MEMORIES FROM MY LOGBOOK: A Bush Pilot's Story

Flying in the Alaskan wilderness is an entirely different skill set than the way most pilots are trained; flying to and from remote gravel bars on wheels, streams and lakes on floats, and ski operations in deep snow and horrific weather. Many times I thought I would not make it, flying overloaded airplanes with the doors removed, external loads strapped to the floats, no navigational aids and totally alone in a vast wilderness with only my skills and determination to get me home.

After logging 4,000 flight hours, and flying sometimes 16 hours a day, I actually became as one with the airplane. Controlling the airplane was like scratching an itch, totally unconscious control inputs... I was the airplane. It took many hours, more than a few mishaps, and a lot of luck to reach this skill level.

The stories in this book are recalled from reviewing the pages of my pilot's log book. Some of the stories were sad, some were funny, and some were really scary. Some flights were truly beautiful, as can only be experienced in the pristine Alaskan outback.

I lived the adventure most people only dream about, and survived it to tell my tales...

• Alaska Flying: Surviving Incidents & Accidents
• Five Hundred Feet Above Alaska: The Heart-Stopping Adventure Novel of an Alaskan Bush Pilot
• The Man Called Red: An Autobiography of a Guide and Outfitter in Northern British Columbia
• Arctic Bush Pilot: From Navy Combat to Flying Alaska's Northern Wilderness
• Wager with the Wind: The Don Sheldon Story
• I'll Take the 18: The Story of Beech 18 Freight Flying
• The Last Bush Pilots
• Flying the Knife Edge: New Guinea Bush Pilot
• A Cargo Pilot's Life- Tails from Corrosion Corner
• Last of the Long Hunters: Exploits of a young Arctic pilot