Download or read book Alaska s Bush Pilots written by Rob Stapleton with the Alaska Aviation Museum and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling ride alongside the daredevil aviators who first braved the unknown of Alaska's wilderness. Bush pilots are known as rough, tough, resourceful people who fly their aircraft into tight spots in the worst of weather. Alaska's bush pilots are all of that and more. Acting as pioneers in a land with 43,000 miles of coastline and North America's largest mountains, Alaska's bush pilots were and are visionaries of a lifestyle of freedom. Flying came late to Alaska but caught on quickly. The first flight was made over a three-day exhibition at Fairbanks, July 3-5, 1913. James Martin first flew that aircraft, owned by him and his wife, Lilly, and investors Arthur Williams and R.S. McDonald. Ever since, Alaskan bush pilots have found that they were calculators of their own fate, flying in fragile aircraft over vast stretches of tundra or through towering mountain passes. This book examines the pioneer aviators and the aircraft types such as the Stearman, Stinson, and Lockheed, many of which were tested and crashed in the far north regions of Alaska.
Download or read book The Alaska Bush Pilot Chronicles written by Mort Mason and published by Voyageur Press. This book was released on 2010-11-10 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers of Flying the Alaska Wild marveled at Mort Mason’s true tales of braving the elements at the extremes in a Piper Super Cub. But the bush pilot, adventurer, and raconteur was just beginning, and in this book he revisits his most memorable moments of flying by the seat of his pants through blizzards and white-outs, on assignments at times hazardous and sometimes simply whacky, always with a sense of humor and due respect for the limitless wilds of Alaska beneath his wings. The world of a bush pilot really is the final frontier, and for thirty years Mort Mason was there, clocking enough heart-stopping miles to make most life-stories utterly incredible. In The Alaska Bush Pilot Chronicles Mason recounts more of his unlikely adventures in the face of Alaska’s unforgiving weather and terrain. His stories gives readers the rare chance to experience the disappearing thrills and challenges of meeting the American frontier on its own unyielding terms.
Download or read book Cowboys of the Sky written by Steve Levi and published by Publication Consultants. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than 80 years, bush pilots have carried supplies, delivered mail, and transported emergency personnel over Alaska's rugged terrain. They've flown with felons handcuffed to the seat, with corpses strapped to the wing, and with drugged polar bears sleeping in the cargo compartment. Ever since aviation came to Alaska planes have been far more important than cars or truck to the residents of the far-flung bush communities. In Cowboys of the Sky: The Story of Alaska's Bush Pilots, humorist and historian Steven C. Levi takes you on a wild ride through the heyday of aviation in Alaska, from the golden years, before federal regulations curbed the more dangerous and outlandish flying practices, all the way to the present. Through photographs and anecdotes, you'll meet brave and colorful pilots, the true cowboys of the sky who carved the face of America's Last Frontier.
Download or read book Bush Pilot written by Arnold Griese and published by Publication Consultants. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harold Gillam Sr's story is presented with new clarity and balance. Bush Pilot describes a private, introspective man torn between family responsibilities and his unrelenting drive to pursue his goals in aviation. Early Alaska aviation did not rely on the actions of one single pilot but succeeded through the shared strength and will of many. Yet Gillam made significant contributions. The facts and details surrounding Gillam's adventures and some times "edge of the seat" flights keep readers involved from the first page through the controversy overshadowing his final tragic flight. Bush Pilot is an Alaska aviation adventure. Bush Pilot offers thought-provoking insights into Alaska's aviation history, and introduced me to its courageous and colorful pilots and other interesting characters -- many of whom had once been only names in the news during my growing up years here in the Interior. Val Scullion: Alaska grown. Bush Pilot is a well-researched account of an Alaska Pioneer aviator whose natural instincts and high degree of self-confidence help explain his success in off-airport operation and weather and instrument flying. Tom Hetherington: lifelong Alaskan, private pilot, and Alaska aviation history aficionado. In a book appealing to novice and experienced aviation buffs alike, Arnold Griese has brought new light to the life and legend of Harold Gillam. Full of new details about the famed Alaska bush pilot, Bush Pilot serves to demystify the events in Gillam's life while providing an excellent account of the early days in Alaska aviation history. Kenny Williams: a 20,000 hour airline pilot uses his Cessna 172 to reach prime hunting and fishing spots.
