Spreading ashes

[AK737FO]

Ashes to Ashes...

I use to do this out of a Cherokee 6. One guy flys, one guy (another pilot) cracks the back door and send the ashes on their way.
Sometimes the family wanted to fly along. Bring several boxes of tissue...
Sometimes they family would just want it dropped over the ocean, over Tillamook head light house, over the farm... and did not care to fly along.
The ashes would usually come to us in an urn or in a cardboard box. We would always transfer the ashes to a paper bag. This gives you a lot more control on getting the ash out of the airplane through a cracked door or window. If we were off shore we would just "bombs away" with the whole bag. The water splash when the bag hits is pretty impressive.

We did notice a little "sand blasting" on the 6's tail after a half dozen or so airial dispersions.

 

[banned username 2]

Re: Ashes to Ashes...

We did notice a little "sand blasting" on the 6's tail after a half dozen or so airial dispersions.

Such is life, one day you are rolling along fat, dumb and happy... the next you are chipping paint off of some Cherokee's horizontal stab with your teeth....

 

[F/O]

AK737FO

I used the "paper bag method" you refer to offshore from Pacific City one time. But, I was by myself on that run, I think family members prefer scattering directly from the urn...

 

[Aviation Forum]

I've heard horror stories of all of the ash blowing back into the plane! Yikes!

 

[LR25]

I have done this with a 172.

Here are a couple thing to think of.

Undo the latch that holds the window at the 45 degree so you can open it up all the way.

Have someone in the back seat do the dumping, I had someone in the front seat do it, and we were getting real close to spreading some in the airplane. Not a good thing with the loved ones in the airplane with you.

Good luck.