AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022 - 87

Swamp thing
Gerald Herbert had just moved his Cessna 172 to its new hangar at Port of South
Louisiana Executive Regional Airport (APS) from Lakefront Airport and was relaxing
in his comfortable hangar when police cruisers came inside the airport property.
Since APS is a very quiet field and it was after dark, Herbert was at first concerned
that as a new tenant he was breaking some unknown rule. When he approached the
cruiser, he was told an aircraft had gone down at the end of the runway-right into
the cypress trees and swamp.
Herbert volunteered to fly over
and see if he could find the
aircraft and the stranded pilot.
Making several passes and
with his flashlight, Herbert
eventually saw the aircraft's
lighting and guided the Coast
Guard helicopter into rescue
the pilot, his airplane nose
down in the trees.
From its massive concrete-slab edifice at
its entrance, to its display of Higgins boats (the
locally made amphibious crawlers in which
Allied soldiers stormed the beaches at D-Day),
to its dioramic depictions of the Pacific theater,
and to its massive suspension of a Spitfire and
Skytrain, the museum has a strong personality. It
looks unflinchingly at the horrors of war, occupation,
and liberation.
In the U.S. Freedom Pavilion, the who's-who
of aircraft includes a B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25J
Mitchell, a TBF Avenger, a P-51 Mustang, an
SBD-3 Dauntless, and Corsair F4U-4. The B-17
is My Gal Sal, which was lost over Greenland
and recovered and restored years later. Oral
histories in audio and video are hallmarks of
the experience; participate in the " Dog Tag
Experience " in which you adopt a real-life person
of the time period to share their experiences
throughout the war.
Fly in, stay for the food
I am sprawled across a brown pleather couch
in Gerald Herbert's hangar at Port of South
Louisiana Executive Regional Airport (APS), a
mouthful of a name for this small country airfield
in southwest Louisiana, about 35 miles
AOPA PILOT / March 2022
87
" I had a gut feeling he could
see me, and I hoped I gave
him comfort, " he said. " I
could see the helicopter
coming from Belle Chasse; it
was impressive to see. The
big searchlight just lit up the
whole area. "
Several months later he and
the rescued pilot (who called Herbert his " guardian angel " )-and who suffered only
a lacerated arm in the crash-attempted to hike into the area to see the airplane.
The landowner waylaid them and told them to leave. " The locals take their land
ownership very seriously, " Herbert said.
It is southern Louisiana.
Practice, planning, and good judgment can improve the odds tremendously, but
despite our best intentions, sometimes things just go wrong. In the AOPA Air Safety
Institute Safety Spotlight " Emergency Procedures, " ASI looks at ways to handle
those critical " up here, wishing you were down there " situations as safely
as possible.
airsafetyinstitute.org/spotlight/emergencyprocedures
JOEY OUBRE
http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org/spotlight/emergencyprocedures
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2022

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