What It’s Really Like: Flying the Alaska Bush (ebook)

Incredible stories from legendary bush pilot Mort Mason
In What It’s Really Like: Flying the Alaska Bush , Mort Mason has assembled a wide-ranging collection of stories, based on his decades of flying in the 49th state. Each chapter chronicles Mort’s amazing flights, successfully battling Alaska’s weather and wild topography. Reading these tales, there’s no doubt Mort is the real deal – and his exploits will amaze anyone who has piloted an airplane in lesser conditions.
In this thrilling, too-crazy-to-make-up account of a life flown on the edge, Mort regales readers with hangar flying at its best. From the safety of your armchair, you can accompany him in dangerous weather over dangerous terrain. Fly through the treacherous Merrill Pass and land on snow-covered lakes. He’ll share his field maintenance solutions – patching holes in seaplane floats, making flat tires usable for takeoff – and more. It’s clear that flying in Alaska is like nothing else.
Along with flights that would keep Lower 48 pilots at the airport, Mort fesses up to the miscalculations and outright mistakes that could have cost him his life. Interspersed with the stories are tales of some of the memorable characters and clients Mort came in contact with – from wealthy hunters to everyday Alaskans dependent on GA. Written in part to debunk the romance of being a bush pilot, What It’s Really Like will both entertain and inform. And if you’ve ever fantasized about heading North to fly in Alaska, the book just may give you second thoughts.
Approximately 220 pages. Includes 8-page photo insert.

Mort Mason
Mort Mason soloed on Friday the 13th – April 1956 – on an airplane with skis, in a 20-knot crosswind at Lake Hood, Alaska, in a serious snowstorm. Since that day, he successfully completed his Private License check ride on March 4, 1957. His ASES, Commercial and Instrument Rating followed. Mason says, “My logs, not always attentively kept, now show 18,000 flying hours as PIC. About 16,000 of those hours were made while flying the Alaska outback, just another of Alaska’s long list of ragbag bush pilots.” Mort was a longtime guide in Alaska as well.

Read a sample from Flying the Alaska Bush