For several reasons I have been avoiding Cloud Dancer's book on the accidents and bad outcomes up in the Kotz/Nome area. Too close to home, and I knew most of the folks involved. CD was up there a good decade before my time, but the names and incidents remain the same. The families, airplanes, and weather have not changed.

Way more times than I care to count, I sat there in my airplane listening to a drama unfold on the radio knowing that when the transmissions stopped, a friend would be dead. Helpless feeling then, and helpless feeling now when I wake up from dreaming about it.

Until now. I finally sat down and read through the book nonstop...

Anyway... A plug for a fascinating book, and I challenge anyone to read it with dry eyes and no goosebumps.

Gump

Thanks for the report on this book Gump. I just read a bunch of great Alaska bushflying books (Wager with the Wind, Artic Bush Pilot, The Alaka Bush Pilot Chronicles, Alaska's Sky Follies, and Skystruck) and was looking for another to read. I understand there is a series of them. Cloudies books should keep me occupied for a while.

I've read all three volumes, and Cloudy gets better with each one. I, too, dreaded the Tragedies, and cried all the way through, but it's the reality of flying, and not only in Alaska.

ASW.

He's not a polished writer, but he seems to have a plethora of stories. Excerpts here:
http://www.clouddancer.org/excerpts.htm

Bought the first one at the Alaska Heritage Museum shop the other day...showed it to the F/O on the way to ORD and he thought it looked pretty good - he did 24 years up there with charter then Northern AC...

Just got all three books directly from the Cloudy himself. Even took to the time to autograph them for me. Looking forward to being entertained for hours. Will definitely post reviews.

Not a bush pilot book but well worth the read: Moondog and the Academy of the Air by Pete Fusco.

Not a bush pilot book but well worth the read: Moondog and the Academy of the Air by Pete Fusco.

One of the few aviation books that have made me laugh out loud...especially the Mafia 'non-flight' in the Beech 18.

Wow, I just finished reading Vol 1 of Cloud Dancer's books. I have to agree with Gump on this one, once you start reading it you'll have a hard time putting it down. If you're into amazing stories of flying in Alaska this is a definite read. I can hardly wait to dive into Vol II. Here is the link to his website http://www.clouddancer.org/

Now you see why some of us loved flying out of Kotzebue so much. It might be the frozen Arctic wastelands, but it was never boring living and flying up there.

Gump

I had looked into getting his first book back a year or so, but never did. Now I might need to put them on the Christmas list.

Another series of stories that are worth the time are the ones about Jimmy "Midnight" Johnson. He flew out of the peace river country I think and did a lot of fairly strange things like capturing and hauling live caribou in his super cub

I finished reading Vol II last week and jumped right into reading Vol III. It was hard to put down, finished it in only 2 days. If you're into reading about some great Alaskan flying adventures I would highly recommend buying the 3 book set. I'm sure Cloudy would appreciate the book sells. Now if I could only get Don C to start writing his

kevbert wrote:He's not a polished writer, but he seems to have a plethora of stories. Excerpts here:
http://www.clouddancer.org/excerpts.htm

I think not being a polished writer is part of the appeal. The style of writing makes you feel like you sitting up at the bar having a drink and listen to cloudy tell ya the story straight out.

Another one I enjoyed was "king of the ice" about Don Johnson. Hard to find, but was a good read.

akavidflyer wrote:

kevbert wrote:He's not a polished writer, but he seems to have a plethora of stories. Excerpts here:
http://www.clouddancer.org/excerpts.htm

I think not being a polished writer is part of the appeal. The style of writing makes you feel like you sitting up at the bar having a drink and listen to cloudy tell ya the story straight out.

Indeed. Another similar one which I enjoyed is an online book, "Border Pilot", about the life of a cropduster.

For all I know he posts here too

once&futr_alaskaflyer wrote:

akavidflyer wrote:

kevbert wrote:
He's not a polished writer, but he seems to have a plethora of stories. Excerpts here:
http://www.clouddancer.org/excerpts.htm

I think not being a polished writer is part of the appeal. The style of writing makes you feel like you sitting up at the bar having a drink and listen to cloudy tell ya the story straight out.

Indeed. Another similar one which I enjoyed is an online book, "Border Pilot", about the life of a cropduster.

For all I know he posts here too

Great stories in the Border Pilot book! Thanks for the link! I'm up to Chapter 19, quite an interesting read.

Flynengr

GumpAir wrote:
Anyway... A plug for a fascinating book, and I challenge anyone to read it with dry eyes and no goosebumps.
Gump

Cloud Dancer will be attending the Alaska Aviation Trade show in Anchorage this coming weekend. You can read more about his background in this article published in the Alaska Dispatch:

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/a ... ears-later

After Gump started this convo, I ordered all three. Enjoyed them all very much, as stated before they are hard to put down. Vol III does give a guy goose bumps & you can feel the emotion in his writing. Highly recommended.

I read each of Could Dancer's books as they came out. Loved them all.

I also think that I have read just about every bush pilot and most other flying books out there. But some how I had missed until now, and am a few pages from finishing it, "Fate Is The Hunter" - wow, it might just be the best flying book out there??