This is a 2009 Quest Kodiak.  This airplane looks a lot like a Cessna Caravan.  In fact, I thought it was a Caravan until I was informed otherwise.  Quest is a newer airplane manufacturer with their home and plant located somewhere in Idaho.  It is good to see that we have some manufacturing left in this country.

I had the unique opportunity to take a ride in this machine yesterday.  My helicopter is still working at the forward staging area for the Dahl Creek fire near Kobuk.  We had a pilot crew change to get my pilot back to her bird after her required break.

  Officially, I had to go look at the helicopter since it has been away for almost a week.  Unofficially, I got to see what a staging area looks like and take a few pictures.

This fire was roughly 4000 acres in size.  As you can see, it burned up to the staging area.  This is the eastern most part of the burn area.  This is mainly wilderness, but the village of Kobuk was threatened as well as a couple of small mining operations.  There is a jade mine and a barite mine in the area that were threatened.  Alaska jade is some of the nicest jade you will find in the world.  I have no idea what barite is, but both mine operators were extremely grateful for the work that was done by all of the firefighters.

This fire is mostly put out, there are still crews mopping up and watching for hotspots that could reignite but most are leaving.  As you can see, airplanes come and go at will.  I was told the air traffic was quite heavy the first three days, bringing in crews and supplies.  The green Beech 1900 is picking up a crew of firefighters that are returning to their home base.  Their work here is done.  The tan Casa is a cargo plane that has been shuttling supplies back and forth.  There have been three helicopters stationed here for the duration, a pair of Bell 212’s and my Bell 407.  All are sitting idle and waiting for action now.

It was an enjoyable afternoon with nice weather for my little excursion.  I walked around, stretched my legs, looked at my bird for a couple of minutes, took a few pictures, and relaxed!  Then it was time again to board the plane.  The flight was about an hour each way.  As you can see, there is lots of tundra in this part of the country.  I was a bit surprised as when I fly north, more to the west of this location, I see nothing but spruce trees all the way up until I pass the Brooks Range via Atigun  Pass.  For those of you that have seen Ice Road Truckers on cable, Atigun Pass is the road the truckers use to go north from Fairbanks to Deadhorse.

It is an interesting life up here.  The summers are too short and we have to pack as much work into them as possible.  This life is not for everyone but it suits me just fine.  I get to work independent of my main office, make my own calls and decisions, and see parts of our great land that very few people ever get the opportunity to see.   Working on my own with small groups of people around seems to be best for me as an odd duck autistic. Yes, it is an interesting life.

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