Bush Pilot’s Mayday: Bush Pilot’s Journal Book One

Bush Pilot’s Mayday is true life adventure based on logbook entries and recollections of the author’s fellow pilots and companions. Ken Forscutt flew a Cessna floatplane for 17 years into various places in Northwestern Canada, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. His aircraft was equipped with a minimum of radio gear and all navigation was done the “old way” – with maps and a simple compass.Here, Forscutt relates the many adventures and misadventures that befell him as a private pilot. After learning to fly in Manitoba, Ken made numerous trips to remote northern Manitoba lakes for hunting and ice fishing expeditions. In one hair raising adventure, Ken finds himself clinging to a pontoon and locked out of the plane’s cabin as it propels itself across a lake and up into the air. In another, he mistakes the sound of a seat belt banging against the outside of the plane, for a missing strut and causes himself unnecessary grief in landing the plane. Ken often flew parties and individuals to remote fishing lakes in Alberta where fish and adventures abound. He flew in the Northwest Territories where he had several close calls – while landed on an ice field en route to Tuktoyaktuk, Ken is forced to make an impromptu take off when the plane and its occupants are chased by an angry Polar Bear sow and cub. He mistakenly flies into restricted air space when he runs into the Mid Canada Early Warning System. This is a well written book that will appeal to aviators, armchair pilots and anyone who like a good story told well.