On the Hook

Tight lines in Alaska usually mean Salmon or Halibut, but when you break a plane in the back country, it means the tow truck has rotor wings. This Cessna had dipped it's right wing tip in the drink on take off in high winds. It must have been a life or undergarment changing experience. No one was seriously injured in the incident, fortunately.
The first phase of the salvage was to pluck the craft off of the lake and set it on the tundra so that the fuel and excess weight could be removed and snow covers could be placed over the wings to kill the lift for the trip back to the repair shop.
After a 4 hour flight in an Otter in foul weather, crossing Cook Inlet at 300 to 500 feet and making U-turns in closed out mountain passes, we finally were able to get to our destination. . What should have been an hour and a half trip lasted four hours and we unloaded our gear next to this crunched plane. Senator Steven's accident this summer was very poignant for me. I was glad to be left to the Bears.

Canon 20D 17-85 @ 17mm 1/320 @ 5.6 iso100

Thanks for looking
Comments always appreciated.
Neil