Flying the Alaska Wild: The Adventures and Misadventures of an Alaska Bush Pilot

337 Pages·2002·18.776 MB·English

by  Mort D. Mason

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.
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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