Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/12/alaska-plane-crash-all-11-on.html
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Purported until it’s found guilty of being a crash site in a court of law? 
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The actual physics of how that aircraft was able to survive mostly intact stuns me. Since this was the side of a mountain, I’m wondering if he purposely brought the aircraft into a stall and just allowed it to flop down to the terrain. He would have been flying unpowered, upslope (as shown) and probably had the assist of a downslope wind for lift. Look at the picture, it’s nearly a complete airframe with no major evidence of impact damage that you normally would see at a crash site. That tells me he was flying at a very low speed. Most of these pilots are skilled at such low speed landings due to the terrain they fly over. Any spot looks good enough to set down sometimes, and there are those pilots who compete for shortest take-off, shortest landing, etc.
Thank you, Pilot.
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Yay Coast Guard!
Yay pilot!
Yay survivors!
Let’s call this a trifecta, shall we?
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Any landing you can walk away from…
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Holy awesome piloting!
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I mean, I think the floats have had it. Maybe they helped absorb some of the impact.
But yeah. Good job all around. Those bush pilots are something else. Crazy skill, and also maybe a little just crazy. You have to be.
I grew up about fifteen miles from the crash site, near Kasaan. Small float planes were and are a pretty common mode of transport. I remember my dad had an awful lot of stories about how nuts those pilots were, and of how often planes just sort of ran into mountains. (Not entirely their fault – they fly low, or lower than the mountains anyway, It’s often foggy, and they mostly didn’t have radar back in those days. Maybe still don’t.)
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Once Trump hears about this he’ll probably say something like “Why is the Coast Guard rescuing people on a mountain? I’m ordering the Pentagon to investigate the creation of a new military branch, the Mountain Guard!”
Holy awesome piloting Batman!
FTFY
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I bet the passengers all had a code brown.
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My great uncle finally sold his Cessna and allowed his commercial pilot’s license to lapse last year. He is about 90. I should really send him a card.
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Jumbo Mountain? Seriously? What nitwit was on naming duty that day?
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At least it’s not Tall-y McMountainface…
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I thnk they meant purported site of the alleged crash
A mountain guard for the mountain king? (He’s got an awesome hall, I hear.)
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I’m not giving that spoiled rich kid any damned credit for something he objectively did not do.
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Clearly, a DEA agent.
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It might come out that the incident occurred due to pilot error
I think that’s a pretty safe bet becuz GPS is a thing.
Or he might say, “I knew all along they would crash. I was the one that called the Coast Guard before it even happened. Thanks to me they all survived. I have the best intuition, the very best.”
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It could have been worse. They could have called it Shrimp Mountain.
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