Day seventeen. All is well. Fairbanks, Alaska.
Today was my last full day of bush pilot training. I have three hours of work tomorrow, two of which will be flying (if you call that work), and then I move on to Anchorage for three nights.
Anchorage is a city of approximately 300,000 people, and is the location of the world's second largest earthquake in recorded history (9.2 - March 27, 1964).
Yesterday before I parted company with my bush pilot instructor I was not told what time we should begin today, but, I assumed we were scheduled to start at 6:00, which was the time set to start yesterday. Yesterday when I arrived ten minutes early he was already there. Today I arrived at 5:30. He was there, coffee in hand, and trying not to show his impatience. Curious.
Today I experienced things of which I had only read. I landed on several gravel bars in rivers, on the side of mountains at unimproved strips, on several back country wilderness strips, and more importantly, I learned to pass on other landing possibilities. We flew over a not particularly short strip, but it had trees near each end of the runway. The CFI asked me, "Can you land it there?" I maneuvered around to get a good view, and then confidently said I could, to which he responded, "Can you fly it out after you land it?". I decided that might be more of a challenge than I could handle, even with light fuel, and only two souls on board. I passed on this one. The lesson was that just because you can land somewhere doesn't mean you should.
I was able to teach the instructor how to use the Garmin 530 GPS in the plane we flew. He told me that it was not his plane, and he did not know how to operate it. He said "The guy that owns the plane doesn't know how to operate it, so he sure as hell couldn't show anybody else how." After I showed him how to do the basic operations, and how to input an instrument approach he warmed to me just a bit. He still spoke in abbreviated sentences with long pauses, as if he were weighing every word, but he warmed....just a little. He remained a many of few words.
The end-of-day sequence of yesterday was repeated again today. I tied the plane down and he was gone when I got to the office. So, tonight I am thinking, "In the morning should I arrive at the airport at 5:00 to see if he is already here?" I have three hours at the airport tomorrow whether I begin at 5:00 or 6:00.
I am curious.
Another good day.
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