Maule on a Mission

[DonMc]

A friend of mine has asked me to fly the ashes of a friend of his out over the Chesapeake Bay and spread them. He asked me if I thought they would blow back into the airplane. Has anyone had experience with such a mission? The concern may come from knowing that the inside of the airplane is lower pressure than the outside air. My plan is to be slowed down with a couple notches of flaps and the window open. Anyone got ideas?

DonMc
260BD

[brokenaero]

Yea, did it in a Champ once. Tasted and gritted Harold for the rest of the day.

[dunbarst]

I had a friend who was a captain in the merchant marine and they would often get requests to drop ashes of departed union members on their way out of port. After numerous difficult deployments when the wind would blow most of the pour soul's remains back aboard, they elected to either use a paper bag or they would freeze the ashes in water making a rather large ice cube (they used a cooler and the ship's walk in freezer) and then drop the ice block over the side. Neither is as romantic as seeing the cloud of ashes spread in the wind but it was a lot less messy.



I'd consider a hybrid approach and use a sealed paper bag with a string glued to the length of the side of it. Hold onto the string, toss the bag and it should rip open spreading the ashes.

[Lowflybye]

It's a 2 man operation to do it right unless you rig up a remote drop system. If you just use a simple bag or can you will have the ashes in the plane with you. You need to build a simple PVC deployment system. You will need a PVC ball valve, a curved Y joint and a screw on cap along with some tube.

Build a holding canister with the screw on cap on one end and the ball valve on the other. Mount the curved Y joint on after the ball valve to create a venturi and add about a foot or 2 of exit tube.

Fill the holding canister with the ashes while on the ground. Once ready, have your helper hold the venturi end out the window with the exit tube down the side of the aircraft and open the ball valve when you are ready to disperse the ashes. Works like a charm and cost less than $20.

Practice with flour first so you can get the feel for it. Makes a great poor man's smoke system as well.

[belandd]

There is also some legality in dropping human remains. Use caution how you broaodcast what you are doing.

I have found that it is more difficult than you would guess. The blow back problem is hard to over come. Try to refuse taking family members along if you can. They are usually horrified when the ashes blow back in their faces.

[YELLOWMAULE]

I ran across a guy that did this on a regular basis. He had a 3-4" PVC tube strapped to the struts with a couple strings into the cockpit. Both ends would open, clean deployment. He said to open the aft (trailing) side first, then the front. "Passenger" never came in the plane. I had a picture of it mounted from a long time ago, I'll have to try and find it. As I recall, the end pieces were disc shaped on pins, when the string was pulled, the simply rotated open. It was pretty slick.

[210TC]

Used a 205 Cessna with family and no ashes came back into the plane. Go test with some ashes from the fire place.

I would have been in that urn had I not used my gut instincts. I told someone that I would go fly with them and at the last minute my gut said no. Another friend of mine went instead and 15 minutes later they were both gone.

[UP-M5]

we get a surprising amount of requests to spread ashes over the mountain. it is true, the recently departed will be back in the plane with you if you just dump them out the window.
lately we have been using the paper bag technique.

[Kirk]

Years ago, I used the PVC tube technique in a Cessna. Popped the door open and stuck the tube out the bottom trailing edge of the opening.

Worked good.

Kirk

[xwildcat]

I knew of a family who lost their mother and the flying sons decided to spread her ashes over the mountains here in Colorado. There were four of them participating in the "service". They were in a 210 I believe. Word is the release out the window came back and coated the inside with the ashes/dust. Don't know for sure b/c they all perished in the subsequent crash. Spun it into the ground.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=41399

[DonMc]

I knew if I asked you guys a question I would get an answer from folks that "been there . . .done that". I would appreciate a picture or drawing of one of the PCV rigs. My thought was to take a trash bag with ashes and tie a knot in the open end. Then have a rope from the bag to something like the strut. He could hold the bag out the window and rip a hole in the bottom then let it go. I must admit that I didn't think it was a problem. I will take a trial run with flower Thanks for the advice.

DonMc
260BD

[Lowflybye]

I wish I could claim the idea as my own, but I got it from some friends of mine so I do not have the actual unit on hand to send you a picture. I did however draw a "schematic" of it with the paint program. it is pretty self explainatory. You may need to vent the holding canister a bit to enhance the suction from the venturi which can be done by losening the screw on cap. If you can hold it vertical (out the bottom of a door) then gravity will help feed the ashes into the venturi.

You can use 4" PVC for the canister to shorten it a bit and place a 4" - 2" reducer between the canister and the ball valve.

You can experiment with it by using flower and holding it out of a car / truck window. It's cheaper than flying to practice it and works the same although the venturi suction will be stronger at flying speeds.

[N949JH]

My dad was a mortician, with an passion for airplanes. Back in the early '70s he got a commercial license and started an ash scattering business. Dad never played catch with me but every weekend we'd go out and scatter ashes together. My job was to hold the airplane straight and level while he did the scattering, usually dozens at a time. The best way he found to do it was put the remains in a paper grocery bad, twist the top, then push the door open and slide the bag into the slipstream. In a Maule, you could remove the cargo door and pass the remains out that way. About the time the bag passes the tail it's been ripped open and the contents gently float to the ground or water, while the biodegradable bag quickly disappears. A nice touch is to take a photo of where the remains were scattered and give it to the family.

[aero101]

A very simple but effective method is to use a long poster tube approx 3' to 4' long and 3" to 4" in diameter. Use masking tape and a medium weight paper to tape off and close up the bottom end. Remains into the tube and just cap the top end while transporting. When ready to dispurse, I slow aircraft, dirty, to an over the fence speed, extend tube out bottom aft corner of door as far as able to support, use a long pc of welding rod suitable for penetrating ashes and puncturing the paper at bottom of tube several times and viola. Suggest that it's a 2 man job or you need an autopilot as it does require both hands. Have used this method several times and have remained ash free in the airplane. Just make sure you secure & seal up bottom end effectively until you puncture, as there is a good bit of weight involved... Also suggest trying the puncture method, prior to flight and filling with remains, a couple of times to verify your tooling works effectively.

[Nick]

You will have to check out history channels ICE PILOTS NWT episode #13, they did exactly what you are looking for from a DC-3
http://www.history.ca/video/default.aspx