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This helicopter is French, originally made by Aerospatiale.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.