Stories from Alaska |
Five Days in The Life of an Alaskan Bush Pilot |
Jim briefed his four passengers that the weather was fine at Larsen Bay and that he would take them direct across the mountains to the cannery. After takeoff he kept climb-power on as he gained altitude towards his cruising height of 8,500 feet. His two GO-480 Lycoming engines pounded out their 540 horsepower and his bird quickly climbed up into the blue sky.. Today, this route gave everyone a spectacular view of the rugged spine of snow-covered mountains, which make up Kodiak Island. From this height Jim could see across Shelikof Strait to the Alaskan Peninsula and the smoking mountains of the Katmai National Monument. During a period of eleven years Kodiak village had volcanic ash fall on it three times. When overhead Spiridon Bay Jim started a five hundred foot per minute decent as he approached his first stop of Larsen Bay. The water was calm and smooth near the cannery. Jim eased the Widgeon hull onto the water so smoothly that his passengers only became aware of landing when they heard the hiss of the water underneath them. With his gear down Jim pulled up onto the spit of land sticking out from the cannery buildings. Twenty minutes later, with his two Kodiak passengers now on board he locked the cabin door, checked that all seat belts were secured and briefed his two new passengers on the route and stops they would be taking on their way back to town. With a burst of power he rolled his amphibian off the spit and down into the water of Larsen Bay. The electric motor howled as it raised the landing gear up into their wheel-wells. Completing his take-off checklist, Jim brought both engines up to full power. Spray splashed up over the windshield, past the side windows as the amphibian pulled itself up onto its step and picked up speed. Jim balanced the hull on the step until, observing seventy-five miles per hour on his airspeed, and trailing a line of spray, he eased the Grumman up off the water and started his slow climb down the bay towards Karluk village. In the old days everyone landed in the lagoon of Karluk and all transfers were done using a skiff. Then, the State of Alaska had come up with some money to build a gravel runway. The problem was that around the lagoon and village, it was almost all hills. A place was found where a straight runway, with a length of two thousand feet, was possible if you didn't mind a bit of up and down hill while landing and departing. This was where Jim was now headed. After a circle over the village and lagoon to check the wind direction and speed, Jim positioned himself downwind for runway 28. The wind was out of the west at about fifteen miles an hour or so. Using his landing checklist, Jim put his gear in the down position and selected half flaps. Slowing his aircraft he turned onto final approach and now selected his flaps to full. Both propellers were now in high RPM, and using some power, he held the Widgeon at five or six miles per hour above his stall speed. He was aiming for a touchdown within the first hundred feet or so of runway 28. He knew the runway dropped downhill somewhat, and it was possible to float down the runway, before touching down. Jim liked to give himself as much stopping room as possible. When the end of the runway disappeared under the nose, Jim chopped his power to idle and with a heavy thud and cloud of dust, Jim three pointed his Widgeon onto the gravel runway and started tapping his brakes as he kept his nose pointed down the middle of the fifty-foot wide gravel strip. Rolling on into the parking area he observed a pick-up truck leaving a trail of dust on the road from the village to the airstrip. After a quick 'hello' to the Airways Agent, Jim first off loaded the mail sacks and the two boxes of freight and then helped his new passenger and his baggage aboard. Crawling up through the cockpit into the bow compartment he had the Agent pass up the inbound Karluk mail sacks. Weight up front would help balance his load. Eight minutes later found N23456 sitting at the end of the Karluk gravel runway. Jim completed his take-off checklist and applied partial power to both engines to get his bird moving. With fifteen miles per hour taxi speed he now applied full power. Moving first slowly, before applying takeoff power, would keep his propellers from picking up rocks from the gravel runway and nicking and damaging his props. Forward pressure on the control column raised the tail as the Widgeon picked up speed leaving a heavy trail of dust behind it. Reaching up overhead Jim selected takeoff flaps and as the flaps slowly extended, he applied backpressure and his bird lifted up into the air. The landing gear was half retracted as he flashed over the far end of runway 28 and started a turn to the right out over the Karluk spit with its cannery buildings