Questions for the Bush pilots and Alaskans

[44minimum]

I'd like to write a book about a Bush pilot flying in a family to a remote fishing lodge and along the way they have plane trouble and crash. I was thinking of having them leave in a float plane from Anchorage, flying to fishing destination an hour and a half away. I've got a lot of questions about the way things work in Alaska and I'm hoping that one of you can help me out, or maybe point me in the right direction to find some answers.

One. How much contact is there between the pilot and the fishing lodge he is flying to? Does he call the fishing Lodge before he leaves, is he in constant radio contact with them, or does he not even bother letting them know and just show up when he wants to?

Two. If an airplane goes down, how do they go about trying to find it and the people aboard? Does the pilot have to file a flight plan and the searchers just follow along it, looking for the plane? Do those little planes that hold five or six passengers have transponders that make it easy to locate them?

Three. What kind of trees and brush grows along a fairly good sized river? I mean, a river that is big enough to permit jet boats and small outboard boats to navigate.

Four. I assume that all pilots will have a bag or something that contains survival items he would need in case he gets forced down out in the bush and has to survive on his own for a while. What would he have in this bag, besides the obvious gun, ammunition, knife, three different ways of starting fires, signal flares. Would he carry a sleeping bag and tent or are these too bulky and heavy? What else might he have?

That is all I can think of for now. But if anyone can help me, I would be grateful.

[mirage2521]

I'd like to write a book about a Bush pilot flying in a family to a remote fishing lodge and along the way they have plane trouble and crash. I was thinking of having them leave in a float plane from Anchorage, flying to fishing destination an hour and a half away. I've got a lot of questions about the way things work in Alaska and I'm hoping that one of you can help me out, or maybe point me in the right direction to find some answers.

One. How much contact is there between the pilot and the fishing lodge he is flying to? Does he call the fishing Lodge before he leaves, is he in constant radio contact with them, or does he not even bother letting them know and just show up when he wants to?

Two. If an airplane goes down, how do they go about trying to find it and the people aboard? Does the pilot have to file a flight plan and the searchers just follow along it, looking for the plane? Do those little planes that hold five or six passengers have transponders that make it easy to locate them?

Three. What kind of trees and brush grows along a fairly good sized river? I mean, a river that is big enough to permit jet boats and small outboard boats to navigate.

Four. I assume that all pilots will have a bag or something that contains survival items he would need in case he gets forced down out in the bush and has to survive on his own for a while. What would he have in this bag, besides the obvious gun, ammunition, knife, three different ways of starting fires, signal flares. Would he carry a sleeping bag and tent or are these too bulky and heavy? What else might he have?

That is all I can think of for now. But if anyone can help me, I would be grateful.

Wow....that's all you want. Just someone to do your research for you? Irving Stone worked for three years as laborer in a marble quarry to research on one section of a book about Michelangelo.

I am sure there are endless websites which discuss the fauna of Alaska in various seasons of the year. I would be willing to bet that there are internet forums dedicated to both subjects. I found these in about 30 seconds. Not trying to be a Richard but........

Flyertalk.com
Flyaka.com
Flyalaska.com

[wlc]

I'd like to write a book about a Bush pilot flying in a family to a remote fishing lodge and along the way they have plane trouble and crash. I was thinking of having them leave in a float plane from Anchorage, flying to fishing destination an hour and a half away. I've got a lot of questions about the way things work in Alaska and I'm hoping that one of you can help me out, or maybe point me in the right direction to find some answers.

One. How much contact is there between the pilot and the fishing lodge he is flying to? Does he call the fishing Lodge before he leaves, is he in constant radio contact with them, or does he not even bother letting them know and just show up when he wants to?

Two. If an airplane goes down, how do they go about trying to find it and the people aboard? Does the pilot have to file a flight plan and the searchers just follow along it, looking for the plane? Do those little planes that hold five or six passengers have transponders that make it easy to locate them?

Three. What kind of trees and brush grows along a fairly good sized river? I mean, a river that is big enough to permit jet boats and small outboard boats to navigate.

Four. I assume that all pilots will have a bag or something that contains survival items he would need in case he gets forced down out in the bush and has to survive on his own for a while. What would he have in this bag, besides the obvious gun, ammunition, knife, three different ways of starting fires, signal flares. Would he carry a sleeping bag and tent or are these too bulky and heavy? What else might he have?

That is all I can think of for now. But if anyone can help me, I would be grateful.

