awesome climb out movies

[seano]

you gotta watch all 6 parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFdFo9Yo0LI

[VonMessa]

Slow day at work.

I know what I'll be doing 

[saggs]

you gotta watch all 6 parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFdFo9Yo0LI

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Do not watch that show, unless you want to get very angry and very ticked off.  Greenamyers impatience and recklessness not only cost us a rare piece of history, but also a mans life.  If you must watch it, do so as an example of everything NOT to do, this expedition was a dangerous farce from the beginning.

[SilverZ06]

Wow i skipped straight to part 6. What a downer   

[wil3ur]

Herbert Groenemeyer?

[smoe]

I still can't believe flying it out was the best alternative. Obviously it almost worked.

[saggs]

I still can't believe flying it out was the best alternative. Obviously it almost worked.

I believe flying it out would have been alright, provided they actually had to equipment to plow a proper runway.  Instead of some POS 1930's D4 Cat. That however was just the last of a long line of ridiculousness.
 

[B-17]

I recently read his book, Hunting Warbirds. I was mad, and almost cried at the end And it would have worked, flying the Kee-Bird off of the plowed runway- they were almost airborne when the smoke started to pour into the cockpit. Part of me wantes to wonder if there is anything salvageable from the hulk, but I don't think there is

[saggs]

I recently read his book, Hunting Warbirds. I was mad, and almost cried at the end And it would have worked, flying the Kee-Bird off of the plowed runway- they were almost airborne when the smoke started to pour into the cockpit. Part of me wantes to wonder if there is anything salvageable from the hulk, but I don't think there is

Nope, all Greenamyer did after the wreckage was use that little Cat to shove the charred remains out onto the middle of the shallow frozen lake, then they flew off and left it.  So that when it thawed it all sank to the bottom and the Danish government sued him for the ecological damage.  This was his last act of stupidity in a whole expedition that was a complete FUBAR from the beginning.

Like I said, everyone mourns the loss of Kee Bird, but what really gets me is that Greenamyer was so ill prepared that it cost a man his life.   Not to mention several close calls (onboard a greatly overloaded and poorly maintained Caribou) for the rest of them.  

I've heard other stories from old timers in the warbird, racing and experimental community about him as well, most that predate the Kee Bird debacle.  I'll just say that they aren't very flattering.

[Ruah]

sometimes ego and ambition can cause ruin, but its also equally great when it works out.

[W7LPNRICK]

I don't feel angry at them for "Not doing it right". I feel a great sense of loss as they did. They were on a tight budget & running out of money. Hind sight is.... of course it is, but a very wealthy individual could have possible done it better, but he tried.   

[saggs]

I don't feel angry at them for "Not doing it right". I feel a great sense of loss as they did. They were on a tight budget & running out of money. Hind sight is.... of course it is, but a very wealthy individual could have possible done it better, but he tried.    

Being on a tight budget is no excuse for doing things in a sloppy and dangerous way.  The fact that they lost the Kee-Bird was not the tragic end to an otherwise well executed plan as some seem to think.  What it was is a culmination of a expedition that was a dangerous farce from the beginning.  I find it hard to believe that others went along so willingly, from the very beginning when he's like "Yea, this Caribou is already way over gross, and we have to land it in a muddy untested swamp, but it'll be fine, climb on."  I would have been outta there.    

By the time they are putting propane in airplane tires, losing engines in flight from poor maintenance, a mechanic dying because they can't get him out because said poorly maintained plane is grounded and he has no emergency contingency plans (really, he couldn't have found somebody with a Maule, or Porter, or something willing to stand by at Thule for part runs or evacs?), trying to plow a 3,000ft runway with a tiny Cat then taxiing at high speed over ice mounds AND running a gasoline APU from a gas can suspended from above by bungees to gravity feed it   WHILE doing said crazy taxiing.      


Anyway like I said the whole thing makes me angry, so in the interest of my happiness, I'm finished with this thread.

[W7LPNRICK]

Being on a tight budget is no excuse for doing things in a sloppy and dangerous way.  The fact that they lost the Kee-Bird was not the tragic end to an otherwise well executed plan as some seem to think.  What it was is a culmination of a expedition that was a dangerous farce from the beginning.  I find it hard to believe that others went along so willingly, from the very beginning when he's like "Yea, this Caribou is already way over gross, and we have to land it in a muddy untested swamp, but it'll be fine, climb on."  I would have been outta there.    

By the time they are putting propane in airplane tires, losing engines in flight from poor maintenance, a mechanic dying because they can't get him out because said poorly maintained plane is grounded and he has no emergency contingency plans (really, he couldn't have found somebody with a Maule, or Porter, or something willing to stand by at Thule for part runs or evacs?), trying to plow a 3,000ft runway with a tiny Cat then taxiing at high speed over ice mounds AND running a gasoline APU from a gas can suspended from above by bungees to gravity feed it   WHILE doing said crazy taxiing.      

More clear now. I see what you mean....very sad for sure. I feel sorry for all of them. The engineer died after surgery for internal bleeding because of slipping a clot...which could have happened at St Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, much less in Tule. I've had young mothers who were completely healthy die shortly after child birth from throwing a P.E. plus he was taking lots of pain pills & kept working making himself bleed more instead of working a rescue or....   I know I wasn't there either. Just saying...


Anyway like I said the whole thing makes me angry, so in the interest of my happiness, I'm finished with this thread.