Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

[gfortin]

Does anyone know about The T-craft owned and piloted by Mike Legler that sunk in 1991 east of Seward close to Peuget bay Great Lake. I heard that a group of adventurers is going to attempt to recover the aircraft this JULY.

[mulwyk]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Interesting project. I heard somewhere that aircraft (and ships) that sink in deep water are actually preserved by the lack of oxygen at those depths.

[gfortin]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

It would be interesting to see if the aircraft is rebuildable. I understand that the pilot made a great landing on the water and the plane just sank They didn;t think it had any damage.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

I have seen some planes recovered from water after "gentle landings" and the most important thing I saw that did the most to save the plane was to slash the fabric in as many places as possible on the bottom, and a few places on top, to let the water out and air in, then lift it from the water VERY SLOWLY to let the water drain out.
The next thing is to dive in and pull every part you can off and put them in clean fresh water (that lake water is FILTHY and FULL of corrosive chemicals), followed by a water displacement like Mil-C-81309. Instruments are probably toast since you won't be able to get them to a shop fast enough to save them (possible exception is the compass and maybe the oil P and T gauges).
The engine should be drained and flushed with fresh water as fast as possible, followed by 81309 and taken to a shop for immediate teardown and cleaning.
Brakes and wheels are easy and should be done as soon as you can too. Just pull the wheels, clean with fresh water, dry and repack the bearings (don't forget the tail wheel). Flush the fuel system with fresh water followed by 81309 then kerosene for the short term.
The faster you get it apart and cleaned and dried the better off and the cheaper the rebuild will be. If it was mine I would even drill out the Linseed oil holes and flush the tubes with 81309, followed by a nice heat lamp bake to dry it and new tube preservative.
Hank
My first assignment in the squadron in my Navy days was as Corrosion Control Officer because of the metallurgical and aero education. I wrote the Navy salt water immersion reclamation instruction for the Navy 509 manual, 30 years ago. This would be a FUN project!

[gfortin]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Hank, I sent your recommendations to two of the group that is going to try to bring up the airplane. They both thank me and you for the good advice. So thanks again.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Go ahead and give them my contact info. I would be glad to help any way I can to get another Taylorcraft back in the air.
Hank

[Bob Waldron]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Mike l. the owner and pilot, is my next door neighbor. He is a REAL nice fella. Tonight, I will ask him if he would correspond with anyone that is interested.

Bob W

[gfortin]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

That would be great. I hope he would like to tell us the story of his ditching and t-craft flying.

[Bob Waldron]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Mike does not desire to talk to anyone about the Taylorcraft. He sold it to the fella that searches for sunken wreckage. The airplane is at the bottom of a 125 foot deep lake. Mike named the unnamed lake "10 Day Lake" cause he was there ten days before he was rescued. The BBC did a special on the accident and rescue and it has been written up in a couple of books.

[gfortin]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Does he know the name of the books or the name of the BBC Report?

[jdoran]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Hank,

Who is that older gentleman in the photo next to your name?

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

John, If you mean the guy with the rocket models in the background, that would be me. Don't let the gray hair fool you. I had some Gray in my 20's.
Hank

[Bob Waldron]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

I googled BBC and Mike Legler and found that the BBC Special that contains some stuff on Mike and his ten day ordeal airs frequently. I think that it is showing this Thursday. See the schedule at http://www.tvguide.co.uk/

[gfortin]

Re: Sunken T-craft in Great Lakes

Thanks, I'll check it out.