Flying the Alaska Wild: The Adventures and Misadventures of an Alaska Bush Pilot PDF
Preview Flying the Alaska Wild: The Adventures and Misadventures of an Alaska Bush Pilot
FLYING THE ALASKA WILD Tke Sldrtnture: and Jvt isa dventures of an ^Alaska d>iirk tPilst by Mort Mason Voyageur Press Copyright © 2002 by Mort Mason All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system—without written permission of the publisher. Edited by Kari Cornell Designed by JoDee Turner Printed in China 02 03 04 05 06 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Mason, Mort D., 1931— Flying the Alaska wild : the adventures and misadventures of an Alaska bush pilot / by Mort Mason, p. cm. ISBN 0896585891 (hardcover) 1. Mason, Mort D., 1931 2. Bush flying—Alaska. 3. Bush pilots—Alaska. 4. Alaska—Description and travel. I. Title. TL540.M36737 A3 2002 629.13'092—dc21 2002002238 Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books, 9050 Shaughnessy Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6P 6E5 Published by Voyageur Press, Inc. 123 North Second Street, P.O. Box 338, Stillwater, MN 55082 U.S.A. 6514302210, fax 6514302211 [email protected] www.voyageurpress.com Educators, fundraisers, premium and gift buyers, publicists, and marketing managers: Looking for creative products and new sales ideas? Voyageur Press books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantities, and special editions can be created to your specifications. For details contact the marketing department at 80 08889653. Front cover and Page 2 photograph: copyright 2001 Alaska Stock ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must, in all good conscience, offer my personal thanks and deepest respect to Dave Klosterman, the best airplane driver I know, who more than once saved my bacon. Though neither of us would go so far as to suggest he might have saved my life, all Alaskans know that sometimes bacon is infinitely the more valuable. Without reservation, my heartfelt and most sincere thanks go to Kari Cornell, my editor. Kari is at once pleasant, easy to work with, laudably informative, and supremely helpful. She has patiently, and with consummate skill, guided this neophyte through the dark and mysterious halls of the publishing labyrinth, keeping always a re markable tolerance and gracious humor. I cannot thank her enough. Last, but surely not least, I want to express my unfeigned gratitude to Michael Dregni, Editorial Director, whose persistence and drive made this on again, off again, back again Finnegan project a possi bility in the first place. DEDICATION This book is dedicated, with all possible respect, to the memory of my father, Donald F. Mason, the best man I ever met; to my wife, Peggy, who suffered through more of my late arrivals than I can count, and without whose encouragement this book would not have been possible; and to Donald E. Ziegler, fisherman and philosopher, who alone knows why. TABLE OF CONTENTS tJntroclHctiOH 11 How It All Began Chapter 1 19 Flying the Big Empty Cktyicrl 39 Drift River Cka^tcri 51 Freeze Up lutytcr 4 63 Ice and Water Cky,terS 71 Painter Creek Ckfyter 6 87 Johnstone Bay }ter7 95 Madman Lake Cky>ttr 8 103 North to South Cky,tcr9 115 A Matter of Fuel CkajtcrlO 125 The Year That Was Ckajtwll 137 Mills Creek Ckafttr 11 Nugget Bench 153 Cluster 13 Christmas, 1981 161 CLatter 14 New Year's Day 171 CLatter 15 Lower Russian Lake 179 Cluster 16 Search and Rescue 191 CkcLj>ttr 17 Bush Guide Mishaps 215 Ckaj>tcrl8 Bush Thievery 227 Lost Fliers 233 CLetter 10 Maintenance and Mechanics Ck(0itcr!1 Troublesome Loads 287 Chapter 11 The Tank Commander 305 Cluster 13 All in One Flight 317 Epilogue 333
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