HENINGTON PLANE READY EOR CHARTER
AFTER FLIGHT ‘HERE FROM TEXAS
Merrill Henington
flew his pewly re
paired and overhauled
floatship back to
Seldoviafrom Anchor
age last Thursday af
ternoon. The ship,
which was damaged
•when caught in a
downdraft above Sel
dovia bay on Feb# 22,
was•4 temporarily re
paired here and. then
flown ’to ’ Anchorage
for a , complete over
■haul.-'” ' !
Mr. Henington, who
had been back in Sel
dovia only five days
priof to the acci
dent, yesterday an
nounced his ’intention
of doihg charter fly
ing in this area be
fore the opening of
the fishing season.
He flew his Tuy
lorcraft to Seldovia
from Texas last
month. Mr. Henington
came north by way of
Arizona, New Mexico,
and California to
dodge the poor flying
weather of. the nor
thern states, but hv>
said yesterday that
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KODIAK ANCHORAGE
SEWARD COOK INLET
SELDOVIfi
it had proved a ’’rug
ged trip” all the way
anyway.
Entering. Califor
nia, fog made flying
difficult from Port
erville to. the nor
thern end of the \
state, and from Se
attle north, the pi
lot, who was £tCCOm
panied by his nephew,
battled rain, snow
and fog all along the
coast ofBritish Col-*
ur.bia and southeast
ern Alaska*
Mr, Henington fol
lowed the coastline
north, and he said he
was forced several
times to put his ship
down on the surface
of a bay and wait for
fog to lift. Prepar
ed to face extremely
cold weather, he
found the tempera
tures higher than -ex-*
.pected. The . thermo
meter stayed at
around 40 degrees for
most of the trip,
with the coldest re
cording noted near
Wrung ell, v/her e it
dropped to 24.
* Weather got in
creasingly stormy as
the plane flew farth
er north, ' until at
Cordova, Mr. Hening
ton said he encount
ered }• ^.the , roughest
we a ther < hey had ~ e^er
flown in.’
•
”At tines the air
speed indicator reg
istered 75 miles, and
we "were flying back
ward,” he remembered,
"And our landing
therdi was really rug
ged, v Air currents
tossed us from an al
titude of 200 f 361
above the water up to
600, and then the
next minute dragged
us down to 100 feet
above the surface.
Our seat belts held
us down, more than
*th3 seats ever held
us up during that
storm," \
Leaving Cordova
after the storm clear
ed, the Texan pair
•fl3W on to Whittier
Where they were again
stormboundi Leaving
Whittier, Mr, Hening
ton had hop3d to fly
to Seldovia over the
Divide, but weather
and poor visibility
made it necessary to
skirt the coastline
again, battling
storms all the way.
He settled to the
waters of the bay
here on Feb. 19, on a
clear sunlit after
noon in contrast to
the rough weather he
had left behind only
a few minutes before.
Mr. Henington log
ged 54 air hours on
the entire trip from
Texas, and 25 hours
from Seattle to here.
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[QUIPPED TO HANDLE AtL HAULING
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