sitting near the lagoon's exit into the Shelikof Strait. Setting climb power he proceeded along the coastline towards Rocky Point and the entrance to Uyak and then Zachar Bay. Jim was enjoying the beautiful day with the deep blue waters of the strait sparkling on his left. The light breeze should make for an easy landing and departure in front of the cannery at Zachar Bay. Many times in the past he had been forced to radio the cannery telling them that the water was too rough to land'will try again, next trip. Setting up the cannery radio frequency, Jim called the cannery telling them that he would be landing there in fifteen minutes. This would give them time to get their skiff ready with the outgoing mail sack and meet him out in front of the cannery. Twenty minutes later Jim stood in the hatchway of his Widgeon as he watched the cannery skiff slowly approaching the side of his amphibian. Fending off the bow of the skiff Jim greeted the two men in the skiff. Handing over the Zachar Bay mail sack and one box of freight, he received the green outbound sack and said goodbye as the skiff reversed back away from his plane. He watched it turn and pick up speed as it headed in towards the cannery dock. Securing the hatch he told his three passengers that they would now head non-stop to Kodiak. Because the weather was so good today, he would climb up over the central mountains and they should be landing in Kodiak in just forty minutes. True to his word, thirty minutes later Jim was looking ahead over the last mountain ridge to Chiniak Bay and the town of Kodiak lying in the distance. Later, after eating his home made sandwich, an apple and drinking a bottle of cranberry juice Jim was ready for any afternoon flying which might come up. But, before four that afternoon, he had been briefed about a hunting trip for the next morning and told to go home. His thoughts were that this was a rare occasionnot flying when the weather was good. But, all the catch-up work had gotten done this day. He was the first back into town and everything was taken care of.so 'Go home!' Tomorrow, he was taking five hunters and their gear down to Olga Bay and the Pinnell and Talifson bear hunting camp. Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson were the island's most famous Kodiak Bear hunting guides. Since 1949 they had guided over 1,000 sportsmen, including princes, diplomats and some of the world's most famous outdoorsmen and big game hunters. Jim thought back a couple of years before when Bill Pinnell was waiting to depart Kodiak for his bear camp. He was talking to the owner of the Airways. He and Morris had arrived on the island during the year of 1940. They considered themselves miners and for a number of years supported themselves by mining gold along the beach and streams emptying into the bay. "When we got to Olga Bay, we had it made! The beach had plenty of gold to be mined, the creeks were full of salmon. All we had to do was work out the gold and net our fish. For two hungry souls from the depression down south, that living was mighty good I must say." Jim knew that this man was a real Alaskan outdoorsman, hunter and guide. And, Jim could always count on a 'Spam' sandwich and strong coffee when visiting the camp on Olga Bay. This trip was scheduled to depart at 0830. So shortly after seven the next morning Jim parked his VW in a parking space next to the Airways terminal and headed in for a cup of the Airways coffee. The dispatcher this morning was an ex-Army Master Sergeant and his coffee carried a reputation for being 'stout.' Totally, a 'wake-up' coffee. Checking the cannery and village weather reports, Jim found that this would be another day of good weather around the island. His dispatcher briefed him on a second stop after dropping off his hunters. With his coffee finished, he went out to his Grumman Goose amphibian and started a through 'walk-around and pre-flight check'Tires, struts, control surfaces and their cable attachments, fuel and oil levels were all looked at and checked by Jim. He then drained each compartment in the hull letting any water, which had seeped in during the last flight to drain out. He very carefully replaced each plug, which, with all plugs in place, made the hull watertight. He remembered another pilot who had not checked his plugs before a flight. A different pilot, before him, had pulled all the plugs in order to drain the hull. He was doing the next pilot a favor. He had left the small pile of plugs near the back hatch so that the new pilot would see them, or when he looked under the hull he would see that no plugs were in place and look to see where they were. At least, that was the plan. The new pilot was in a hurry and only checked his gas and oil levels. Then he jumped into his bird and off he went. Not enough water came into the hull during his