Maggie's Farm

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.

Many years ago I flew into the Alaskan wilderness with three other hunters for a week of caribou hunting. Two planes took us in, two of us in each plane. Our pilot to take us in was a retired USAF fighter pilot. We flew at 2000' and by the book. I could see the other plane far below and slightly ahead of us flying at about 50'-100'. That pilot was a 20 year self taught bush pilot who had never read the book.

On the flight out only one plane came to pick us up. We loaded caribou meat into the pontoons and put three of us into the first flight. We were so heavily loaded that the pilot sped across the lake making waves and then turned 180 and sped up and tilted the plane on one pontoon and bounced of a wave to become airborne. I was in the front seat and planning my escape from a sinking plane "get out and away from the plane, untie and take off my boots and slide out my jacket...". But we got airborne. The pilot flew 20' above the tree tops and every time he saw a caribou, moose or wolf he would tip the plane on it's side and then on the other side so we could easily see the animal some 50' below us. Again I'm think what to do when we crash. He flew by the seat of his pants until he crossed the only road within 300 miles and at that point used visual abilities to figure out where he was and compensate. That is when he flew over the road it looked like he was about 10 miles East of the small airfield so he turned West until he found it. We made it, stupid to take those risks, amazing that he had been flying for 20 years. I thought about kissing the ground when I got out.

I'm a believer in avoiding risks. Having said that my next flyin to fish ended in disaster. Not for me but for the pilot. He was a young man and had been partying and drinking the night before and after he dropped the three of us off he flew across the Cook Inlet to Homer but never made it. Probably fell asleep and crashed in the inlet. Plane and pilot was never found.