Nome, Alaska plane crash - drugs

[Jim Wilke]

Last week, Cessna 172 crashed outside of Nome after missing an approach at a small plane field and never making an attempt at the big field a mile away. Here's the crash scene:




I just got back from Nome last night and circled over the scene.

Notice a couple of things: Wheels are ripped off. No skis. Plane is 10 miles east of Nome, heading away from the town. Hit very hard. What was this guy doing flying around in western Alaska in lousy weather after dark? No flight plan, no communication with anyone on the ground.

Here's the story: The plane was carrying drugs and this was not his first trip. Previously, he had circled north of the town over miles of empty tundra and air dropped the drugs out of the plane but apparently this time, the money needed to change hands so he was supposed to land. Because the Troopers were eyeing him, he could not land at the main airport and risk search. Once he figured out he was not going to be able to land at the small plane airport because of too much snow, he paniced, called his girl friend on the cell phone and headed east, trying to get to another air strip where he could buy some gas and wait.

What kind of drugs? Heroin and opiods. Heroin. In Nome, Alaska.

[comfortably numb]

Makes perfect sense.

[Jim Wilke]

It does now. A 172 on tricycle gear 2 hours after dark. Trying to land on a snow covered strip with no lights when there is a 6,000 foot runway with full lights, strobes and nav aids just a mile away.

BTW, I did see something yesterday I've never seen before. We were flying over a snowmobile race with a helicopter and landed on a Bay to take a quick break. A few minutes later, a 172 glided down and landed near us ... on the ice on wheels. Zero snow but, still, never seen a guy do an off-airport landing like this with tricycle gear. Made it look easy.

[window]

What kind of drugs? Heroin and opiods. Heroin. In Nome, Alaska.

Must be for all the prescriptions that ran out when they could no longer stand the pain from their football (and related) injuries.

[RS2]

That first pic is a nosedive and not a botched landing. Not with that damage. You can set a 172 down at 55mph.

[Jim Wilke]

Must be for all the prescriptions that ran out when they could no longer stand the pain from their football (and related) injuries.

Word is that one of the offshore gold mining operations that you see on TV is a front for heroin dealing. No, not the Pomrenkes.

[window]

That first pic is a nosedive and not a botched landing. Not with that damage. You can set a 172 down at 55mph.

You can set a 172 down at 35. Not saying I recommend it but been there, done that.

[window]

Word is that one of the offshore gold mining operations that you see on TV is a front for heroin dealing. No, not the Pomrenkes.

So, just to elaborate, it's a supply/demand issue.

[mattbholland]

Heroin is everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE now. Affluent suburbs, rural towns, even Nome. The crackdown on "pill mill" doctors has pushed the addicts onto the streets. That and the heroin of today is much more pure than the stuff of the 70s. Cheap and easily available, sadly. When I first started with my company, we actually took the word "heroin" off our marketing and educational materials bc it was off-putting to the doctors. It was an inner city issue....we were trying to fight the painkiller problem. That was a decade ago. Now I lead with it when trying to get a doctor interested in helping....wow.
Sorry to hijack the thread.

[Frank Capua]

Heroin isn't scary anymore. Kids can go on youtube and get instructions. I'm shocked at how young some of the users are now days.

[Jim Wilke]

Kids of guys I know are fooling around with it. Late teens, early 20s. I have no idea why anyone would even get near it.

I don't drink or do drugs now but I used to, 30 years ago. Psychedelics were fun, speed and coke were very common. Heroin? No way. It was offered a couple of times but no way.

[KevMcNJ]

I don't drink or do drugs now but I used to, 30 years ago. Psychedelics were fun, speed and coke were very common. Heroin? No way. It was offered a couple of times but no way.

As a child of the 80s living in between NYC and Philly the first three you mentioned were a phone call or two away a lot of the time.

Heroin? Forget it. That was something you would have had to go to Harlem to find. I had no desire and no idea how to even acquire any and I'm sitting here pretty sure I never knew anyone who ever touched it

[Mindervillain]

It does now. A 172 on tricycle gear 2 hours after dark. Trying to land on a snow covered strip with no lights when there is a 6,000 foot runway with full lights, strobes and nav aids just a mile away.

BTW, I did see something yesterday I've never seen before. We were flying over a snowmobile race with a helicopter and landed on a Bay to take a quick break. A few minutes later, a 172 glided down and landed near us ... on the ice on wheels. Zero snow but, still, never seen a guy do an off-airport landing like this with tricycle gear. Made it look easy.

Looks like he's got the wheels/tires for it so it's probably not his first time.

[BADGER]

I've always thought the best way to keep kids off drugs is to show the before and after pictures of heavy drug users. If that crap doesn't make them stop and think, nothing will.

[Dave Anderson]

As a child of the 80s living in between NYC and Philly the first three you mentioned were a phone call or two away a lot of the time.

