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 Previous Item - Eagle photography mission last weekend on Lake Conroe
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Lady of the lake takes many forms |
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Kenneth Leonard - Apr 13,2016
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Lady of Lake comes in many forms
Out alone for another pre-dusk flight after dinner.
The warm winds of the day have mellowed to soft breeze.
A slight plume of smoke slowly rising through the trees maybe a mile from the house only adds to the tranquility of the evening.
After briefly splashing at a couple of lakes within 3 miles of the house, I turn back home. The tiny seaplane happily heads back to the barn before its too dark to land.
The thin line of smoke that I saw on departure is now much fatter and darker.
Turning slightly, I adjust my course to put me just upwind of the thickening column of smoke and I descend to 200' to get a good look.
As I pass over, the red fire is visible at the base and I realize it's at the Boy Scout campground a mile from our home.
A nylon tent explodes in a flash of red and black as the flames find it.
The trees are now on fire and the flames are generating their own wind.
Scouts and leaders are moving away from the rapidly moving wall of flame but they are trapped between the fire and a swampy pond 100' away. I immediately realize the pond is too small to land on.
Switching to emergency frequency; "pan, pan, pan, Searey November 52596 emergency".
"Aircraft calling emergency, This is Tampa departure, state your emergency"
"Searey 52596, circling at 200', 8 miles north of Tampa, there is a group of people about to be overrun by a fire in the woods. Need immediate fire response and helo evac if available."
"Searey, set transponder to emergency and ident, emergency services contacted, need more specific location. I will use your location on radar"
"Tampa departure, Searey set to 7700 and ident. Its the boyscout camp on boyscout road"
"Searey, Tampa departure, radar contact. How many people at risk?"
"Tampa, Searey, at least 6 kids and a couple of adults that I see." They are waving for help and trapped at water's edge."
The heat of the fire must have been intense as the group moved into the swampy water and further into the pond - it was slow going as the bottom was clearly deep muck and root clogged.
Two of the boys were frozen in place until an adult went back for them - they must not be able to swim.
Decision time - continue circling to communicate or sacrifice the plane for people? If I sink or get hurt, I can't be of help.
"Tampa departure, Searey is landing in pond to support non-swimmers".
"Searey, land at your own risk"
Unable to see hidden logs or cypress roots, no time to scan the edges for gators. Just get in there. I turn hard to set up to land over the non-burning side of the lake.
Focus on the landing - only time for a mental checklist - backup fuel pump on, engine to idle, full flaps, gear up, canopy open, slow to just above stall and get so low the hull is brushing the trees as I clear the edge of the pond. Boy is this a short spot! No chance of aborting and going around after this...Dive to the water and level at 2'. Still going too fast to stop before the far side of the pond! Change plans now! Stick forward, hitting water to fast but as soon as I'm solidly on the water, I punch full right rudder while rolling in left aileron. In a huge shower of water, the boat-hulled seaplane makes an emergency hockey-stop. And just like happened once when I practiced this emergency maneuver, I buried the right pontoon and hear the pontoon support snap with a pop. This time, the extreme violence of the stop snapped the entire sponson off the plane and it shot up out of the water and punched an ugly hole through the bottom my fabric wing where it remained, suspended. But I was otherwise undamaged and except for being showered with water through the open canopy, I was unhurt. Now focus on turning the plane toward the scouts with the right wing dragging in the water and water up to the edge of the right canopy.
"Tampa departure, Searey is on water with people wading toward me. Aircraft unable to evacuate."
"Searey, Tampa departure, your radio is unreadable. Climb if able"
The plane was feeling sluggish. Looking at my feet, there was 6" of water swirling in the hull. Bilge pump on but not sure how much damage I'd taken.
The people were wading as quickly as they could toward the plane, one man carrying two boys who couldn't swim. I immediately turned off the engine as the propeller is almost invisible when running and within reach of swimmers.
One adult shouted: "We better get to the far side quickly"
"Why"?
"Look over there!"
And that is why we don't land seaplanes on bodies of water that don't have houses without a good visual scan first! About 100' away was the biggest darn alligator I ever saw in my life. 16' if he was an inch. He was a cow muncher!
And he was now moving quietly toward the water. The gigantic gator disappeared under the water and the boys started to panic. OK, not just the boys... he must weigh 800 lbs and all the splashing was just too attractive for it to resist.
Without asking, the adult pushed the two non-swimmers into the passenger seat - they were roughly shoved aboard and I told them to stay clear of the controls. That brought a lot more water into the hull and I was worrying about sinking.
"put your other boys on the left side of the plane so I can balance - I'm taking on water. I'm going to start the engine and taxi to the far shore - stay far away from the propeller, grab the wing struts and hang on tight!" "Hurry up!"