short taxi and take-off run for him to notice any difference in the handling. Anyone who might have watched the takeoff would have seen water coming out the bottom after the plane was in the air, but no one did. About an hour later the amphibian was sitting in front of a cannery, slowly filling up with water (and heading for the bottom!) when the pilot saw or heard something. Realizing his mistake, he quickly secured the hatch, fired up both engines and keeping his fingers crossed, he hoped he had enough power in his engines to pull the hull up onto the step, started his take-off run. Once on the step, the water underneath would cause a suction which would pull the water out of each hull compartment. Well, he was lucky that day and was able to get it up on the step and run around in the bay until he had enough water out of the plane to get it up into the air. He then flew to the nearest gravel strip and with the wheels down landed. He found the pile of plugs in the back and replaced each one. He then flew back to the cannery and completed the balance of his trip. He never again forgot to check the status of the hull plugs. Shortly after finishing his walk-around, Jim observed one of the Airways Vans coming out into the aircraft parking area. The Van had gone to the Hotel to pick up Jim's five hunters and their gear. Within ten minutes the hunting gear was loaded fore and aft in the baggage compartments and Jim had introduced himself to the hunters. He invited one of the men to ride up front in the cockpit with him. Or, he said, he was happy for them to take turns and enjoy the view up front as they flew down the island to Olga Bay. If they liked, he could stick a wing in close to some of the mountainsides and they could look for bear. The hunters were excited and eager to get going. Jim secured the rear hatch and after checking that all his passengers had their belts secured and were briefed on the emergency exits, he settled himself into the left seat in the cockpit. At this point a ritual started. First, seatbelt tight. It was the same each time when you are in a Goose. Wobble pump the fuel to prime each engine. Check the magnetos on both, fuel mixture on, propellers in the forward position, both generators off, battery on, check voltage and if okay, press starter button for number one engine. Nothing rumbles to life like a radial engine, with it's slowly turning blades, several puffs of blue smoke, cylinders coughing as they wake, and with a rumble the Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine comes to life and settles in at it's idle speed. Generator on. Let the battery charge up and then start engine number two. Now, with both engines slowly warming up, ticking over at 600 rpm, Jim checks his radios, one tuned to the Airways frequency and the other to the U.S. Naval Station Control Tower. After takeoff, he will be crossing across the approach path of any military aircraft, which might be in the area. He will stay underneath, low over the bay if there is any incoming traffic. With the parking brake set, Jim runs up both engines to 1500 rpm so that he can check each magneto, after which he exercises the propellor control on each engine. Checking his oil temperature and pressures, he glances at his fuel quantity and pulls and pushes his control column and twists the wheel to make sure his flight controls are capable of full motion and free of any binding. It's time to go. Looking outside, Jim signals his ground crew to pull the wheel chocks out so he can taxi. Releasing his parking brake he applies a bit of power and once the Goose starts to roll applies his brakes to check that they are okay. Now he applies one brake as he swings the tail around so that he is slowly heading towards the ramp, which leads down into the bay in front of the Airways parking area. He quickly glances at both side windows in the cockpit to make sure they are closed. When the Goose rolls down the ramp and into the water there is a splash and the arrival of water is a sure thing if the side window is open. At the top of the ramp he aims the nose down the ramp and lets gravity take over. The Goose picks up taxi speed and with a splash becomes a boat taxiing in the water. Reaching to the landing gear switch Jim places it in the up position. The gear starts to retract, accompanied by a racket that only an electric motor, working hard, can make. With the yellow light glowing, Jim checks visually that both wheels are nestled in their wheel wells. Giving his controls another tug, turn and push, he applies some power to both engines and waits until the bow starts to rise. Now feeding in full take off power, the six men feel the noise as much as hear it as in a cloud of spray the Goose amphibian pulls itself up onto the step, helped by Jim. Now, up on the step, with both radial engines pounding out