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| Category: Memoir |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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Flying in the Alaskan wilderness is an entirely different skill set than the way most pilots are trained; flying to and from remote gravel bars on wheels, streams and lakes on floats, and ski operations in deep snow and horrific weather. Many times I thought I would not make it, flying overloaded airplanes with the doors removed, external loads strapped to the floats, no navigational aids and totally alone in a vast wilderness with only my skills and determination to get me home.
After logging 4,000 flight hours, and flying sometimes 16 hours a day, I actually became as one with the airplane. Controlling the airplane was like scratching an itch, totally unconscious control inputs... I was the airplane. It took many hours, more than a few mishaps, and a lot of luck to reach this skill level. The stories in this book are recalled from reviewing the pages of my pilot's log book. Some of the stories were sad, some were funny, and some were really scary. Some flights were truly beautiful, as can only be experienced in the pristine Alaskan outback. I lived the adventure most people only dream about, and survived it to tell my tales...
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| About the Author | |
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Lynn Wyatt learned to fly at a flight school in Santa Monica, California. But where he REALLY learned to fly was in the Alaskan bush country, the ultimate in wilderness and weather extremes. The planes he flew ranged from Cessna 150’s and champs to the iconic De Havilland Beaver and multi engine seaplanes. Cargo he carried included everything from basic supplies to full-sized mattresses with the airplane doors removed to boats strapped to the outside of the plane for those living off the grid. His passengers ran the gamut of city-slickers wanting a "wilderness experience" to an accident victim who would have died had he not risked his own life to fly the man for medical attention.
It was no job for sissies. After 12 years and multiple near-death experiences, Lynn Wyatt finally hung up his bush pilot wings. He spent a short time flying sea planes out of Sausalito before moving to Los Angeles to work for Flying Tigers as an engineer, and then to San Diego where he spent the next 20 years with United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS). Upon retirement, he briefly worked as a flight instructor at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California, until being asked to return to UTAS, where he still works part time, supporting the engine development program at NASA space center in Stennis, Mississippi. His ratings include ATP (Airline Transport Pilot, SEL (Single Engine Land), SES (Single Engine Sea), MEL (Multi Engine Land), MES (Multi Engine Sea, AGI (Advance Ground Instructor), CFI (Certified Flight Instructor), A&P (Airframe & Power plant Mechanic.) Lynn currently lives with his wife, Mendi, and their cat, Abby, in a Mediterranean-style home high on a hill east of San Diego, California, with a view to the ocean, over 30 miles away. |