Alberta's Aviation Heritage

Harold recounts a rather foolhardy, but ultimately successful landing he made at Fort Chipewyan. With the RCMP Norseman he was flying passengers from Edmonton to Fort Smith. After leaving Fort MacMurray the weather turned bad and he could no longer fly. He did not want to fly back, so he landed the plane on a mud flat beach, keeping the airspeed high enough so that the plane would bounce along the beach and not get stuck in the mud. Eventually he reached a gravel road and taxied the plane to a hotel. Other pilots made the same landing in future weeks, but all ended up getting their planes stuck in the mud of the beach.



	Landing on the Mud Flats Harold recounts a rather foolhardy, but ultimately successful landing he made at Fort Chipewyan. With the RCMP Norseman he was flying passengers from Edmonton to Fort Smith. After leaving Fort MacMurray the weather turned bad and he could no longer fly. He did not want to fly back, so he landed the plane on a mud flat beach, keeping the airspeed high enough so that the plane would bounce along the beach and not get stuck in the mud. Eventually he reached a gravel road and taxied the plane to a hotel. Other pilots made the same landing in future weeks, but all ended up getting their planes stuck in the mud of the beach.