In six years of flying Michael Dare's emergency landing tally sits at three.
The most recent close call happened on Friday (Aug. 5) when he flew his ultralight aircraft from Squamish destined for the Pemberton Airport. The Squamish resident started losing power over the Pemberton ice fields.
Dare was able to find a spot on the glacier that was free of crevasses. He said his high-speed landing resulted in the light aircraft sliding into automobile sized boulders.
"I closed my eyes and heard things tearing around me," Dare said of his high altitude emergency landing. "When I came to a stop I heard fuel spilling out on the rocks around me."
The GPS unit on the light plane was destroyed in the crash and Dare said his helmet, watch and other equipment were badly damaged. He credits his four-point harness with saving his life.
He pulled his survival kit from the plane and climbed away in fear the fuel might ignite.
Dare, an emergency room nurse at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and advanced life support trainer, discovered his cellphone and radio were useless, so he decided to climb higher. He estimated he climbed about 300 metres (1,000 feet) with neck pain and pain from various other injuries.
He used his radio to put out a mayday call that was picked up by an Air Canada flight. The Air Canada crew contacted the rescue centre in Victoria and they sent a rescue Buffalo helicopter from CFB Comox.
Dare said the crew on board the Buffalo had a little trouble finding him. By the time he was located by the Buffalo, a Cormorant helicopter with search and rescue (SAR) techs on board who could winch down to him was just minutes away.The SAR techs winched him up to the Cormorant for transportation to Vancouver International Airport. He knew some of his rescuers as he trained them in advanced life support techniques. From the airport, Dare was transported to VGH to be treated by his co-workers.
"They found there were no broken bones and only soft tissue injuries," said Dare. "I was discharged at 8:30 that night."Dare said he believes he lost power because ice formed on the carburetor of his craft.
Dare's first two emergency landings took place soon after he received his pilot license. In June of 2000 he was preparing his ultralight for long flights. His engine started cutting out on a flight over Mount Mamquam. He had to do an emergency glacier landing and coordinated his own rescue using a local helicopter company.
That same summer he planned to fly to Whistler along the Hwy. 99 corridor when his engine cut out again. He touched down at the Squamish Valley Golf and Country Club and landed on the front page of The Chief.
Based on what he learned in the two crashes Dare discovered what was causing his engine trouble. He fixed the problem and successfully flew long distances without any trouble until this month.
Dare and his wife flew back to the wreck this week and salvaged what they could from the crash site. He expects the remains of the craft will stay in the mountains because removing them will be impossible.
The man who saves lives and trains others to save lives has a bizarre history of cheating death. He is an experienced climber who once spent a cold winter night on a frozen waterfall after breaking a crampon. A helicopter Dare was flying in over Calgary back in the early 1990s crash landed after it suffered mechanical problems. He was swept into the ocean as a child while hiking the West Coast Trail. Dare also had an encounter with an avalanche at one point in his life. And, he was once chased by a grizzly bear while searching in the wilderness for a downed plane.
After the incident last weekend, Dare said he intends to stay out of ultralights for now.
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