A few seconds later, the scoutmaster shouted that they were all ready.
With the engine started, I advanced the throttle slightly but with all the drag, we barely moved more than 2 knots - much slower than a gator on the hunt.
If I went faster, someone would certainly slip off and become gator bait. The water was climbing higher inside the hull with the additional weight. The window sills were at the water line and waves were putting water in the plane. The tiny bilge pump couldn't keep up. But we were moving. The far side was getting close. We might make it...
Suddenly a terrifying scream. One of the boys let go and immediately went under. He shot back up again and was wading, waist deep, as fast as he could move. Why would the gator let go?
The others tried to climb aboard but another boy came off - he too was shallow enough to be able to wade slowly but yelled for me to stop. The plane bumped to an abrupt stop. We'd grounded on roots 20' from shore.
I shut off the engine and everyone quickly waded to shore. We got the last two waders out and checked for his bite injuries. The first one dragged off was uninjured. "I snagged a root with my foot but thought the gator had me!" he said with a huge grin - he was still visibly shaking. The boys pointed to a dinosaurian head just breaking the surface about 40' away. He was just as big as the first time we spotted him but not coming closer.
The air was whipped by a helicopter overhead. I pulled my portable radio out of my survival vest and called him. "Searey has all souls safe"
"Very good Searey, Fire rescue is in the woods across the lake, there is a dirt road a few hundred yards behind you on this side of the lake. Walk to it and turn left - police will meet you.
"And Searey, how do you plan to get out of that lake? It can't be 500' long with trees all around the edges!"
"Searey will make a circling takeoff as it's a round lake - but I have to make repairs and prepare some gator nuggets first. It will be a couple of days before I'm ready. I'm certainly not going back there in the dark!"
"Let me know Searey, I want to see that!" With that, the helicopter departed as the sun was setting.
With minor injuries, the troop of bedraggled scouts walked themselves to rescue in the dark. But they had a smart Scoutmaster who turned a near-tragedy into a learning lesson. Before they were even in the cars, they were laughing and slapping each other on the backs. What a story to tell!
"Be prepared!" And they were.
As for the lady of this lake, she slowly swam back to shore to find another place for basking in the Florida sunshine. She didn't like the noisy disturbance of the boys and the plane so when I returned the next day with tools and parts to effect repairs, she and her armor-plated-upper-deck was nowhere to be found. The takeoff had some pucker-factor but went fine and I flew the final mile home to write fanciful stories to my family and friends.
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Nickens, Dan - Apr 13,2016
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Is there a badge for alligator wrangling, Ken? Should be. Thanks for this afternoon's excitement and entertainment!
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Dennis Scearce - Apr 13,2016
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Where is the new media when you need them. I can see it now: Seaplane pilot risk life and limb to outsmart alligator and save Boy Scouts"
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Wayne Nagy - Apr 13,2016
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I just saw the report on the NBC national news. They even had video footage from the helicopter! You are a HERO Ken!!!
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Dennis Scearce - Apr 13,2016
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I've never known a real hero. Can you send me your autograph?
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Kenneth Leonard - Apr 14,2016
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As soon as I take out the garbage Dennis...the wife takes a pretty jaundiced view of hero worship...
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Carr, Frank - Apr 14,2016
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Ken, Beats them all! I initially thought I would find the "tale" confession in the last sentence. So congratulations for quick thinking
and great action. In my experience the SR is the Rescuee, not the Rescuer!
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Nickens, Dan - Apr 14,2016
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Um, well, Frank, if you look carefully you might find "fanciful" in the last line. You know, different writers might use different code words?
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Carr, Frank - Apr 14,2016
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fanciful |ˈfansəfəl|
adjective
(of a person or their thoughts and ideas) overimaginative and unrealistic
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Steve Kessinger - Apr 14,2016
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BZ, Ken!!!
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Chris Leng - Apr 14,2016
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Way to go Ken!
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Kenneth Leonard - Apr 14,2016
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Yeah, well, um, gang...I AM the scoutmaster of troop 68 that camps at Camp Brorein on boyscout road, about a mile from my house.
And there isn't an alligator wrestling merit badge. But there is a writing MB.
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Paul Sanchez - Apr 17,2016
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Ken, from this former troop 5 scout who camped in that area many moons ago I thank you for your selfless devotion to our fellow
scouts. I think you covered most of the Boy Scout Law, A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Brave, Friendly, Courteous...
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Daniel Paul Myers - Apr 17,2016
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You're a saint!
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Kenneth Leonard - Apr 19,2016
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I'm sure I am a saint, just ask me. But I probably unconsciously plagerized the heck out of our favorite adventurer.
Gators? Covered by Dan.
Holes in wings? Covered.
Rescues? Check.
I posted this on Facebook and nearly killed my 95 yr old mother!
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