Download or read book Alaska s First Bush Pilots 1923 30 written by Jim Rearden and published by Graphic Arts Books. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book follows the careers of Alaska's pioneering pilots, who, with cranky open-cockpit biplanes, started the great change in Alaska's way of travel. Aviation first arrived at Fairbanks, the trade center of mainland Alaska, from which dog sled trails spider-web to mines, villages, and trap-lines. During winters, goods and people traveled mostly by dog sled. During the summer of 1923 Ben Eielson was the first to fly commercially from Fairbanks, ferrying passengers and light freight with an open cockpit Jenny (JN4) biplane. It was the beginning of the leap from ground travel to the air. Noel Wien was the next. In the summers of 1924-26 he flew open cockpit biplanes from Fairbanks. Starting in 1927, he flew a cabin biplane year-around on scheduled flights in the 579 miles between Fairbanks and Nome. In March, 1929, Wien flew from Alaska to the Elisif, an ice-locked trading schooner in Siberia, to return with a load of valuable furs. In the following November, Ben Eielson repeated this flight to the Nanuk, another ice-bound trading schooner in Siberia. And when he and his mechanic, Earl Borland returned for a second load of Siberian fur, their Hamilton airplane disappeared in a winter snowstorm. This brought on one of the most famous, and difficult aerial searches ever made from and in Alaska. By the 1930s, Alaska's growing aviation industry had revolutionized transportation in the Territory. This volume is a fond look back at the triumphs and tragedies of the pioneering Ben Eielson, Noel Wien, Harold Gillam, Joe Crosson, Ed Young, and others, the great pilots who were the first bush pilots of Alaska.
Download or read book Arctic Bush Pilot written by James Anderson and published by Epicenter Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Backed by Wien Airlines, former Navy combat pilot "Andy" Anderson pioneered post-World War II bush service to Alaska's vast Koyokuk River region serving miners, Natives, sportsmen, geologists, adventurers, and assorted bush rats. He flew mining equipment, gold, live wolves and sled dogs, you name it -- anything needed for life in the bush. He sweated out dozens of dangerous medical-emergency flights, "always at night and in terrible storms." Illustrated with 50 historical photos and co-authored by one of Alaska's most popular writers, ARCTIC BUSH PILOT is an exciting and sometimes nostalgic account of a pioneer pilot and his special place in Alaska aviation history.
Download or read book Alaska s Bush Planes written by Ned Rozell and published by Graphic Arts Books. This book was released on 2013-04-18 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The passion for flight has seized Alaska flyers—and those who yearn to fly to the Last Frontier—since 1913, when the first biplane arrived in crates via steamship and paddle-wheeler. In the decades to follow, Alaska’s skies buzzed with aircraft—some brand-new, others patched together, and still others lovingly restored to their original beauty. Alaska’s Bush Planes offers a brief history of flight in Alaska, then transports the reader on a visual journey with favorite aircraft, some of which have served for decades. It’s a perfect book for the pilot—or the pilot wannabe—who dreams of flying in the Northland.
Download or read book Jorgy written by Holger Jorgensen and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jorgy" Jorgensen is a legendary Alaska Native bush pilot, but his life is much more than a great flying story. He was raised by his Inupiat Eskimo mother and his Norwegian gold-miner father in a tiny mining camp in interior Alaska. After his father's death during the Depression, when Jorgy was only seven, they lived a subsistence lifestyle: Jorgy worked in the gold mines, ran a trap line, and mushed dogs. He served in Mukluk Marston's Alaska Territorial Guard and was a sergeant by the age of 17. After Pearl Harbor, he became Sig Wien's fire potter and gas boy, and learned to fly. He operated a dragline in the summer, he was a boxing champion, and he singlehandedly desegregated Nome's movie theater. His flying career was equally varied: he flew all across Alaska, from the T-3 ice island delivering scientific equipment and supplies, to delivering cargoes of fresh fish in King Salmon, to moving reindeer from Hagemeister Island; he flew in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, Canada. He flew from 1943 to 2001, logging more than 35,000 hours of flight time, with only one--minor--accident. Telling his extraordinary life story in spare, no-fuss fashion, this book allows a vivid glimpse into a tulmultuous and exciting period in aviation from the point of view of one of Alaska's early Native bush pilots.
