And The Beat Goes On ...

Not this:



This:

Merrill Field Pounding Expected to Last Through September

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) Six days a week, there’s a constant pounding sound coming from the Merrill Field Airport during the day. It’s a 15 ton steel-encased concrete block in free fall, hitting the ground from seven stories up.

Airport manager Paul Bowers said it's part of a unique trash compacting construction job to repave nearly eight acres of of taxiway that’s sinking into the ground of what used to be the original city dump.

“There are car bodies in here, broken buildings, broken roads, furniture,” said Bowers. “Right now, we're standing on about 25 feet of trash.”

Construction costs are about $6.9 million, primarily paid for through federal funds.

Officials said fixing up the taxiway is important because it connects the hospital to those being flown into Anchorage on emergency flights.

“Merrill field is one of the few airports in the nation with a taxiway that actually accommodates medevac aircraft going to an adjacent hospital,” said Bowers.

The concrete block compacts the trash down about eight feet. Once the entire area is smashed down, the ground will be smoothed, leveled and paved. The compacted road is expected to last about 15 years before it runs the possibility of sinking and warping again.

This trash compacting project is part of a multi-phase, multi-year effort to smooth out the roads and taxiways at Merrill Field.

87 Planes Vandalized at Merrill Field

Anchorage police say some 87 planes have been vandalized at Merrill Field airport, with the main tires slashed.

The investigation began at 9 a.m. this morning when someone called to say their plane had been damaged at the popular airport on the edge of downtown Anchorage. Airport officials told police the vandalism likely took place sometime overnight.

I suspect that armed volunteers will shortly be patrolling Merrill Field, and feel sorry for anyone caught messing with a plane thereafter.

On second thought, no. No, I don't feel sorry for them at all.

Three More Pix From Merrill Field

Here are the last pix of my visit to Merrill Field. Click to enlarge, as always:

LOTS of planes like these -

and several amphibious craft, such as this -

Got really close to this one

Merrill Field: The Rest of the Pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from our visit to Merrill Field.

I love flying boats - don't know anything about this one, but it just fascinates me

Merrill Field, Anchorage's first commercial airport

The Chugach Mountains form a perfect backdrop for the airport

The logo on this one reads "Brown Bear Air, Inc. - Alaska"

A Russian biplane - I will try to find out more about this one

For sale - a great addition for the M*A*S*H aficionado

A better view of the Russian biplane

This glider was parked at the very edge of the field

I love the Alaskan paint job on this old Piper

A Winter's Day: Visiting Merrill Field

Merrill Field, Anchorage's first commercial airport, is located east of downtown, in an older part of town. For those who've driven here on the Alaska Highway, it's the airfield you passed while heading toward downtown.

As a follow-up to an earlier post, here are more of the aircraft we looked at ... and in.

Somebody had a REALLY bad day

You don't fly these; you wear them

WASP engine

A post-war Taylorcraft - I understand the Army Air Corps used these as trainers. This one was subsequently flown to the Midwest by a friend.

And Another...

Small Plane Crashes at Merrill Field

Anchorage fire crews received word of a small plane crash at Merrill Field Sunday afternoon.

AFD officials say the report was received just after 2 p.m., and an initial Code Red was called off after reports of no injuries was issued by Merrill Field officials.

According to Merrill Field, the plane crashed "end over" on runway 25.

No other details are currently available.

NTSB Report: Mechanical Problem Discovered

Our hearts break at any tragic death, and this one would have been so easily preventable. From today's Alaska Dispatch:

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report for the July 2 crash of a Piper PA-12 at Merrill Field. The accident, which resulted in the death of 61-year-old pilot and sole occupant Charles Hancock, occurred shortly after takeoff at 8:20 a.m. A post-crash examination of the aircraft's elevator control cables showed they were misrigged and "... attached to the incorrect (opposite) locations on the elevator control horn, resulting in a reversal of elevator control inputs."

According to the report, the airplane had been undergoing extensive maintenance for about five years and neither the airplane's co-owner nor others at the airport were aware of it having been flown before the accident flight.