The answers to all your questions is "it depends".

1) Does the pilot work for the lodge or flying service or is he independent? I've never flown into a lodge (not a pilot BTW), but what few times I have flown the pilot did talk to flight control before taking off and landing when using an airport facility. When we flew in to caribou hunt IIRC he didn't radio anyone other than talking to me and the other pilot flying another in our party in.

2) flight plans are evidently not a requirement. Just in the last couple of weeks a plane went down flying into an Iditarod checkpoint. No flight plan. There was a general knowledge of from where to where and search and rescue flew the area hunting the plane. Some do file flight plans though, just not a requirement. Some planes do have transponders some do not. Small aircraft up here are privately owned and as far as I know there aren't any .gov requirements for transponders. Google flight services in anchorage or google Rusts flying service. They are a commercial outfit in ANC, located on Lake Hood. They could probably give you some specifics if someone has time to talk to you at length and answer questions.

3) Again it depends. One river I salmon fish on that is used by both planes and boats is heavily treed. Like I said though, it depends. You need to decide where your characters are flying in to and do some research on that area to determine terrain and what grows there. Alaska is a VERY large state with diverse terrain etc. Heck, I've seen there be nearly 100 degrees difference in the coldest low temp and the warmest low temp recorded in the same day.

4) can't help you out there, I'm not a pilot and what few times I've been in a small aircraft I didn't see what the pilot had stashed for an accident type scenario.

Just my opinion here and worth all you are paying for it....

1) You really should come to Alaska and do some research on your own before writing a book/story about it. If you've never seen it how can you possibly do it justice in your writing? This is not a dig on you personally, but without firsthand knowledge it will be much harder to write a believable story, especially if this is something your are doing to possibly publish/make money from. Besides, AK is IMHO one of the most beautiful places God put on this earth.

2) If your characters are flying out of ANC in a float plane they should be using Lake Hood as the location they depart from. It is right next to the Ted Stevens ANC International Airport. It is, from my understanding, the largest floatplane "airport" in the world. If they are flying a wheeled plane they could be using Merrill field. It is the municipal airport in ANC.

3) again, I can't stress doing good research on Alaska enough.

Good luck, and I hope this info may help in some small way.

[44minimum]

Of course, it would be wonderful if someone did all my research for me. He he he Naw, research doesn't bother me, I just kind of had no idea where to begin. You have pointed me in a general direction, so thanks for that.


wlc, that is more information than I had, so yes, it does help. And I agree, it would be much easier to write a believable story if I had been there, seen those things for myself and lived to tell about it.

[Recluse]

I'm not a bush pilot, to be sure, but I've done my share of flying into remote locales in the upper midwest and northeast, and I am familiar with Alaska, so take the following for exactly what it's worth.




One. How much contact is there between the pilot and the fishing lodge he is flying to? Does he call the fishing Lodge before he leaves, is he in constant radio contact with them, or does he not even bother letting them know and just show up when he wants to?

Virtually none. VHF communications in an airplane are line-of-sight, and bush pilots typically don't get a lot of altitude because that burns more fuel and in the bush, fuel & weight (cargo) are constantly battling each other. Additionally, winds aloft increase at altitude which means if you're battling a headwind, you're going to burn more fuel and have a slower airspeed (typically).

My experience with bush pilots has been that they'll call the destination IF there is an unreasonable delay. But in the great northwest, nobody panics if a flight is an hour or two late--you just naturally assume a weather delay or mechanical or clients/passengers were late.

For my entire flying duration, the mantra in my family and in my group of pilots has been "no news is good news." If there is a crash or something, phones start ringing in a hurry the minute it's discovered. Seems backwards to most folks, but that's just how it is around here.


Two. If an airplane goes down, how do they go about trying to find it and the people aboard? Does the pilot have to file a flight plan and the searchers just follow along it, looking for the plane? Do those little planes that hold five or six passengers have transponders that make it easy to locate them?

All airplanes are required to carry an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) which is activated by excessive g-force (ie, a crash or very hard landing). The ELT emits an unmistakable beeping signal and is transmitted on the universal emergency frequency of 121.5 (or 243.0 on military UHF). Not all pilots, however, monitor this frequency. I rarely do unless I'm flying over really remote territory. However, airliners monitor it as to USCG aircraft. Not sure how many bush pilots in Alaska monitor--that would be a direct question for them.