Download or read book My Year as an Alaskan Bush Pilot written by Robert M. Brantner and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2003-09-08 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no available information at this time.
Download or read book The Last Bush Pilots written by Eric Auxier and published by . This book was released on 2012-11-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TOP 100 FINALIST-AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARDS!"You won't want to put down THE LAST BUSH PILOTS while the midnight sun still shines."-Airways MagazineKINDLE EDITION: http://goo.gl/fRv9t--------"MAYDAY, MADAY! I'M GOING DOWN, I'M GOING D-"So begins the literary thrill ride that is "The Last Bush Pilots."Author, airline Captain and popular blogger Eric Auxier brings his former bush flying to life in his second novel, "The Last Bush Pilots."Two young pilots, Daniel "DC" Alva and Allen David Foley, take on the world's most dangerous flying: the Alaska bush. But Mother Nature-and a sexy Native Alaskan-stand in their way.Southeast Alaska Seaplanes, Juneau. Retired airline Captain Dusty Tucker pilots a renegade band of flying misfits. Meet legendary bush pilot Jake "Crash" Whitakker, equally adept at landing planes and ladies-and "crashin' 'em" as well; prankster pilot Ralph Olaphsen, who once set an extinct volcano ablaze on April Fool's Day; and no-nonsense Check Airman Holly Innes, trying to cut a respectable niche in the notoriously macho bush pilot world-while escaping a dangerous past.Amid Alaska's volatile skies, DC and Allen face escalating challenges in and out of the cockpit. As the two "cheechackos," or greenhorns, learn the ropes, they are also roped into Crash and Ralph's hare-brained scheme, "Operation Dirty Harry." Under the suspicious nose of Draconian FAA Inspector Frederick Bruner, the pilots hatch a plot to hijack and rescue a planeload of orphaned bear cubs. Moreover, mischievous Tlingit Indian Tonya Hunter, as wild and unpredictable as the land in which she lives, plays the two lovestruck cheechackos against each other.But the true villain of the story is Mother Nature herself. Alaska's notoriously fickle weather and rugged terrain take on a life of its own. Can the two cheechackos survive Her relentless onslaught and launch their fledgeling airline careers? "Eric Auxier is the next Tom Clancy of Aviation." -Tawni Waters, Author, "Beauty of the Broken," "Siren Song," Grand Prize Recipient - "Best Travel Writers of 2010.""With over 12,000 hours of Alaskan bush flying, reading 'The Last Bush Pilots' was like looking in a mirror. Nice work, Eric." -CloudDancer, Author, "CloudDancer's Alaskan Chronicles" "Eric paints a picture of flying with words that are every bit as beautiful and moving as anything ever drawn or photographed. " -Aviationguy.com"I flew through The Last Bush Pilots in one sitting, keeping my seatbelt securely fastened. A fast-paced tale, thoroughly enjoyed."-John Wegg, Editor Airways Magazine Visit www.lastbushpilots.com to view the 30-second trailer!
