What Makes A Bush Pilot

dhcharlie-2 · Post by **dhcharlie-2** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:01 am

STL...touche. Nothing like the heat from a wood stove though.

Cat Driver and others...I guess I should qualify what I mean. It's just a pet-peeve of mine when a person crawls out a nice comfy bed (stl, I got a whole bag of shhh with your name on it, lol) and goes flying for the day in an immaculate machine to nice wide level strips, and just because the strips are gravel and in the bush, they're called bush pilots. I just believe that there is more to it than that. To make a bad analogy, to me it's like NHL players that say they play for the love of the game and the loyalty to their team, but that most of them actually go to where they get paid the most. Maybe I was a little hasty in saying that the "bush pilot" is dead, but I think it's something to be earned. And although the flying and the life was a lot harder before, I think that the distinction of being called a bush pilot should be harder to earn today, as there are so many things that make the trips easier. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe bush pilot is just a term, not of any special distiction. That if you fly in the bush you're a bush pilot. Just be careful not to hit any branches!

sky's the limit · Post by **sky's the limit** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:35 am

DH,

I totally agree with you.

Things are definitely better than they have ever been in terms of comfort and ease of work, but there are still a fair number of men and women booting around isolated parts of Canada that can truly claim the term "bush pilot." The Arctic Twin Otter guys like Ettw, the float drivers on the coast of BC, and the wheel/ski folks in the mountains of BC/Yukon/Alaska etc all qualify imho. Them, and almost the all the helicopter pilots of course....

Landing your King Air on a Gov't maintained airstrip is not exactly my definition either. For some folks that may be WAY out there, and the things I consider a bit out there may not be for others, all depends on who you are I guess. Hanging out in a tent on the Tundra, or up amongst the glaciers for six weeks at a time, doing a job on your own with no support qualifies to me.

Now what was the "bag of shit" comment all about??? LOL I didn't cut you off at some point somewhere, did I???

STL

PS Nice pics ......

Rowdy · Post by **Rowdy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:55 pm

I'll post some pictures from out this way soon enough

.... you're gonna have to come for that visit! It'll be another great adventure! aha

Doc · Post by **Doc** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:32 pm

.....nice shots. Used to take the 3 into many strips that looked just like that one! Most were goose camps on James/Hudson Bay. Cat's been there! And it still is the sweetest flying airplane I've ever flown. Am I a bush pilot? Have been some days. Others I've been a bushed pilot. The good old days! Never had to show up for interviews with 10K in my jeans. Come to think of it, I hardly had to show up for interviews at all. Had to buy the odd round though.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:52 pm

Yup, as long as Jim Bell figured you could fly the thing that was all you needed.

We didn't wear a nice uniform either in those days.

Couldn't tell a pilot from the passengers until they went up front and did all those magic things pilots do to levitate those mechanically driven aerodynes.

xsbank · Post by **xsbank** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:39 pm

Don'tcha love those stoves? They can suck a cord of wood faster than you can carry it.

sky's the limit · Post by **sky's the limit** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:48 pm

xsbank wrote:Don'tcha love those stoves? They can suck a cord of wood faster than you can carry it.

Yeah they do, but you can get some serious BTU's out them though!

STL

Doc · Post by **Doc** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:22 pm

Just don't rub up against one in the night! I've had some really great nights sitting around a stove just like that! About 3 am, the prick would go out, and some poor sot had to get up and feed it.

dhcharlie-2 · Post by **dhcharlie-2** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:13 pm

STL...was just joking. Not a funny one I guess

. It's supposed to be "bag full of shhhh", as in hush up, not bag of sh*t. You jokingly put me in my place in an earlier post about a "comfortable place to sleep" and I was just beating you to punch this time

.

And the rest of what you said, that's more like what I've been trying to say. I think I over-stated and over-generalized. I know there are bush pilots, but I also think some people adorn themselves too readily. Even some of the fairly isolated places have decent strips. Not all, but some.

STL says..."Hanging out in a tent on the Tundra, or up amongst the glaciers for six weeks at a time, doing a job on your own with no support qualifies to me."

That I'd have to agree with.

sky's the limit · Post by **sky's the limit** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:41 pm

No worries Dh,

I figured you were joking... Lol

I thought I was too slow on the uptake though...!

STL

ragbagflyer · Post by **ragbagflyer** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:39 pm

. wrote:Hey Cat, You ever go into Bear River? This is what she looks like today, we did some more brush clearing last summer was cool landing next to burning piles of shrubs

Is that up north of mayo? I think i went there swamping for Big Salami air a few winters back. One sketchy company.