... However, after establishing elevator control cable continuity, the NTSB investigator determined that "manipulating the rear control stick aft (to command airplane nose-up) resulted in cable movement corresponding with a downward deflection of the elevator (which would result in airplane-nose-down flight)."

That would do it.

from www.ktuu.com

KTUU, Channel 2 news in Anchorage, reported yesterday that the NTSB investigators can't find the repair log(s) that the owner should have kept. He was apparently working on the plane himself, and it would seem that he didn't ask anyone to double-check his work before taking off.

NTSB officials have been able to verify that much of the maintenance done to Hancock's plane was performed by Hancock himself. However, in most cases when a pilot is taking responsibility for their own repairs an engineer will typically double-check any maintenance performed, said spokesperson Clint Johnson. It's unclear whether or not that happened this time, Johnson noted. Further, Johnson noted Hancock was not a certified aviation mechanic.

... Also unusual Johnson said, NTSB investigators are having a difficult time locating any maintenance records for Hancock's PA-12. Hancock didn’t typically keep his plane at a dedicated hangar space, Johnson said, rather it was stored at a private residence where much of the repair work was done.

There's more at the links.

Not Again ...

A male pilot was killed when his plane crashed at Merrill Field Airport in Anchorage Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The crash was reported at 8:24 a.m.


National Transportation Safety Board investigator Cathy Gagne said the pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, was in communication with the Merrill Field tower when the plane apparently crashed during takeoff. Merrill Field is a 634-acre patch of airstrips and taxiways, parked small planes and helicopters, one mile east of downtown Anchorage.

The plane, a 1964 Piper PA-12, had been heading west from runway 7/25, the longest of the airport's three runways, Gagne said. She said preliminary information suggests the plane had left the ground when the crash occurred.

 

Crash at Merrill Field Claims Two

Saturday's plane crash at Merrill Field that killed a pilot and his girlfriend occurred after an aborted landing, not on takeoff, according to an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

NTSB aviation accident investigator Joshua Cawthra, right, continues his investigation Sunday, August 25, 2013, at the scene of a Cessna 150 crash that killed both the pilot Robert Lilly, 31, and Jessi Nelsen, 27, at the departure end of runway 25 at Merrill Field on Saturday.

BILL ROTH — Anchorage Daily News

Robert Lilly, 31, and Jessi Nelsen, 27, were killed in the crash, police said Sunday.

Lilly, a licensed commercial pilot flying his own plane, had been approaching Merrill Field for a landing on its main east-west runway Saturday afternoon when an air traffic controller told him to go around, said the NTSB investigator, Josh Cawthra.

Witnesses said they had seen Lilly's single-engine Cessna 150L climbing up from the runway heading west. It appeared to lose power as it tried to make a left turn, they said, and they assumed it was taking off.

I hate these stories. Read the rest here.

"Everything Had to Be Correct"

In the video at the link,

"A Boeing 727 approaches the runway at Merrill Field in Anchorage on Tuesday, February 26, 2013. FedEx is donating the aircraft to the UAA's aircraft maintenance program and it will stay on the ground at Merrill Field. Landing the aircraft on a 4,000-foot runway presented challenges, the flight crew says. "It was a situation were everything had to be correct," said first officer John Baines. "The runway surface had to be in a proper condition. The wind had to be right." Captain Timothy Powell said they planned to make a couple passes before landing the plane. "I wanted to touch the aircraft down right on the numbers," Powell said. "I was very pleased with that." UAA Aviation Technology director Rocky Capozzi says the plane will be used to train maintenance students."

Click the link for the video and more photos.

Along the Flight Line: Merrill Field Pt. 3

Here are the rest of the pictures from our visit to Merrill Field.

I love flying boats - don't know anything about this one, but it just fascinates me

Merrill Field, Anchorage's first commercial airport

The Chugach Mountains form a perfect backdrop for the airport

The logo on this one reads "Brown Bear Air, Inc. - Alaska"

A Russian biplane - I will try to find out more about this one

For sale - a great addition for the M*A*S*H aficionado

A better view of the Russian biplane

This glider was parked at the very edge of the field

I love the Alaskan paint job on this old Piper