Download or read book Triumph Over Turbulence written by Jim Magoffin and published by Jim Magoffin. This book was released on 1993 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indomitable young couple meets Alaska's challenge and achieves the American dream. -- True and exciting rags-to-riches aviation success story. -- Documentation of historical events in Alaska. -- Follows the Magoffins through long, terrible, cliffhanger years filled with trouble, turmoil and near-failure. A factual account of a lifetime of flying, from starting an airline in Alaska with a one-passenger aircraft, to developing it into a worldwide carrier and a domestic passenger jet airline. Follows the fortunes of two vibrant people, husband and wire team Jim and Dot Magoffin, in situations ranging from a desolate log cabin with outside temperatures at -70degree, all the way to their great success in aviation. "An entertaining and informative saga of one of the last great Alaskan aviation pioneering efforts". -- Ted Spencer, Executive Director Alaskan Aviation Heritage Museum "Above all, this remarkable story is a testament to the human spirit. It demonstrates once again how hard work and determination on the part of just a few can make life richer and better for us all". -- Cliff Cernick, Public Relations Officer, Retired Federal Aviation Administration
Download or read book Alaska s Skyboys written by Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating account of the development of aviation in Alaska examines the daring missions of pilots who initially opened up the territory for military positioning and later for trade and tourism. Early Alaskan military and bush pilots navigated some of the highest and most rugged terrain on earth, taking off and landing on glaciers, mudflats, and active volcanoes. Although they were consistently portrayed by industry leaders and lawmakers alike as cowboys—and their planes compared to settlers’ covered wagons—the reality was that aviation catapulted Alaska onto a modern, global stage; the federal government subsidized aviation’s growth in the territory as part of the Cold War defense against the Soviet Union. Through personal stories, industry publications, and news accounts, historian Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth uncovers the ways that Alaska’s aviation growth was downplayed in order to perpetuate the myth of the cowboy spirit and the desire to tame what many considered to be the last frontier.
Download or read book Flying the Alaska Wild written by Mort D. Mason and published by Voyageur Press (MN). This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine flying through wildly unpredictable weather conditions and over the unforgiving terrain of the Big Empty, with only yourself to rely on in life and death situations. This type of true grit adventure was a common occurrence for Alaska bush pilot Mort Mason, who encountered numerous white-knuckle situations while honing his skill--and his luck--in a profession that only a handful of pilots have had the stamina to endure. Flying the Alaska Wild is a heart-pounding, edge-of-the-chair collection of fascinating stories about the rough-and-tumble life of an Alaska bush pilot--straight from the pilot’s seat. Recounting thirty years of adventures, skilled storyteller Mason presents tales of his own experiences, and also tells the legendary stories of other old-time bush pilots.
Download or read book Cowboys of the Sky written by Steven C. Levi and published by Walker & Company. This book was released on 1996 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the seventy-year history of aviation in the rugged terrain of Alaska, where bush pilots transported supplies, personnel, mail, wildlife, and criminals
Download or read book Bush Pilots of Alaska written by Kim Heacox and published by Graphic Arts Books. This book was released on 1989 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Take a deep breath, buckle your seat belt, and turn the pages of "Bush Pilots of Alaska". Each page is a vicarious thrill, each photo a window into the way Alaskans get around to live, work, and play.
Download or read book Seaplanes along the Inside Passage written by Gerry Bruder and published by Graphic Arts Books. This book was released on 2014-01-15 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is it about Alaska that can make a young journalist from the East Coast abandon his career and become a bush pilot? Bruder’s fascinating first person account answers that question and lets the reader share his experiences as he becomes seasoned as a seaplane pilot flying the rugged terrain of Western Washington, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska. The life of a bush pilot in southeast Alaska is filled with the exhilaration of having unique access to one of our last great spans of wilderness, balanced with physical discomfort, extremely long hours, and heart pounding danger. Gerry Bruder gave up a promising journalism career to pursue his passion for flying. This true life adventure provides readers with a fascinating firsthand account of the highs and lows of a modern bush pilot.
Download or read book Alaska Bush Pilots in the Float Country written by Archie Satterfield and published by Backinprint.com. This book was released on 2001-01-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The men who brought airplanes to Alaska’s Panhandle were a different breed; a little braver than the average pilot and blessed with the particular skills and set of nerves it requires to fly float planes, those Lockheed Vegas made of plywood that were held together by “termites holding hands,” as well as the sturdy Fairchild 71s and Bellanca Pacemakers. This book was the first one written about these men and their flying machines and it has been a classic since first published in 1969.
