{"id":216969,"date":"2010-01-19T17:22:01","date_gmt":"2010-01-19T22:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/guest_bloggers\/20\/pilot-duct-tapes-bear-shredded-plane-and-flies-home.html"},"modified":"2010-01-19T17:22:01","modified_gmt":"2010-01-19T22:22:01","slug":"pilot-duct-tapes-bear-shredded-plane-and-flies-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/216969","title":{"rendered":"Pilot duct tapes bear-shredded plane and flies home"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Photo: ArmyParatrooper.org)<\/em><\/p>\n

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An Alaskan pilot learned a valuable lesson recently while stopped
\nat a hunting lodge in the backcountry: duct tape can fix practically
\nanything, including severe damage to a plane from a hungry bear.<\/p>\n
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While this story was deemed a myth after circulating on Internet message boards for months, AlaskaDispatch.com<\/a> confirms: it really happened, though some reported details<\/a> of the story \u2014 like fish left in the plane \u2014 are inaccurate.<\/div>\n
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Bush pilot Luke Miller, 28, stopped over at a friend\u2019s hunting lodge in Southwest Alaska<\/a> in September 2009 to take shelter during a storm.<\/div>\n
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The lodge owner, hunting guide Gary LaRose, had recently had a few
\nrun-ins with a bear intent on stealing some moose meat from a shed, but
\nhad cleaned and bleached the space to avoid additional problems.<\/div>\n
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But that didn\u2019t stop the bear from coming back for more. After
\ntearing a window out of the shed and finding it moose-free, the bear
\napparently decided to give Miller\u2019s plane a shot. LaRose discovered the
\ndamage in the morning.<\/div>\n
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“My headlamp hit Luke’s plane and it was literally destroyed,” he told the\u00a0Alaska Dispatch<\/a>. “My heart sank. It was just an unbelievable sight.”<\/div>\n
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“He was pissed,” LaRose said of the bear. “His easy food source had dried up and he was out for revenge.”<\/div>\n
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After a\u00a0few days of meticulous repair work involving plywood,
\nPlexiglas, industrial-strength plastic wrap and 25 rolls of duct tape,
\nand the plane was able to fly back to Anchorage.<\/div>\n
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The bear hasn\u2019t been around since.<\/div>\n
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“He’s off digesting some fabric right now. He just disappeared
\ninto the night. He doesn’t know how famous he is,” said the pilot\u2019s
\nfather, Mark Miller. <\/div>\n
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(Photo: ArmyParatrooper.org)<\/em><\/p>\n

Stephanie Rogers is a regular contributor to Mother Nature Network<\/a><\/em>, where this post originally appeared.<\/em><\/p>\n

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More from Mother Nature Network <\/strong><\/p>\n