their power, Jim balances the angle of the hull to the water with his elevator, and the Goose picks up speed quickly. Sixty and then Seventy miles per hour appear on the airspeed indicator. With today's load, Jim starts a bit of back pressure at seventy-five and pulls his bird into the air at eighty miles per hour. The hull leaves a trail of spray as it slowly lifts up above the blue water of the bay. Leveling off at fifty feet, Jim allows his bird to pick up speed. Jim tries never to abuse his engines. An old Alaskan Bush Pilot had told him once, 'you take care of your engines and they will take care of you when you need them the most.' Jim heeded this advice. With no need to climb quickly, miles of water in front of him, he lowers the engines power from takeoff to climb power and adjusts the propellers to 1800 rpm. Checking that all his gages are in the green, he now sits back and relaxes just a bit. The Goose is on its way to Olga Bay. Jim is thinking that's its another beautiful day with the deep blue color of the bay, the waves sparkling in the sunlight and the Puffins flying off the water as his plane approaches them. Looking off towards the rugged mountains rising out of the sea, Jim thought again how lucky he was to be getting paid for flying in such great beauty. Of course, when the weather was badwell, that's another story. Today was one of the good days! Jim's route today would take him down the east side of Kodiak Island. He would pass the Shearwater cannery, Old Harbor village and then head across the Hepburn Peninsula, Deadman Bay and on into Olga Bay where he would land at the abandoned cannery where Pinnell and Talifson had their main bear hunting headquarters. Jim knew that his hunters had booked with two of the best brown bear guides in the business. For close to thirty years Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson had been guides on Kodiak Island. (For those interested in learning more regarding these guides, the author highly recommends reading 'Pinnell & Talifson: Last of the Great Brown Bear Men' by: Marvin H. Clark, Jr. It is a good read!) Between Ugak & Kiliuda Bay Jim angled the Goose over close to the side of the mountains they were passing. Pointing out several bear trails through the tall grass Jim explained that the hunters should watch along those trails for a bear. Jim's eyes were more experienced in seeing animals on hillsides and after a few minutes he spotted a brown spot in the green hillside up ahead. Pointing out the bear to the hunter in the co-pilots seat, he called back through the door and pointed to the right side of the aircraft. Sliding closer to the hillside he brought his right wingtip within a few hundred feet of the quickly passing mountain. The hunter next to Jim had his camera up and was watching the brown spot quickly get bigger and turn into a bear trotting through the tall green grass. Suddenly, the bear was close to their right wing and flashed by quickly. Several yells came from the cabin. Jim had raised the right wing a bit to give the hunters in the cabin a better look. A second hunter now stood in the doorway looking ahead through the windshield. Everyone seemed excited now. They saw their next bear when past Old Harbor on the mountainside overlooking Three Saints Bay. This bear stopped and turned to watch them approach, then turned and ran as they flashed by. Jim flew a mile or so up into Deadman Bay before crossing over to the other side, his eyes glancing quickly over the hillsides ahead of him looking for another brownie. They saw one more as they flew over the low hills of the Moser Peninsula. Jim banked low over the running bear. The hunters only got a quick glance before Jim was climbing higher and pointing out the entrance to Olga Bay up ahead. The water was smooth near the old cannery and with his flaps lowered fully; Jim came in low over the cannery buildings and touched down just off the beach. Soon, he was approaching the gravel beach at a forty-five degree angle with his landing gear down and reaching for the bottom. First, one wheel and then the other were rolling over the small rocks as he powered his Goose a bit higher up the beach before swinging the tail up over the shoreline. If he has judged correctly, the rear hatch and ladder will be close to the waters edge and his hunters can step off the ladder onto dry land. One of the assistant guides would bring a small skiff up to the bow so Jim could offload the baggage up forward into the boat. But first, he off loaded all the gear out of the rear baggage compartment handing each item to someone standing on the beach. Jim had read his tide table and knew that the tide was dropping. He decided to get a cup of coffee and maybe get a Spam sandwich, an item the P & T camp was famous for. Actually, the food was excellent at the base camp. Somehow though, the