Helen Klaben Kahn passed away this week. Her obit in the NYTimes recounted the tale of her crash landing in the Yukon in February 1963. The pilot also survived, but they had no survival gear (no ax, sleeping bags, rifle, rations), and several broken bones between them.

They had meager rations for ten days, and no food at all for 39 more days. They melted snow for water, and camped mostly in the plane cabin, which was more or less intact (small single-engine plane, flight from Fairbanks to Fort St John, BC). Remember, this was the Yukon in February.

I read the obit because one of my (broken record? :) claims here is that emergency preparedness is way overdone by Mormons. If you are in passably good health, you can survive a remarkably long time on just water, and in most real emergencies (fire, flood, earthquake, blizzard) it is either over quickly, or you will have to leave home quickly. Either way, you don't need a lot of food storage.

This was a remarkable survival story, but here's "the rest of the story". The pilot was a Mormon, and while they were trying to survive for 49 days until they were rescued, he intermittently tried to convince her she should convert to Mormonism.

She is Jewish. And the plane crashed because he got lost and did not have an instrument rating but took off in stormy weather anyway.

Maybe just being pissed off at him kept her alive. ;)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/obituaries/helen-kleban-kahn-dead.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2018 10:00PM by Brother Of Jerry.

Wonderful article. Thanks!

The LDS pilot, who had no instrument training:“If you don’t trust me, don’t go with me.”

Sounds like a mormon....

Apparently the mormon god wasn't serving as co-pilot on the flight...

... or he hadn't completed flight training.

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was a remarkable survival story, but here's
> "the rest of the story". The pilot was a Mormon,
> and while they were trying to survive for 49 days
> until they were rescued, he intermittently tried
> to convince her she should convert to Mormonism.
>
> She is Jewish. And the plane crashed because he
> got lost and did not have an instrument rating but
> took off in stormy weather anyway.
>
> Maybe just being pissed off at him kept her alive.
> ;)

:D

Re: the subject of converting to Mormonism--I would be very interested to know what she was saying to him in response to his conversion efforts!

"I would be very interested to know what she was saying to him in response to his conversion efforts!"

Me too.

"Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" the story of Louie Zamperini by Laura Hillenbrand. After crashing the Pacific, he and a crewmate spent a near impossible 47 days on the o pen sea in a rubber raft, survived strafing by Japanese aircraft, and finally made land--on a Japanese-held island!

An inspiring story for anybody by the best-selling author of "Seabiscuit." Also, a movie directed by Anjolina Joie and written by the Coen Brothers. (No Brad Pitt.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2018 04:17PM by caffiend.

Thank you for this, caffiend!

There are aspects of the U.S. war with Japan, during WWII, I am very much interested in, and these (book and film) leads might be of great interest.

I.remember reading the story when it happened. She didn't convert but was grateful to him for helping her survive.

I was in a Continuing Studies class at Stanford with Helen 5-6 years ago. One night before class she told us how the pilot read the BoM to her--endlessly as I recall. DH confirms this--he had long conversations with her before class. (DH has Jewish background.)

I'm sorry she's gone. Thanks for letting us know, Brother.

The story caught my eye for a couple of reasons. I lived for several years in a very cold part of Canada (yes, some parts are much colder than others!), so I was impressed she survived at all. It was also confirmation of my contention that most "food storage" is a waste of time. If they really have no other choice, people can survive a surprisingly long time on practically nothing but water.

When I got to the part about her being stranded for 49 days with a Mormon pilot, I laughed out loud. That sounds like the punch line of a "fates worse than death" joke.

It is almost certain that every single person we meet has at least one good story in their life, if only we had the opportunity to hear it. Her story was a hum-dinger. The Mormon pilot was icing on the cake.