Flight plans? No law requiring that you file one. You can file an instrument flight plan in which ATC tracks you and guides you, but again, because of the lower altitudes flown in Alaska, your nav aids (other than GPS) would be somewhat restricted as would your radio contact with ATC. Same goes if you requested flight following, which is where ATC assigns you a discreet squawk for your transponder and tracks you. Again. . . lower altitudes often put you below radar coverage.

Essentially in the bush, you're on your own.


Three. What kind of trees and brush grows along a fairly good sized river? I mean, a river that is big enough to permit jet boats and small outboard boats to navigate.

The water ways I've seen in Alaska and the northwest have been carved out by a combination of glaciers and natural erosion and as such, the vegetation is quite a ways away from the actual water itself, and instead there are lots of rocks and sandbars and gravel. Those make popular landing spots for pilots. You'd have to ask a local as to the specific vegetation.


Four. I assume that all pilots will have a bag or something that contains survival items he would need in case he gets forced down out in the bush and has to survive on his own for a while. What would he have in this bag, besides the obvious gun, ammunition, knife, three different ways of starting fires, signal flares. Would he carry a sleeping bag and tent or are these too bulky and heavy? What else might he have?


Some pilots are smart, others aren't. I never venture more than 50/75 miles without a small survival kit that includes a large caliber gun and extra ammo, reflector blankets, water purifiers, lighters/waterproof matches, knives, etc. If you're carrying five passengers and all their gear, chances are good there's little room left for much of your stuff.

:coffee:

[uscra112]

Start reading the books about the old time Alaska bush pilots, Bob Reeve, Carl Ben Eielson, just to name a couple. The real experiences are wilder than anything you can imagine.

[starmac]

Before I ever came to alaska, my neighbors son in law won a remote alaska hunting trip through his job. A bush pilot was flying him and his wife in when the plane broke down and landed on an island in the river. A jet boat came picked them up to finish taking them to camp and rounded a curve, hit a sweeper overturning the boat, so they wound up making a cold wet camp, until another boat arrived. lol

It is true that just getting to camp can be half the adventure. lol

[10x]

In the past a group of us used to drive to Prince Rupert, take the ferry to Ketichikan, and charter a plane into a lake with a forest service cabin on it. Of all the lakes we visited, Refection was the most memorable. We never went to the same lake twice.
Without going there, seeing the land, the mountains, and talking to the locals about their experiences, and experiencing it yourself you have given yourself a real handicap.

Plane crashes are entirely unpredictable and up to the writer to decide who survives, the extent of the injuries, and how serious the crash is.
not to mention what gear they carry. I have met guys like Max Ward who evolved airline companies from a single airplane based in Yellowknife NWT. A buddy of mine started Peace Air with charter service that covered most of the Western Arctic and Beaufort sea. He hired the best of pilots and their accident record did not include crashes or lost planes.

And I know folks who survived crashes in the bush, and folks who did not survive.
When I moved to Peace river I met the brothers of Johnny Bourassa - one of the unsolved mysteries of the Arctic.

http://www.orwelltoday.com/bourassaplane.shtml

[10x]

In the past a group of us used to drive to Prince Rupert, take the ferry to Ketichikan, and charter a plane into a lake with a forest service cabin on it. Of all the lakes we visited, Refection was the most memorable. We never went to the same lake twice.
Without going there, seeing the land, the mountains, and talking to the locals about their experiences, and experiencing it yourself you have given yourself a real handicap.

Plane crashes are entirely unpredictable and up to the writer to decide who survives, the extent of the injuries, and how serious the crash is
-not to mention what gear they carry.

I have met guys like Max Ward who evolved airline companies from a single airplane based in Yellowknife NWT. A buddy of mine started Peace Air with charter service that covered most of the Western Arctic and Beaufort sea. He hired the best of pilots and their accident record did not include crashes or lost planes.

And I know folks who survived crashes in the bush, and folks who did not survive.
When I moved to Peace river I met the brothers of Johnny Bourassa - one of the unsolved mysteries of the Arctic.

http://www.orwelltoday.com/bourassaplane.shtml

I have spent countless hours on fixed wing and helicopter game counts over territory where walking a mile in a straight line could take anywhere from an hour to several days, or could even be impossible.
Research is your friend. The more you do, the more real the story you write.

[44minimum]

Thanks guys for the input

[TXGunNut]

Don't know much about writing fiction other than the rule about writing what you know. Sounds likes an excellent excuse to go to Alaska.