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pfp217
pfp217 0
I wish my Cherokee had a "driver's side door" . Very cool the guy had the stamina to stay afloat. 17 hours is a long time to do anything let alone keeping yourself above cold water.
jicaro
Lord was with this guy, no question!
vanbess
vanbess 0
He was very lucky, glad he made it
apalarchio
Amazing that he survived. But why was he 16 miles from shore in a 150 without a flotation device?

Maybe he'll stay gliding distance from land next time.
HunterTS4
Toby Sharp 0
geez......can you imagine. and LOL at the "driver's side door"
n111ma
n111ma 0
I'm glad this guy made it. For around 60 bucks anyone can purchase an inflatable life vest. That's roughly equivilant to 12 gallons of 100LL. Cheap investment and available at West Marine, Cabela's, and even Sporty's. It should make treading H2O a lot easier! Then again, there is always the expensive solution to surviving a water landing...contact EDO or Whipline :-)
HunterTS4
Toby Sharp 0
i bet if he had a lifevest he wouldnt have made it through the night due to hypothermia, without the lifevest he probably raised his body temp by treading water, with the life vest he probably would have fallen asleep and never woken up. Just thinking
n111ma
n111ma 0
possibly!
eagle5719
eagle5719 0
He probably had time to contact ATC about the aircraft malfunction and give his position - and if had a working transponder, they'd know exactly where he was. He's lucky he's not at the bottom of the lake.
davysims
David Sims 0
I echo Anthony's question, why was this guy so far out over water in a single engine airplane? That was just not smart, and he is very lucky.
HunterTS4
Toby Sharp 0
agreed
ultra
ultra 0
LUCKY GUY! Someone help me on the math here....a 150....

Cruise TAS maybe 90kts or so, minus the HWC, lets say, 10 kts, = 80kts GS. divided by the almost 300 miles he flew before getting wet = almost 4 hours in the air, multiplied by say 5 gph? I'm guessing carb ice wasn't the entire problem....
1bobw
1bobw 0
It doesn't say where he was headed in the story, but the accident position is on a direct path from his home base in NY to OSH. Most of that route is over Canada or water. Possible he was trying to reach Michigan for fuel to avoid making an international stop. If so, that s a very long and risky leg in a C-150, especially west bound. The alternative safer routes are much longer (but a lot less than 17 hours). Glad he survived it. I'm not throwing stones, but as a side note, it seems that the allure of OSH annually exposes one or more pilots and/or planes doing things that prove to be beyond their capabilities. Maybe it's just a statistical law of averages?
ultra
ultra 0
He was headed to EAU for a family function, as mentioned in the article. Which would be about a 700 nm trip from his departure point.
burnbabe
burnbabe 0
If lord had been with this guy he wouldn't have ended up in the water in the first place because lord would have made him choose the alternative safer route instead the direct path from NY to OSH which apparently is a very long and risky leg in a C-150.
wjcollins
Bill Collins 0
He should have kept the pants. Tie the ends of the legs together and then slip them over your head. Holding the waist end just under the water scoop water and air into the opening. When full of air close the end with your hands. Basic Navy anti-drowning training. It works, a sailor overboard in the Persian Gulf did this and stayed afloat for over a day.
alangley99
alangley99 0
The Lord sent me a swimming teacher when I was 12 who taught me how to tread water and float on my back. Praise the Lord! And I'm very happy for this man. Presence of mind, did what he had to do to get out and stay alive. A lesson to us all.
leoncarmen
Leon Humphreys 0
threw away his trousers!!?? They were his flotation device ! First thing they teach in water safety AND the Navy.
alangley99
alangley99 0
Regarding trousers for flotation, wouldn't that depend on how water-tight the material is?
burnbabe
burnbabe 0
The lord sent me a letter with a number in it... turned out it was the landlord asking rent.
stevestpierre
teacherweb.com/IN/NorwellMiddleSchool/Pool/SurvivalSwimming.pdfhttp://www.ehow.com/how_5938479_use-clothes-flotation-device.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_flotation_device

a few links for next time
stevestpierre
http://www.ehow.com/how_5938479_use-clothes-flotation-device.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=using clothing for floatation during emergency&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&source=hp&channel=np
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_flotation_device


a few links for next time in case more than 17 hours required... in any event bravo! happy to hear it worked out ;->
fireboy63
fireboy63 0
The Lord doesn't always give us the most direct routes in life. I believe sometimes we are guided towards challenges and obstacles that will teach us the lessons we need to learn moving forward. In this guy's case, perhaps this was the Lord's way of telling him "maybe it's time you bought a boat and lay off the flying, eh?" ;)
markonlineus
Mark King 0
Lake reporting service with fss.....ever use it? They know within 15 min and send out Coast Guard.
padgettrea
Ronald Padgett 0
Aww com'on... maybe the Lord just wanted him to look at the stars... or just a hint that perhaps he should stick to the two dimensional world of driving... or possibly even cause the guy to think that he may want to get in shape if he's going to go for a midnight swim.

You can't laugh about it while it's happening, but you might as well enjoy it afterwards. :)
djjamar
Jamar Jackson 0
Lucky pilot flying a 4 banger over a huge lake at night. It was'nt his time to go.
2051lima
Tom robertson 0
How did this pilot fly a 150 from New York to Michigan and still have 3 hours of fuel remaining? He must have installed drop tanks on that thing!
2051lima
Tom robertson 0
After flying across Canada from NY, how could he still have 3 hours of fuel remaining? Do 150's have extended long range tanks? 20 seconds sure isn't very long to find your life jacket and plb, especially when the plane is upside down. I think he needs a new watch.
douglas393
Actually the usaf also teaches the pants trick as well. My guess is it pretty standard water survival training. As to why he crashed it seems to me I got to agree with the consensus of lack of fuel. My question is if he was in contact with ATC why so long to find him. Guess I will have to wait til AOPA simulates it.
walterkahn
walter kahn 0
His weight is what saved him......helped him with hypothermia and flotation
Walter Kahn md
swafav
Billy Holley 0
amazing...
fireboy63
fireboy63 0
Sorry about that, if my comment is what set you off. I was responding to earlier comments, and trying to bridge the gap between the comments made by "alangley99" and "burnbabe" with a little bit of humor. Lighten up, Francis. ;)
Hapticz
pete krohn 0
i agree with doc kahn. his personal flotation device was his layers of xtra fat, which also forestalls loss of precious core body heat. whales use this feature in their ocean domain to great effect. it does however, put extra burden on fuel economy. ;-))
burnbabe
burnbabe 0
@akbeaver: tell it to Robert van Dyke, he started the church channel thread with his preposterously insipid "Lord was with this guy, no question!"
But otherwise you're bloody damn hell right :D

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