pilots were always offered a Spam sandwich when they took a break. Thirty minutes later the electric motor was howling as it raised the landing gear. Jim's Goose was fifty yards offshore and he was getting ready to take off straight ahead. His hunters had asked him to fly past them at the cannery so they could take a photo of the plane. After getting airborne, he banked out around and lined up along the beach, he was staying low, but with enough altitude to over fly the dock, which still held together after all the years. With about thirty feet to spare, the Goose flashed over the dock and by the group of hunters who were all aiming their camera's and trying to catch their fast moving target. As he climbed up and away he rocked his wings 'good luck on your hunt.' Jim turned towards the direction of Kodiak and continued his climb. He held this heading but as he climbed through eight thousand feet made a thirty-degree turn to his left. With Olga Bay far behind him he then turned to a heading of 320 degrees and continued his climb up to ten thousand feet. Now at his cruise altitude Jim spent a few of minutes leaning out his mixture on each engine while watching his cylinder head temperatures. Up ahead was Shelikof Strait in the distance. His new destination was the Airways moose hunting camp on Mother Goose Lake. The Airways had received a radio call from the camp saying they had a successful hunt and needed an extra aircraft to carry hunters, moose meat and a rack or two. The load would be split up between two Goose aircraft. The other Goose had new hunters aboard and was now headed for the camp from Kodiak. (For details about the Mother Goose Lake Moose operation, read, 'Two Shots Which Rocked my World.' Written by the author.) Jim was just south of Cape Karluk when he passed over the shoreline of Kodiak and headed out across the Shelikof. A northwest wind on the blue water below caused numerous whitecaps. A hundred and twenty foot king crab boat was leaving a heavy wake behind as he pounded into the wind driven waves. Jim guessed it was headed for Chignik Lagoon and the cannery there. Jim took time and studied the mountains of the Alaska Peninsula up ahead and saw two volcano's smoking. He tried to remember when ash fell on Kodiak last. Was it three or four years ago? Fifty minutes later Jim had Mother Goose Lake in sight in the distance. The 7,031 foot volcano top of Mt. Chiginagak was coming up on his left as he started his decent towards the lake. Jim was sorry he had no passengers aboard. He would have eased over next to the mountain top and flown through the smoke. The smell of strong rotten eggs and sulfur really got folks attention. It was fun to see and hear the reaction of his passengers when they obtained the smell. Most were concentrating on taking photos of the smoking mountain and it was always a strong smelling surprise! The camp hugged the north shore of the lake so he brought his amphibian down over the lake and touched the water about a mile south of the beach at the camp. The other Goose had not yet arrived from Kodiak but there was plenty of room for both aircraft in front of the camp. After he completed his shutdown checklist, he spent a few minutes setting down his times on the log sheet. He was in the habit of writing down off times and landing times on the edge of his flight plan sheet and then later, filling in, neatly, all the company log sheets. While he was still sitting in the cockpit writing, the rear hatch was opened and Skipper, a fellow Airways pilot who was here to get his own moose plus do all the flying for the hunters, walked up front to say hello. Skip flew a Super Cub on floats taking the hunters out and dropping them in a small lake or pond, then coming back hours later after the hunter had shot and quartered his animal. The hunter carried each quarter back to the lake edge and Skip flew the meat back to the main camp. It allowed each Airways pilot to shoot his own moose while he spent a week or so servicing the hunters who had all paid a package price to come over from Kodiak to hunt. Jim would shortly come over and spend a week and shoot his moose, which he shared with another family. He also enjoyed flying the little Piper Super Cub, which popped in and out of small lakes and 'pot holes.' Moving the meat was hard work sometimes. Also, he had learned the hard way how to tie a moose rack onto the spreader bars on the floats of his plane. He did it wrong the first time and had a tail which was shaking like it wanted to come apart. He quickly circled back and landed and re-tied the rack a different way. This produced much better results. He now considered himself a qualified Super Cub pilot this being his forth year helping in the moose hunting package. Jim and Skip unhooked three passenger seats and placed them in the rear baggage compartment. Then