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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jul 4, 2008
Description:
There was indeed a taxi in town. It picked us up in the morning and took us directly to the airport. We figured we could find something to eat at the Watertown (KART) airport, only 20 SeaRey minutes away, when we stopped there for fuel.
'No,' the taxi driver said. 'That airport is closed. You won't be able to get gas there. And I'm really glad it's closed, too. It was just a big drain on our economy and nobody ever flew in there.'
We didn't have enough fuel to reach any other airport but the one at Ogedensburg (KOGS) which was 30 miles in the wrong direction.
'Nope,' the taxi driver said when I asked about stopping at a gas station. 'No gas or pets in the car. Against the rules.'
But then he got on his cellphone and called a buddy who asked someone else and eventually we were assured that only the public half of the Watertown airport was closed. The private half was still open, and we would be able to buy fuel there.
Naturally, Watertown had no food. Fortunately, we had lots of granola bars in the airplane, so we didn't starve
(By the way, did I mention that I had somehow misplaced my New York sectional chart? It might have been in Lou and Madeleine's motel room. Watertown didn't have any to sell.)
About five minutes out of Watertown and just west of the Syracuse Two A MOA--Fort Drum, where the 10th Mountain Division trains--we heard a sudden, quick snap or pop and felt the airplane sort of jump as if it had encountered a very brief, light wind shear. Or maybe a bird.
'What was that?' Carol said. I said I didn't know. I hadn't seen a bird or anything else heading our way. But there definitely had been a pop or crack sound and we had felt it in our feet and backsides.
I considered turning back to Watertown, but there was no change in the flying characteristics, and the instruments all were indicating normally. Nothing seemed to be wrong. I decided to keep flying and monitor the airplane carefully. Everything seemed perfectly normal. We were by then about as far from Watertown as from the next airport ahead, so there was no immediate reason to turn back. Eventually I became convinced that we were okay, and we continued southward.
We were heading for Eric Batterman's place on a small lake east of Scranton and a few miles south of Cherry Ridge airport (N30) and Lake Wallenpaupak.
We did four passes over Eric's lake, trying to see if we could land on it comfortably. The wind aloft was blowing from the north at about 10 knots, across the short dimension of the lake. There are tall trees all around the lake and hills on the sides, so there was some turbulence. Still, it's an easier SeaRey lake than Silver Lake, where the Gaggle was based, so we should have been able to land and take off easily, despite being rather heavy with three weeks' worth of luggage, and all.
But I couldn't make myself feel comfortable--and I tried fairly hard at that. Finally I decided to go for Plan B, which was to head back to Cherry Ridge, where Eric would pick us up. It was very odd, though. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't comfortable--just wasn't.
Throttled up after the fourth pass and climbed to the north. Turned off the auxiliary fuel pump (standard procedure) and immediately the engine faltered. Turned the AUX pump on again and the engine smoothed out.
Climbed toward Lake Wallenpaupak, a big lake between Eric's lake and Cherry Ridge. Circled over the lake and tried turning off the AUX pump. Engine faltered again. Turned AUX back on and continued circling and climbing. The engine ran smoothly with AUX on, but the rate of climb was slight. I was trying to get high enough to glide the 6.5 nm to Cherry Ridge if the engine quit entirely, but couldn't get much above 3600 feet--Cherry Ridge is at about 1500 feet.
I called Cherry Ridge UNICOM and was answered immediately by a flight instructor who was giving a lesson in a C-172. He sounded calm and attentive--just the sort of voice you want to talk with in a tight spot. We discussed the relative advantages of going to the airport and landing on the lake.
Then the engine faltered with both pumps on, so I gave up that idea entirely and committed to landing on the big lake.
But I thought that seaplane operations were prohibited on Lake Wallenpaupak. Pennsylvania is not a seaplane-friendly state. Didn't want to get arrested down there, so I did something I'd never done before.
'I'm declaring an emergency,' I said on the radio. The guy in the 172 reminded me to squawk 7700, and--with some reluctance--I dialed it in on the transponder, knowing that it would Alert The Authorities. (It did, but all I've had to do so far was chat on the phone with a kind-sounding guy in Scranton.)
So we landed on the lake, and Carol even told me later that it was a very good landing. (And why not? I'd been practicing for it all week at the Gaggle.)
Phoned Eric, who was then just arriving at Cherry Ridge. He found the airport owner, Rick, who lives on Lake Wallenpaupak, and offered the use of his beach for repairs. A student pilot came out on a jetski and led us to Rick's beach, about two miles down the lake. We lowered the wheels and taxied up out of the water. Tied down under lovely big shade trees, and all was well.
Date Taken:
Jul 4, 2008
Place Taken:
Lake Wallenpaupak, PA, in the Poconos east of Scranton
Owner:
Don Maxwell
File Name:
OnRick_sBeach.jpg - Photo HTML
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Category:
23, Max Pix
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Jul 05,2008
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Now this adventure is reaching epic proportions, Don. Good reading and good show on intuition and response.
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Frank A. Carr - Jul 05,2008
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Good story so far, but I'm beginning to wonder why SeaRey trips always or often seem to coincide with 'adventures of epic proportions'?
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Jeff Arnold - Jul 05,2008
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Frank, I feel cheated. I flew OliverII to Florida for Sun N Fun and had no epic adventure. Yes, I had a great time, but no adventure. Maybe I will have 'better luck' next time.
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Don Maxwell - Jul 06,2008
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Keep trying, Jeff. There's hope for you yet.
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Tony Gugliuzza - Jul 12,2008
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Sorry Jeff,<br /><br />Next time I'll sneek out to your plane at night and prime up the 'epic' pump.<br /><br />What are friends for!?
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