Try "The Flying North" by Jean Potter SBN 345-02999-2-150 to learn of the pilots and stories of opening up of flying AK.
Jeremy

I stumbled onto a wonderful, long since out-of-print book titled "Tall Timber Pilots" by Dale White (aka Marian Templeton Place) and Larry Florek, chronicling the early flyers of Idaho and Montana. Terrific stories and archival photos. Good Stuff! I found a copy at the Denver library. Maybe a search on ebay or amazon will turn another copy up.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I have read F. E. Potts "Guide to Bush Flying: Concepts and Techniques for the Pro" and enjoyed it very much.

I plan on reading Sparky Imeson's "Mountain Flying Bible" But I'm a flat lander (MN).

Any other "how to" bush flying out there?

TIA

-Todd Giencke

Hey folks,

Those were some great recommendations for good reading! I have especially enjoyed the Erine Gann stuff over the years.

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Happy holidays everyone!



Michael

If you're going to spam us, have the courtesy to get your links right.

quicksilver wrote:If you're going to spam us, have the courtesy to get your links right.

Tough crowd!

Link is fixed.



Hope your holidays are happier....


Michael

Michael, your book doesn't have anyone flying around chanting "oooommmmm" or hearing a little voice saying "use the force, Luke", does it?

Eric

DUTY By the pilot of the B29 that dropped the atomic bomb Tibbits I think is his name.
FLY IDAHO by Galen L. Hanselman
WAGER WITH THE WIND by Don Sheldon
These are some of my favorites.

Wager with the Wind was NOT written by Don Sheldon. It was written by a guy named Jim Greiner. Jim was a writer, Sheldon wasn't. They're both gone west now, so little matter, I suppose, but....

I have found the Hanselman books to be rather dated. I've been in Alaska for the last thirty years, and bought the books for Montana and Idaho on recommendation of several folks for my summer roamings. The books were still useful, but there was a lot of very dated information in them. I suspect as long as they're still selling, there's no point in updating them. Move on and do one for another state.....

A book for anyone truly interested in working an airplane off airport, or in the bush. Not to be confused with runways where Bonanzas routinely land: Flying the Wild and Staying Alive. Written by a fellow named Hal Terry. It is not an easy read, but I've never found anything in it that I'd disagree with.

If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll send you Hal's address. He self published, so you won't find this on Amazon.

MTV

crazyivan wrote:A couple of great flying books (and a DVD) if anybody is looking for some winter reading:
.................
The other is Island Bush Pilot about Roy Franklin, the founder of San Juan Airlines and the builder of Friday Harbor Airport. An honest and nice guy who was successful through his own hard work and skill as a pilot. An entertaining, easy read.
.........................................
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I'm most of the way thru the Roy Franklin book. Good stuff! Not all about flying, partly about life in the San Juans before it got so built up (1940's-50's). Kinda cool reading a book when the author continually references places you're familiar with, and even some people whose names you recognize. I am trying to figure out by his descriptions where some of the old island airstrips are, and if they're still there.
I finally got around to reading West with the Night (Beryl Markham), and was a bit disappointed.
The Mountain Flying book mainly seems to deal with the flying aspect of things (air quality), with only some short desriptions of takeoff and landing techniques. Gotta get there to take off or land, I guess, but it's not as interesting (to me anyway).
I haven't read Harvey Plourde's The Compleat Taildragger Pilot, but I did read a 2-part article he wrote about wheel landings that was published in the 170 News several years ago. Don't know if it was an excerp from his book, but it was a well thought out & well-expressed essay.

Eric

When I read Roy Franklin's book I didn't think to cross check it with this web site: http://www.lostairports.com/ Lost airports of Washington should have a lot of the old airstrips he talked about.

P.S. my favorite part of the book (besides the fact that the entire thing is set in God's country) is his story about flying with The Duke.

One of my favorite parts was when he set off an his first charter flight using a Cessna 172, after operating for about 10 years with Stinson 108's. He taxied thru a pothole and had a prop strike: "#$@&*** nosedraggers!".

Eric

maules.com wrote:Try "The Flying North" by Jean Potter SBN 345-02999-2-150 to learn of the pilots and stories of opening up of flying AK.
Jeremy

Jeremy,

Just finished this book at your recommendation. Very good book written 1947 about the early aviators in Alaska. Some of those ol' timers were real characters. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Archie Ferguson.

Thanks for the heads up on this one...

Mark

True North by George Erickson is a fairly interesting book about a guy flying a PA-11 float plane from Minnesota to Alaska and back. A lot of the book is history of the country he is flying over, which I found a bit dry. OK, really dry. But it's a neat trip and occasionally he gets back to the flying bits. Maybe a better way to put it would be it's a dull book about a interesting subject.

What did fascinate me is that he somehow manages to carry 55 gallons of fuel (fuel bladders in the floats), plus full camping gear (with such staples as Mountain Dew), survival gear, repair supplies and himself in a 90 hp cub on floats! This completely baffles me...he never goes into detail on what his gross weight is (probably because he doesn't want his insurance company or the FAA to read it), but for the life of me I cannot figure out how that plane gets off the water.

In addition to many of the great books listed, here are two that while not as "entertaining" as the rest, they are great reads and have helped me to be a better pilot. Great safety stuff.

"Flight Discipline" by Tony Kern, and "The Killing Zone, How and Why Pilots Die" by Paul A. Craig.

The second book takes a hard look at a pilots first 300 hours, and the statistics involving the numbers and such of the incidents surrounding pilots at this stage of their flying careers.

Anything by Saint-Exupery, especially "Wind, Sand, and Stars".
Anything by Guy Marchie, in particular "The Seven Secrets of the Universe".
"Speed" by Frank Hawks.

Wow...my reading list has sure grown...and I have only one to add. I just finished reading Waldo, pioneer aviator. A personal history of American aviation 1910-1944. If you are interested in early aviation this is a must read! Waldo Waterman ( of waterman skycar fame ) tells a great story and he was really involved with all the early movers and shakers- Curtis, Douglas et.al.
I don't know where this might be available from- I picked it up at Kermit Weeks museum in fl a few weeks ago.
Just my two cents, no change required....thanks for adding to my reading list!
Paris

Just finished "Mustang Ace" by Robert Goebel. It is a great autobiographical book about his time during WWII from enlistment to the end of his tour in southern Europe. It paints a very real picture without alot of "flash". Very entertaining, though! If the "hollywood" influence could somehow be kept out ot the screen play, it would make a great movie. Good to see so many books from fellows of this generation appearing now, before those guys are gone.

M

I've read a lot of those books, and agree they are good. But no one mentioned this: 'Touching the Ancient One', by Rupert Pratt.

It is about the 1954 winter crash of the Air Force C47 in Alaska, and the six survivers. It was so well done. Cliff Hudson and Don Sheldon were involved in the rescue.

I can't say enough about how good it is.

I'm about halfway through Pioneer Bush Pilot: The Story of Noel Wien by Ira Harkey. I found it used at Powell's for $5 in hardcover. Damn, what a good book! In every other Alaska flying book I've ever read, the Wiens are always referenced but I didn't realize what an actual pioneer Noel really was. He flew underpowered open cockpit biplanes everywhere, and did things with them that would make most modern Super Cub pilots quiver.

Great book, highly recommended (at least the first half.) Harkey does a great job of appealing to pilot readers, as he's very detailed about the actual flying and the aircraft.