I did this about a year ago in Australia....my uncle wanted his ashes spread over his farming property...I read through the numerous articles in various fora to find the best method...and determined the most common lesson learned was to not try and throw something out the window due to the very likely result of filling the cockpit with ash...I was going to rent a C172 and do the deed using a complicated loop of rope tied off to the landing gear...
However I was saved from that potentially disastrous experiment by one of the locals who had a Supercub which had been a banner tower and still had the rigging. For those not familiar, the banner towing rigging runs from the tail tow hook, up to a guide pin on the trailing edge of the right wing and back to a release mechanism on the lower right of the cockpit. The plane would takeoff and when ready to go in and pick up the banner the cockpit end is released and the cable unravels off the wing guide and ends up trailing behind with the gappling hook ready to snag the banner on the ground.....
Anyway, we put the ashes in a thick brown paper grocery bag and also put a large boulder inside. We then inserted the banner pickup grappling hook into the bag and taped it closed using duct tape. The theory was that when released the banner tow cable would snap taut in the slipstream and inieria of the boulder would cause it to tear the paper bag and thereby release the ashes. In the event we managed to scatter Uncle Frank per his wishes and much beer was consumed at the Jenna pub afterwards!....
If I was doing it again I would probably not include the boulder as whilst this is OK over farmland, it is less than ideal....
AQ
A friend of mine does this regularly from Duxford. They had horrendous problems till they rigged up a box with a remote release - I think attached to an under wing weapons mounting point, hence not permanent.
Definitely worth a dry-run or two...
CCT
This talk of tubes sticking out of the aircraft, reminded me of a video I saw where a pilot used this trick to "suck" flies out of the cockpit.
I mean no disrespect to the deceased by posting this, just thought it might help to show the general principal of what's being discussed.
[Youtube line to the video](
Having recently - sadly - scattered ashes, I can tell you that these aerialtribute guys are either shysters or cremation is done very differently in the US. No way ashes will drift upward, only a very, very small portion (the powdery stuff I wrote about earlier) will. The rest will follow gravity.....
Unfortunately, I have recent experience with human ashes. First off, these a are not 'ashes' at all, but rather resemble sand. Think sand from a beach with lots of ground-up shells of mussels etc interspersed. Small amount of powdery material. Secondly, at least in the UK, there will be no big pieces, as metallic objects are removed before cremation. There's nothing to fear for the a/c.
I have also heard about the tube method - in theory, this should work, as the air flowing over the opening of the tube (outside the a/c) will create a low pressure, sucking the ashes out. However, I venture to say that the angle at which the tube is being held is crucial here.
Trial run definitely in order, but make sure you don't use real (fire) ashes or powder, rather fine sand.
Never done it myself, but I would start with a long hose that extends way backwards, so that the slipstream sucks it out.
The other thing I've heard is to fly the aircraft at the release moment with a bit of sideslip so that whatever blows out of the tube, blows away from the aircraft.
Safest method, but not very dignified, would be to put the ashes in a paper bag, and tape a piece of string to the paper bag so that if you pull the string, the bag rips completely. Tie one end of the string to the plane, throw the paper bag overboard. But be careful that the string doesn't jam the elevator.
A few trial runs would well be advised, I'd say.
Oh, and you require permission from the CAA for this, but I've heard that getting this permission is free, for a change.
From what I hear from people who have actually done it, the biggest issue is that the pressure in the cockpit (in most planes) is slightly below the ambient, so anything released outside gets rapidly blown back inside.
I would think the same would happen if you used a tube. No matter how long the tube is, air will flow through it back into the cockpit, unless it is inclined so as to create a vacuum.
One operation which did this "professionally" put the ashes in an externally mounted box, with a trapdoor which was released from inside the cockpit.
The other thing to consider is that cremated ashes (I have seen them close-up) can contain some big pieces; not just bone (I gather the "assistant" sometimes has to break up big bones with a hammer) but things like big metal trouser belt buckles. That's assuming the deceased did not have any surgical stuff inserted... Releasing this stuff into a 100kt+ slipstream could do a lot of damage to the elevator, whose skin is normally very thin...
Last time I put a link to EuroGA on Flyer, the mods there deleted it really fast 
It was a link to the VFR Europe presentation, under Articles. They allowed it back when somebody else replaced the link with a direct link to the actual PDFs i.e. such that people could download them without seeing our forum first. I found it slightly funny...
A friend of mine had his father's ashes scattered from a Piper Arrow many years ago. It has the potential to be very, very messy. Basically they placed the ashes in a plastic bag, and inserted a length of tube from an old vacuum cleaner into the bag. Sealed the neck with tape. Opened door in flight. Put tube hopefully into a lower pressure area - ashes sucked out of the bag.
'Dry' run essential. I suspect permission needed from CAA too (stuff being dropped from aircraft, etc. - Rule ? of the Rules of the Air!)