Skip handed in a roll of plastic and he and Jim placed and fitted the plastic on the floor and sides of the exposed cabin. The meat would lie on the plastic with more plastic on top to cover it. Tie-down hooks would be placed in the seat tracks and line used to secure and tie the meat so that it wouldn't shift. He had five seats left for his share of the hunters. Jim planned to put most of their baggage and gear up front in the bow compartment to help balance the load. Outside, the hunters had been carrying down their quarters of moose. When the cabin was ready each quarter was passed in and Jim started stacking them on the plastic covered floor. During the middle of this work the roar of a low flying Grumman Goose passed quickly overhead and Jim knew that the second aircraft had arrived from Kodiak. Jim was tying down his plastic covered pile of moose quarters when the second Goose swung its tail up over the small beach of the lake seventy feet away. The activity quickly changed to the other aircraft. The new hunters and their gear were off loaded and they headed up to the cabin to pick out their bunks and settle in. A second pile of moose meat lay on the grass ready to be loaded into the second aircraft. Hunters were standing around taking photos of the loading and the meat. Jim talked with the other pilot, Al, and they decided to fly loose formation together back to Kodiak. This way the hunters in both aircraft could take photos of each other's aircraft. With the new hunters watching and taking photos from the lakeshore, both Goose fired up and taxied out downwind across the lake before turning into the wind for their takeoff. Jim allowed Al to go first as he wasn't keen on a formation takeoff. Even though he had a good load aboard, his fuel load was just below half so he was able to help his amphibian up on the step quickly and the Goose jarred across the building waves picking up speed. The wind was picking up velocity so, well before reaching the camp area, he was in the air trailing a line of spray. Both aircraft banked across the camp area as they turned towards Kodiak and climbed away. Jim gave Al a call on the Airways air-to-air frequency. He told Al he would fly on Al's right side and be his 'wingman.' But, not too close! During that flight back to Kodiak photos were taken between the two planes. The spring and fall moose hunt generated a good income for the Airways. Each year had shown an increase in the number of hunters buying the package. As the Airways also provided its employees with a annual profit sharing plan, the pilots made an extra effort to keep the passengers happy and also returning for more trips and hunts. So, five days had passed in the life of Jim, an Alaskan Bush Pilot. A bad weather flight, then some days off while the rain socked in the island and the wind howled. After the storm broke, some beautiful days of flying. This short picture of Jim's work doesn't tell about an open sea landing to check for survivors of an overturned crab boat, (The author's 'Search for the Betty Rose.') it's keel and bottom rolling in the ocean swell. Nor of being caught in snow squalls and forced to find shelter in a small narrow bay, sitting on a rocky beach, overnight, with two lines tied from the tail to two trees above the beach. During the middle of the night, increasing wind gusts lift the Goose up off the beach and it returns to earth with a crash and a smashed wing float and wingtip. (The author's 'Saga of Onion Bay.') Or, with rough seas below, water in the fuel causes Jim some tense moments as he nurses a sick engine and stretches his glide to land in the smoother waters of a small bay. (The author's "Bush Tales of the North.') These are three other storiesplus, others. Jim will keep doing everything he can to stay safe while he earns his pay flying in what some call, the most beautiful and inspiring country in the world. Others say this area has some of the very worse weather seen in the world. So, it's a challenge at times. Jim knows there are old pilots and bold pilots. But there are no old, bold, pilots! The author, who's name isn't Jim, had eleven wonderful years flying, hunting & fishing, and fighting bad weather, in this spectacular part of the world. He's an old pilot now, but never was a bold pilot! The End |
