Thank you, Mike, for the explanation. Having seen it before, I was enraged
each time I saw this elegant bird abused so. Your explanation makes perfect
sense: movie cameras...
All those building, might take note and not make your initial flight into a
"media event." Keep it a personal encounter with your creation.
Bill
On 1/8/06, Mike Davis <
mike.davis@dcsol.com> wrote:
And also for your entertainment, here is a bit of a strange goose
landing.
Here's the story behind this particular Goose landing...
"WILD GOOSE
Back in the "olden days", when Tamarindo was a small village and everyone
knew everyone else, filmmaker Bruce Brown chose the town to shoot a
segment
for his new movie "Endless Summer II". The sequel to the famous surfing
movie "Endless Summer" came a generation later than the original, and, of
course, featured new stars: Wingnut and Pat O'Connor, together with one of
the originals, Robert August.
Living in Flamingo at that time was a pilot, "Hoot" Gibson, who had spent
several years obtaining his commercial licence in Costa Rica. Hoot owned a
vintage Grumman Goose seaplane, relic of World War II, and intended to
charter it for tours. Given the state of the roads then - and not much
improved since - a seaplane seemed the way to go to explore a country
surrounded by sea.
Robert August had a fine idea: To charter the Goose to fly the film crew
and
its surfers around the coasts of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, looking
for unknown or little-known surf spots to shoot their sequences. Apart
from
being much faster to cover more area, the aircraft was highly superior to
a
boat, which could only examine the waves from the "back", or ocean, side
whereas a 'plane could approach from the landward side, too. "Endless
Summer
II" was Hoot's first charter in Costa Rica, and was to last two weeks.
On the first day, the Goose took off from the airport. The plan was to fly
out to Cabo Velas, return along Playa Grande and land in the bay near
Tamarindo estuary, where the crew would board, then to take off on their
adventures.
The camera crew set up on Tamarindo Beach, ready to shoot the approach and
landing for the movie. But instead of flying from Cabo Velas, approaching
Tamarindo from the west along the Playa Grande coastline, the big Grumman
twin came roaring down the river from the north, putting on a show for the
camera. On board were the pilot, "Hoot" Gibson, and local resident and
California board shaper, the late Mike "Doc" Diffenderfer.
Approaching Tamarindo, the pilot started a right turn to follow the
estuary,
but his height was insufficient. Presumably he suddenly became aware of
the
power lines which cross the river at that point, and was forced to fly
below
them. The right pontoon caught the water, and jerked the aircraft to the
right. Overcorrecting, the pilot put the left float into the water, and
the
aircraft swerved to that side.
Gibson applied full take-off power to get the aircraft back into the air,
but it careered from the river onto the beach, where it ground-looped and
came to a stop. The whole incident was filmed, and eventually became part
of
the movie.
"At this point," said August, "we saw fuel spraying from the aircraft onto
the sand, and there was a distinct danger of a fire or explosion. As we
approached the 'plane, the doors opened and Hoot and Doc jumped out,
fortunately both unhurt. From a nearby beach house, a resident came
running,
carrying a big club and shouting at the pilot that he was in a national
park, and polluting the beach. We managed to calm him down, and the
incident
ended at that point."
Eyewitness Dean Butterfield adds: "I was up the hill looking over the
estuary, watching Hoot Gibson fly the plane through it. He was doing touch
and go's in the estuary, I was wondering why he felt he had to do that in
there. As he came out to the mouth I think he saw the cable stretched
across
at the last minute and tried to duck under it. He caught the wing tip and
stuffed it into the sand.
By the time I got down to it, there were a lot of people around. I took
pictures and made a T-shirt from one."
Officials of Minae also attended the site very shortly after the accident,
and charged the pilot with flying in a protected zone (Parque Marina las
Baulas). As a result, Gibson's licence, obtained over several years, was
withdrawn after one brief flight.
"As it happened, the club-bearing resident did quite well out of the
crash."
August continues. "The plane suffered damage to a wing and one of the
propellers, and parts for a vintage seaplane are not procured at your
local
NAPA store, so the aircraft had to sit for a year or so while repairs were
made. During this time the aircraft was parked in the resident's back
garden, he and his family being paid for caretaker duty against theft or
vandalism. I believe someone of the family slept in their garden ornament
every night."
The day after the accident, filming continued with a scene where supposed
crash passengers August, Wingnut and Pat O'Connor climb cheerfully from
the
Goose, carrying their boards, and run off to the surf.
Seriously concerned that accident investigators or other officials might
confiscate the film shot up to that point, Director Bruce Brown hired a
friend to hop a Sansa flight to San Jos