It was
a busy morning at the Galena airport.
There was more action here than we have seen in a while.
Check
out this old beast. This is a Douglas
Corporation DC-6. It was the powerhouse
of its time. This four-engine airplane
came on line just after World War II and is still in service in Alaska
today. It’s been around a while.
Although
the DC-6 began its career as a passenger plane, it works today as a freight
hauler. The very old school technology
is well suited for Alaska. It can fly in
heat. It can fly in the cold. It can land on gravel and dirt runways, and
it can haul just about anything you need moved.
Remote villages such as Galena depend on this bird to resupply the most
basic necessities such as food and fuel.
Yes, Everts Air can even carry fuel to remote locations.
Helicopters
working in the area stopped by for a break and fuel at about the same time the
big plane showed up. The ramp was busy
for a while so I stayed back and let everybody do their thing.
This
helicopter is French, originally made by Aerospatiale. Along with the melding of Europe in to the European
Union, Aerospatiale melded into the larger corporation, Eurocopter. Eurocopter in turn recently became part of
Airbus. This particular helicopter is
known as an A-Star B-3. They are nice
machines that are well liked in the industry.
I happen to prefer my Bell’s though.
Speaking
of Bell, this cool looking machine is a Bell 205 helicopter, more commonly known
through the years as a Huey. It is a
single engine helicopter that was the workhorse of the Vietnam era. There are still lots of these around today
and are an excellent platform for heavy lift work. This helicopter is the predecessor to the
Bell 212 and 412 twin engine series.
Well,
my days are once again numbered. Our
contract in Galena ends at the end of this month. The machine will most likely be repositioned
to the Lower 48 for more fire suppression work there. This year, I will not be traveling with
it. It is time for me to stay home and
take care of Kitty.
It is
now time for Arctic Artique to go full throttle. I have no idea what the future has in store
for us. I can’t even tell you what will happen
next month. I can tell you that I will
give it everything I’ve got to make this work and give my wife the security she
needs. It’s been a long road since my
career went away. There is still a long
way to go. If my wife doesn’t have much
time left, at least I can give her a little bit of comfort. We’ll make it!
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This
just in…. stay tuned. Smoke has just
filled the air. We have fire. It sounds like we are finally going to
work.
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