Many stories and a number of books have been written about the 'Alaska Bush Pilot.' Tales of daring and rescue against great odds. It makes good reading for those who enjoy adventure tales. But, are these pilots really 'supermen' who pit themselves daily against great odds? Ask them that question and most will smile and shake their headsno! Talk with one who has flown several years out in the bush and you will, most likely, find a quiet, modest person. One who, because he is, first a pilot making his living flying daily, and second, has a job he loveshas led him to flying in the wilds of Alaska. He tries, each day, to do his job to the best of his ability. Sparse conditions and periods of bad weather do, sometimes, make his days more exciting and stressful. But, days with deep blue sky and bright sunshine bring outstandingly beautiful vistas to his eyes. Rugged snow covered mountain peaks, deep blue lakes nestled in dark green forests, golden colored flat tundra, stretching to the horizon, all bring a gladness and the joy of living and flying to his heart. Days like this make the bad weather flying days worth it. The following is an attempt to give the reader a better understanding of an Alaskan pilot's daily life. |
Jim Miller strained to see ahead through the misty light rain. The windshield on his Grumman Goose amphibian had no wipers. With partial power and half flaps, he had his bird slowed to 115 mph as the visibility ahead continued to lower. Checking his stopwatch a third time he knew the rocks of the south corner of Monashka Bay should soon be appearing out of the murk ahead. The big amphibian rocked from the wind blowing in from the Gulf of Alaska. The steady rumble and noise from the two Pratt & Whitney radial engines provided confidence to all those aboard. Jim was holding a twenty-degree crab against this wind as he made his way across the open chunk of water towards the cape up ahead. One hundred feet below him the building seas, with their wind whipped peaks foaming, were marching in line towards the rocky coastline of Kodiak Island, invisible to Jim because of the mist and fog. Behind Jim, in the cabin of the Goose, three men could see nothing but gray and the rough white streaked sea below as they peered outside the cabin windows. The forth man couldn't see anything at all because of the bandages covering his face and many other parts of his body. He laid on a stretcher, strapped down, an IV drip attached to his arm. Alex, the medic from the Kodiak Hospital, sat alongside his patient watching for any deterioration in the man's overall condition. It was now over seven hours since the man had been attacked and mauled by a Kodiak bear. Another member of the construction crew had shot and killed the bear, thus saving the victims life. |
Jim's phone had awakened him at dawn. There was a medical emergency at the construction camp where the Alaska Department of Fish & Game was building a new fish weir. He was needed to fly N87U, a G-21A Grumman Goose, down to the construction site and bring the injured man back to the Kodiak Hospital. Alex, and his medical gear would go with him. Three seats would be removed and a stretcher tied down. A briefing of the weather affecting the island was waiting when Jim arrived at the Airways. The southwest end of the island had good visibility and cloud ceilings. It would be an easy trip to the weir and construction camp. The bad news was that a low-pressure area, intensifying in the Gulf of Alaska, was starting to lower the ceiling and visibility on the north end of the island. Getting back to Kodiak might be a problem. Jim knew he would need to return up the protected, west side of the island. If the Kodiak town area was completely socked in by the storm, Jim could land in Anton Larsen Bay. There was a dirt road running up through a mountain pass to the bay on the backside of the first mountain range near town. The Airways had built a ramp and parking area along side the road. This area was more slowly affected by lowering weather than in town, which was directly exposed to the Gulf of Alaska. It meant a long bumpy ride, in the Ambulance or Van back to Kodiak, but at least you could make it to town and the hospital. Today though, the amount of ceiling and visibility at Ouzinkie village gave Jim the ability to continue on towards the town of Kodiak itself. He had passed through Spruce Narrows and quickly passed Ouzinkie village. From past experience he knew he had enough time, ceiling & visibility to make it on into town. So, he flew along side the rocky coast, slowly being forced lower, and slower as he expected, as he made his way towards the mouth of Monashka Bay. Jim had punched his stopwatch as he passed the rocky point marking the start of the mouth of the Bay. Holding his crab against the wind and a steady compass course, he lost sight of any land and, watching his time, waited for the rocks and cliffs to appear out of the murk ahead. This marked the other side of the mouth of Monashka Bay. Finding these rocks, Jim would then keep the cliffs and shore just off his right wing for a few short miles before reaching Spruce Cape. Here is where he would make a sharp ninety-degree turn to the right. Another few miles, down the channel between Near Island and town, then proceed out over Kodiak Harbor for a tight one hundred and eighty degree turn back into the wind, check his wheels in the up position, and touch down in the smoother water behind the island and the village. This was Jim's game plan as he waited for the rocks & cliffs to appear up ahead out of the murk. |
