Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 11:40:50 GMT -5
Well, you just can't keep the "Bush" out of "Bushpounders" for too long. Especially with me I guess. Back to flying as a CP - Northern Division with the British Columbia Ministry of Lands, Forests and Natural Resources Operations (man, could they have found a longer title?
Sheesh!!), or as I prefer to call them, the TS' ("Tax Spenders") 
. Anyway, I'll refer to them as "BC". I'm stationed at the sub-base in Dease Lake, and old haunt of mine, and a few others (Fritz comes to mind immediately). I've been missing the bush and bush flying, and this area in particular, so now I'm back. For how long? Well, what time is it ? Anyway, I kind of have the best of all worlds here (except no Norway flying from here 
), in that I get to fly bush machines and the more "corporate" transports the government has and am checked out on all their machines (Super Cub, C185, DHC 6 in all gear configs, C206T, Navajo, T-Duke (don't ask!), and the Lear 35). Most of the time I'll be flying out of Dease, but I'll be doing some stuff down south as well, as we liason closely with the opposite government agency in Washington State and Oregon. So there you go. Another day, another job (if only!).
Today being Christmas, I was looking forward to just getting settled in my new digs in Dease, temporary though they might be. I'll be looking for something of my own before long, but for now I'm staying in the Ministry quarters in Dease. It didn't take too long for my reverie of a cold (-30) Christmas morning to be disturbed. I got a call from a fellow at the airport who had just flown in from up towards Atlin for the day, who noticed a Caribou down in a swamp by the edge of a lake as he crossed over about an hour ago. He thought he saw 2 people running (more or less - the snow is pretty deep there now!) through the bush near it, although he couldn't see any mode of transportation. He wondered if it was poachers. I thanked him for the info, called the local Conservation Officer (CO) and told him to meet me at the airport in an hour. At the appointed time we had the 185 rolled out of the hangar, were loaded up and headed out to the unnamed lake about 25 nm W of town.
Climbing out of Dease Lake Airport
Enroute over the hills just west of town
Spotted the lake just off the left of our nose
Yup, there's a Caribou alright. Right in the swamp nearest us. You can't see it because you're not trained in such things. I am. Honest. No, really! I see all kinds of things that nobody else can. Seriously. I heard that. It's Christmas - that's no way to talk about a person on this day. Sheesh. ANYWAY, I didn't like the looks of that lake, but figured if we stayed away from the swamp and the outlet/inlet, we'd be ok
Final approach. I'd have to get slowed right up and drop it in short but past the out/inlet directly ahead to avoid (hopefully) weak ice. While we've had lots of cold weather up here, it's still pretty early in the season.
Down, made and hard right after landing to avoid the swamp at the far end of the run, and stopped. We were still on top of the ice so I figured things were good. There was a little slush underneath but it seemed to not be a problem in this case.
With no real wind, I took off towards the opening that we had approached from, figuring if I could get the airplane airborne early, I could level off and climb out through the opening in the trees/shoreline, taking my time to allow the speed to build before doing any serious climbing. Worked perfectly, with 20 degrees of flaps and a soft field takeoff.
Ten minutes later I was turning final for Dease Lake
With a 6,000 ft runway, I didn't need to land short by any stretch, so aimed for the halfway point down the runway. Saved a lot of taxiing.
Down and buttoned up for the night. Just had to wheel the aircraft back in the hangar and I could go home to enjoy my turkey dinner.
After inspecting the carcass, the CO determined that the 'bou had died of natural causes. We did see tracks in the area but they were wolf tracks, not human. The CO took some tissue samples for the biologist before we left, and we departed the lake, leaving the carcass for the wolves to finish off. Day's work is done and now I'm going to have my turkey dinner
. I have to say though, it's great to be back in the north, and in this area in particular (sure is better since SAK came out!).
Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas all!
Sheesh!!), or as I prefer to call them, the TS' ("Tax Spenders") 
. Anyway, I'll refer to them as "BC". I'm stationed at the sub-base in Dease Lake, and old haunt of mine, and a few others (Fritz comes to mind immediately). I've been missing the bush and bush flying, and this area in particular, so now I'm back. For how long? Well, what time is it ? Anyway, I kind of have the best of all worlds here (except no Norway flying from here 
), in that I get to fly bush machines and the more "corporate" transports the government has and am checked out on all their machines (Super Cub, C185, DHC 6 in all gear configs, C206T, Navajo, T-Duke (don't ask!), and the Lear 35). Most of the time I'll be flying out of Dease, but I'll be doing some stuff down south as well, as we liason closely with the opposite government agency in Washington State and Oregon. So there you go. Another day, another job (if only!).Today being Christmas, I was looking forward to just getting settled in my new digs in Dease, temporary though they might be. I'll be looking for something of my own before long, but for now I'm staying in the Ministry quarters in Dease. It didn't take too long for my reverie of a cold (-30) Christmas morning to be disturbed. I got a call from a fellow at the airport who had just flown in from up towards Atlin for the day, who noticed a Caribou down in a swamp by the edge of a lake as he crossed over about an hour ago. He thought he saw 2 people running (more or less - the snow is pretty deep there now!) through the bush near it, although he couldn't see any mode of transportation. He wondered if it was poachers. I thanked him for the info, called the local Conservation Officer (CO) and told him to meet me at the airport in an hour. At the appointed time we had the 185 rolled out of the hangar, were loaded up and headed out to the unnamed lake about 25 nm W of town.
Climbing out of Dease Lake Airport
Enroute over the hills just west of town
Spotted the lake just off the left of our nose
Yup, there's a Caribou alright. Right in the swamp nearest us. You can't see it because you're not trained in such things. I am. Honest. No, really! I see all kinds of things that nobody else can. Seriously. I heard that. It's Christmas - that's no way to talk about a person on this day. Sheesh. ANYWAY, I didn't like the looks of that lake, but figured if we stayed away from the swamp and the outlet/inlet, we'd be ok
Final approach. I'd have to get slowed right up and drop it in short but past the out/inlet directly ahead to avoid (hopefully) weak ice. While we've had lots of cold weather up here, it's still pretty early in the season.
Down, made and hard right after landing to avoid the swamp at the far end of the run, and stopped. We were still on top of the ice so I figured things were good. There was a little slush underneath but it seemed to not be a problem in this case.
With no real wind, I took off towards the opening that we had approached from, figuring if I could get the airplane airborne early, I could level off and climb out through the opening in the trees/shoreline, taking my time to allow the speed to build before doing any serious climbing. Worked perfectly, with 20 degrees of flaps and a soft field takeoff.
Ten minutes later I was turning final for Dease Lake
With a 6,000 ft runway, I didn't need to land short by any stretch, so aimed for the halfway point down the runway. Saved a lot of taxiing.
Down and buttoned up for the night. Just had to wheel the aircraft back in the hangar and I could go home to enjoy my turkey dinner.
After inspecting the carcass, the CO determined that the 'bou had died of natural causes. We did see tracks in the area but they were wolf tracks, not human. The CO took some tissue samples for the biologist before we left, and we departed the lake, leaving the carcass for the wolves to finish off. Day's work is done and now I'm going to have my turkey dinner
. I have to say though, it's great to be back in the north, and in this area in particular (sure is better since SAK came out!).Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas all!
.