Over the Horn · Post by **Over the Horn** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:51 pm

[/img]

Hey ..!!

I see you have and Islander, I have one too.

here's some pic's at the Bunny Bar on the South Nahanni

sky's the limit · Post by **sky's the limit** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:35 am

Now that's what an Islander in GOOD shape looks like eh ..?

STL

bmc · Post by **bmc** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:43 am

Man, I miss northern Canada. God's country. It really is.

Elessar_44 · Post by **Elessar_44** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:19 am

Some gorgeous pics in this thread, thanks for sharing em guys!

ScudRunner · Post by **ScudRunner** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:15 pm

Hey Horn, I still havent figured out where to plug my Xbox into one of these screens in front of me.

That Islander doesn't have enough "Character" Yet, needs more bondo and mud on it.

Ragbag: ya thats north of Mayo (80nm) just follow the old wind river trail and take a right. Its called Bear River should be on you map with an X though it, so you where swamping for magdrop eh? I'll miss drinking with him this summer!

sky's the limit · Post by **sky's the limit** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:47 pm

How's Florida and the Platypus ..?

STL

ettw · Post by **ettw** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:24 pm

Yup, as long as Jim Bell figured you could fly the thing that was all you needed.

I remember as a wee lad growing up in sudbury watching Austins beavers and otters and the OMNR otters chugging by our lake. I remember Jim as well but I was a kid then and he was done flying but he used to pop over to my grandfathers house at 4 corners and chat. I wish I had been older cause I would have appreciated his stories more. If I remember correctly he died in '84 or so.

I guess one time he went into Cape Dorset in the PBY dropped the wheels and pulled up on the beach to spend the night with the HBC manager...got up in the morning to find the ice blown into the harbour....spent a month in Dorset he did waiting for the ice to clear so he could leave.

There's a great picture of that in the Austins History by Larry Milberry.

I think of those pilots as bush pilots. I think its almost blasphemous (sp) to present ourselves as such nowadays. We have it real easy now, and I apprciate it VERY much.

Cheers,

ETTW

PS....nice pics on this thread, thanks. I didn't realize the Islander was that sort of a perfomer. Looks like fun.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:39 pm

Yeh ettw, things were different in those days for sure and we had many exciting experiences.

I'll never forget my check ride for captain in the DC3 with Jim Bell.

He was doing two of us and I was the first one to do the flying and then I got out of the left seat and the other pilot got in.

On the first take off Jim whipped the right mixture control to ICO.....the only problem was he was a little to aggressive and he broke the fu.kin lever right off...

...Well the guy in the left seat camly started to go through the drill for engine failure and when he found there was no right mixture control on the pedestal but it was hanging from Jim's hand his eyes buldged out like a bull dogs nuts...

...but he did a real smooth job of feathering and flying around the circuit to a smooth landing...remember Jim failed the fuc.in thing at about ten feet in the air.

Anyhow that was the end of our captain ride and he signed both of us off.

I really got fu.ked on that one, I had to fly for over an hour and the other guy only had to do one circuit.

Yeh, those were the days.

ettw · Post by **ettw** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:06 pm

I really got fu.ked on that one, I had to fly for over an hour and the other guy only had to do one circuit.

Now THAT'S funny!

Now I have to go and do some studying for MY ride tommorow.

Cheers,

ETTW

just curious · Post by **just curious** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:39 pm

I'll let you know how bush pilot-like he was in using his astro compass, boiling coffee over the primus stove etc tomorrow.

ettw · Post by **ettw** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:50 pm

mmmmm.....boiled coffee.......

Cheers,

ETTW

Air Ivanhoe · Post by **Air Ivanhoe** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:13 am

I remember when I was a kid (53 now), when we would send a Beech 18 on Floats to the arctic and not hear from the aircraft for a week. until it came back. We never even knew if it made its destination, until it came back. We tried HF radios, and they worked about once a month. Now with sat phones/GPS's its a little easier. Read the book "Trespassing in Gods Country" if you want to listen to a bush pilot.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:37 am

Is your dad still flying?

north son · Post by **north son** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:03 pm

I remember a few definitions from an old bush pilot's dictionary.
Torque...a warm woolen cap.
Stall...a place to keep horses.
Cowling...a young coward.
R.P.M...real poor motor.
Range...distance to the next party.
Endurance...the ability to last till the next party.
Safety belt...rum and coke.
Climb...pull back.
Descend...pull back some more.

What Makes A Bush Pilot

Bush Flying