A slight correction to the left, made necessary by the increasing force of the wind, and the right wing of the goose over-flew the rocks and breaking waves a hundred feet below. Jim kept his eyes on the emerging rocky coastline ahead waiting for the three white buildings, which sat on top the cliff at Spruce Cape. This was the U.S. Coast Guard radio transmitter station. He glanced at the buildings and saw the four towers with their tops hidden in the mist & fog. Time to turn towards town as the transmitter station slid by, just level with his right wing. His thirty-degree bank allowed him to keep the heavy forest of spruce trees in sight as, with the wind coming now behind him, the Goose picked up speed over the sea below.. Scattered houses and buildings started to appear along the beach as he came closer to Kodiak village. The rain and visibility stayed the same as he came downwind at about a 100 feet above the wind-swept water. The water below him started to become smoother as he made his way down the narrow channel next to the downtown area. Holding now, about seventy-five feet above the bay he gave himself the room to swing out and make his turn back towards town and set up his landing into the wind. |
Flaps selected to full, landing gear in the up position, mixtures rich, props forwardnow bleed the airspeed below 90, now 85, there is 80 mphhold if off a bitthe water was a blur just below his amphibian. Jim felt the slight jolts as the keel kissed the waves below him. Closing both throttles to idle, he held the hull of the Goose on the step as it slowed and with a cloud of spray, settled down and became a displacement hull ready to taxi to shore. Now, with the landing gear placed in the down position Jim angled towards the Airways ramp, which led up out of the bay onto the company parking lot. An ambulance sat next to the terminal building awaiting their arrival. The bear attack victim was transferred to the ambulance and soon was headed to the hospital. Two line-crew personal removed the stretcher and were replacing the seats as Jim completed his flight log still sitting in the cockpit. Back in the terminal, Jim learned that the weather had shut down all flying for the day. While Jim was down at the south end of the island, the north-end mail run could only complete three out of five stops before deteriorating weather had force the aircraft back to Kodiak. Likewise, the east-side mail run had only reached Old Harbor before being told to return to Kodiak. Looking outside, Jim saw that in the thirty minutes since his arrival, the weather was nearly completely socked in with wind, rain, low visibility & no ceiling now at all. Time to head home and relax. The storm kept Kodiak socked in for two more full days before stars became visible during the third night. Mail sacks and cargo had piled up during the bad weather. Eager passengers patiently waited for the weather to break so flying could begin again. All the pilots were at work early that next morning sorting out their load, as it was now 'catch-up time' for everyone working at the Airways. Passengers started to arrive with their baggage. All three mail-runs required a Goose because of the passenger, mail and cargo loads. But, with the Airway's third Goose in the hanger for maintenance, two Super Widgeon amphibians would divide up the west-side schedule. After two days rest Jim was up early and ready to do some flying on what looked like a most beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies. Today, he would fly a Widgeon, N23456, called 'the little straight,' by those who played poker. |
Jim found that he would be taking, four passengers and their baggage, some mail sacks and a few pieces of airfreight for the three canneries and two villages he would be stopping at. The good news was that he could fly up over the backbone of the island, directly to the Larsen Bay cannery and village where all four of his passengers were headed. There were two passengers scheduled to ride back to Kodiak from Larsen Bay. The next stop would be the cannery and village of Karluk. Here he would trade mail sacks and drop off a couple of boxes of freight. There was a passenger for Kodiak from Karluk so leaving there he would have three passengers on board. Jim would then need to fly up the beach and around a big headland into Uyak Bay. He would turn into Zachar Bay, fly up the bay and land in front of the cannery. Here, he would trade mail sacks plus drop off one small box holding a needed machinery part. This was his last stop before heading home to Kodiak. With this good weather it should be an enjoyable flight, for both him and his passengers. |
