back in Anchorage.
Success... The plane is back home! What now? Think we'll fix it up and fly it again... We always love a challenge To see Greatland Air Cargo's
current web page, go to: http://www.greatlandaircargo.com
They still love a challenge, just so long as there isn't any ice involved.
Sam, Jeff, and Allen and Tom do a great job keeping their Caribou flying.
(Even without duct tape). For an inside look at Jim & Kim's latest
venture, and the future of airport lighting see their new website at:
N800NC is in Guam now, still flying I hope |
