Com-Central.net

Sitting there drinking my mornin' cawfee by the wood stove at The Pigsty, when a guy knocks on the door, and says he'll pay $40 for a helo lift to the top of Mt. Hood, OR. Well, it ain't THAT far from Orcas I ...OK, it is.....but it was good day for flying, and fourty bucks....WOOHOOO!....beer money!

So I give him a lift and drop him off right on top of the summit, about 11,000 ft. up, holding just enough throttle to not sink into the fine white powder....



Unfortunately, the guy's ski pole bumped the collective on the way out, and SSSHHH.....oh man the helo is sinkin' into the snow!!!!



Quickly, I summon the presence of the Schweizer....only it's light wing loading can save us from sinking further into the deep snow....and yes, the wings hold us up!



Heart racing from the near disaster, I lit a smoke so I could calm down and figger out what to do next.....unfortunately, the CLICK of opening my Zippo was enough to trigger a small snowslide....and next thing you know, hhhheeeeeeeeere we go sliding down the summit!



And to make matters worse, there's a snow-covered rocky outcropping dead ahead! Will the ice-covered wings of the Schweizer generate enough lift to keep us from doing a full-on face-pizza right into it? I haul back on the stick, wings ...and fingers.....trembling....



URRGGHHH...the nose lifts......it might make it...gonna be close....will she pull through????



YES! WOOHOOOOO......Now THIS is what I call slope-soaring!



Hehe......gonna save a lotta gas this way....that fourty bucks is lookin' sweeter by the minute!



Except...ummm.....should be a coupla 20's here in the cockpit...don't see 'em...ahh man, I didnt leave the dough in the cockpit of the Cayuse did I?!?!! Hmmm.....dang I hope I can make KORS from here!!

KORS!?...from Mt. Hood?....not likely! Now....Mt. Ranier, maybe. Next time you haul skiers to the peak, may I suggest something by Mr. Sikorsky?




(Still a wonderful tale...no doubt fueled by Molson's JG300 Private Reserve)

LMAO Stoopy .... bet your kids have fun at bedtime !

That Cayuse just needs some doors for buoyancy, help keep the snow out.

Maybe I'll make some king size snow shoes on the civ. vers.

You should be able to get your $40 after the snow melts.........If I dont get there first

Richard

Great story. Enjoyed it.

lol, yes, good story, I was glued to the end! lol!

- Anonymous

That Cayuse just needs some doors for buoyancy, help keep the snow out.

Maybe I'll make some king size snow shoes on the civ. vers.

You should be able to get your $40 after the snow melts.........If I dont get there first

Richard

OH NO you don't!!! That fourty bucks is mine, fr8ycat!

I'm afraid there's even more to the story....Ascout was right, Mt. Hood was pretty far even tho I had thermals going.....still, guess it was a cold day, not much air rising. Bet ya I can make it when Summer comes.....

But I got the law on my side now......turns out the airport I landed at had some friendly sherriff's up on vacation from Lane County.....they promised me (several times) that they'd keep an eye out for my cash, and that they'd watch our for shady characters and other villanous theiving-types. They said my money was in good hands. I'm to check in with 'em every 6 months to see if it's turned up yet. And for good measure I left word at the local diner about the money and how I can be contacted.....that waitress musta had a thing for me, she kept rollin' her eyes at me (yeah I get that all the time) and saying oh sure, she'd be lookin' me up when she has time. Do waitresses really have to work 7-year shifts?

Anyway them sherriff's were real friendly and gave me a ride back even.....so all's good......or will be when I get those frozen Jackson's back in my hand...:D

You are right about the doors tho......I had to sit in the back and at least there wasn't any fear of fallin' out when they banked over real hard (which they did, a LOT!) and it was nice and warm back there at least......

AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I feel guilty

All this time you said you were working on paint I was rolling my eyes

Looks like a million bucks, so I'll let you keep your $40 for payment and I may even ship you out a case of "Plain Wrap" Beer.

Richard

WoooHOO! Well, hey man I'm glad you approve......and no reason to feel guilty, but feel free if ya like, just so you're happy!

Plain wrap beer sounds jus' fine...them sherriffs weren't strangers to "open containers" themselves I'll tell ya!

Hmmmm.....speaking of "plain wrap " beer......these guys showed up around the pigsty nosing around one of our delivery trucks. They seemed real interested in what was inside the trailer.

They also asked if I'd give them a lift to Mt. Hood, and before I could answer they were laughing hysterically...yeah, REAL funny.....and to think they flew all the way up from Florida for that....:D

No, no, Stoopy...It's not about the trailer. They were trying to steal your nice women. Either that or I guess you're right.

ya,

Judging by the posture of those Dames I'd say they are getting a little irritated with you giving all your attention to that egg beater Stoopy.

Moderation my friend.

Dont "P" them off because if they split they'll try to get half my OH6