Heroin? Forget it. That was something you would have had to go to Harlem to find. I had no desire and no idea how to even acquire any and I'm sitting here pretty sure I never knew anyone who ever touched it

Interestingly, opium and heroin were quite common and widely used in the 19th and early 20th century in mainstream medicine. Before the rise of modern anesthesia, opium and alcohol were used as the main anesthetics for surgery and even dental procedures like pulling a tooth. During the Civil War, doctors regularly prescribed opium power as a cure for diarrhea. It was one of the most commonly prescribed drugs during the war. Of course many people became addicted, particularly those with chronic war injuries so much so that opium addiction became known as the "old soldier's disease" for many years after the war. Recreational use became common as the west was settled and smoking the drug entered the mainstream with the arrival of large numbers of Chinese laborers and the rise of opium dens in west coast seaports. Here's an interesting advertisement that show's how attitudes have changed over time.

[mstove]

The book "Dreamland" was one of the most interesting things I read last year. I recommend it for anyone wanting to look into how the heroin/opioid epidemic spread to non-traditional markets. Really good read.

[Dave Anderson]

...What kind of drugs? Heroin and opiods. Heroin. In Nome, Alaska.

I've read that sniffing gas is/was also common in many isolated northern communities.

[Frank Capua]

I've always thought the best way to keep kids off drugs is to show the before and after pictures of heavy drug users. If that crap doesn't make them stop and think, nothing will.

Then we need to see more of those heroin addict videos where they pass out in their vehicles... Especially the ones where their 5 y/o is crying in the back seat.

[mstove]

Then we need to see more of those crackhead videos where they pass out in their vehicles... Especially the ones where their 5 y/o is crying in the back seat.

That has become a heroin thing around much of the country. One of my good friend's wife is a Paramedic with the Madison Fire department and when that started happening a few years back I'd email her stories I saw and she'd fill me in further (or she'd shoot me a note about "another one"). In the last year or two neither one of us does that anymore as it became too regular a thing. My friend and I were talking with the County Sherriff several years ago and he mentioned who his wife was. He called her part of the mobile NARCAN delivery unit. Now officers have access to it so they all get to play "stop the OD".

[Frank Capua]

That has become a heroin thing around much of the country. One of my good friend's wife is a Paramedic with the Madison Fire department and when that started happening a few years back I'd email her stories I saw and she'd fill me in further (or she'd shoot me a note about "another one"). In the last year or two neither one of us does that anymore as it became too regular a thing. My friend and I were talking with the County Sherriff several years ago and he mentioned who his wife was. He called her part of the mobile NARCAN delivery unit. Now officers have access to it so they all get to play "stop the OD".

Yeah I knew those were heroin addicts and we were talking about the heroin problem... I guess it's a combination of having lived in Polk County Florida in the 90s and a brain fart.

[mstove]

Yeah I knew those were heroin addicts and we were talking about the heroin problem... I guess it's a combination of having lived in Polk County Florida in the 90s and a brain fart.

Just as long as it isn't from hitting the pipe.

[Jim Wilke]

I've read that sniffing gas is/was also common in many isolated northern communities.

It is. I used to get calls from customers in the Bush who wanted to buy locking gas caps for their Polaris snowmobiles. More than one said he found a kid passed out next to the sled, gas cap in hand.

I had one that put a canvas cover on and chained that down, kid just used a knife to cut a hole in it.

[window]

I've always thought the best way to keep kids off drugs is to show the before and after pictures of heavy drug users. If that crap doesn't make them stop and think, nothing will.

You'd think. After viewing one of those Scared Straight type movies in the 9th grade, a friend and I agreed that heroin was probably not on the list of things to give a try. We were on the wrestling team, track team, pretty good students. We weren't as close in high school but kept tabs - he graduated in the top 5%. I asked about him at the 10 year reunion. "Died of a heroin overdose a few years back". Hmm.

[Jim Wilke]

This is Yvonne Adkison, reality TV star from 'Bering Sea Gold' making a public appearance:



Here she is in her yellow jumpsuit from Anvil Mountain Correctional Center making an appearance for dealing heroin. Rumor has it that she is still involved and so are a couple of her co-stars:

[mstove]

With very few exceptions, the word "star" should never follow "reality TV".

[Jim Wilke]

Counting DVR numbers, almost 2 million HHs so over 3 million viewers per episode. 1 out 100 Americans is watching this crap:

[mstove]

That doesn't change my last post one bit.

[window]

This is Yvonne Adkison, reality TV star from 'Bering Sea Gold' making a public appearance:



Here she is in her yellow jumpsuit from Anvil Mountain Correctional Center making an appearance for dealing heroin. Rumor has it that she is still involved and so are a couple of her co-stars:

She could star in one of those with and without makeup clickbait exposes.

[Frank Capua]

With very few exceptions, the word "star" should never follow "reality TV".

I can like of worse words to follow "Reality TV"... Like President.

[Dave Anderson]

Counting DVR numbers, almost 2 million HHs so over 3 million viewers per episode. 1 out 100 Americans is watching this crap:

Never heard of it.