UJHfiT UJOULU lift 00 lillTHPUT Mill?
Bush pilot air operations, the backbone
of Alaska’s transportation for many years,
are now facing an immediate end, if strong
and concerted public expression of opinion
is not exercised on their behalf* ' ,
Tolerated by their government (The' l^vv
under which they are now being grounded was
first passed in 1936, but never enforced un
til Ca^’s order of July 1 this year )r whJn
Alaska’s need was great, these little men of
the territory’s airlanes are now being shun
ted aside in order to make room for t’he orgr
anized big businesses of the air*
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' The bush, pilots have; handed 'together, to
•press the\r plea, as., a group for-the oppor
tunity to- continue'' to make their living-in
> the only waya known ’tp/'themi For’some of
them, it • is possible there may be jobs; on
the flying roster a of large' airline's operat
ing within the territory * but an ’ihdepehdent
business, with the .right to say yes or mo -to
any man, is sweet to the' taste of any Alas
kan .
What makes the njw ruling particularly
hard for these pione er‘flyers to understand
is the fact that they have done everything
within their power to comply with-the* intri
cate government regulations which will lead
to an air carrier's operating certificate.
Applications- have been filed With the Civil
aeronautics Board and in C-a& ^Docket No. 1747
the ' examiner hajs recommended that the bush
pilot's status be recognized. That recom
mendation -was made on Oct. 31, 1946, but
still no decision has been rendered, and riiay
not be for many months yet.- . Z
Bush pilots have never'attempted to evade
the regulations which govern flying.: Their
ships ' are regularly inspected by Caa and
must' meet the safety standards set down by
that organization. Because, they know their,,
flying has not yet been officially recog
nized, most of them have be,en dcrubly' Careful
for the flying safety, -of their passengers.
The pl-cj of the bush pilot is unique in
Alaskan air transportation. He t kes you 1
where you want to go, when you like;Weather
permitting. That type of flying can never
be replaced by big companies which depend on
freight shipments in
bulk and big passen*
ger lists for theit*
profit*
Oh the ground, bus
companies' do not feel
that taxis are com
petitors- in their mu
tual transportation
business.; n On the
contrary, taxis caWy
passengers 1 to. bus
terminals, where they
ban get transporta
tion over long dis
tances.' and so it’is
with the a!askah: bush
pilot -- he4 picks up
^a pa Ssengeh waiting
on a river bar Or by
.the shores of a lone
ly lake in a remote
,spot- -in the wilder
ness and hauls him “to
an air center where
-the passenger can buy
-a ticket from a large
air carrier to the
place he wants to go.
To. Sjldovia, iso
lated by the width of
Kachjmak bay from re
gular air route's, the
c jssatiori .of bush pi
lot flying would be a
•dj^th blow to this
cityfs hope for grow
th, Without the air
operation of non-sch
eduled carriers, Sel
dovia would be cut
off from contact with
thj rest of Alaska
during the winter
.months when boats
cannot • operate for
weeks at -a time.