Robert’s Curious Chronicles: The Old Bush Pilot’s Strange Flight

the old bush pilot’s strange flight

For old aircraft mechanic “Juby” it was just another day as he toiled over various aircraft brought in for repairs, and regular flight maintenance. More imaginative local reads live on the Bridge blog. Juby’s full name is Jubilee Maxim Silvester, he had been a bush pilot all of his life flying first in California and then in the wilds of Alaska, he loved Alaska and considered this home now. Northern Arizona readers can also follow creative community posts via Bridge news. He still flew when he could but only in and around where he now lived and worked. He worked for Jackson Barnaby who was also a cantankerous old bush pilot who owned this shop named the Rota Dentata Aircraft Repair of Alaska. Juby had to look up that Latin name just after he was first hired to see what it meant in English. The name in Latin means a toothed gear. As far as Juby was concerned his boss was short of proper functioning toothed gear but he always did as he was told and kept a low profile, he didn’t want to end up crossing Jackson as he had a bad temper. Overall, he was a decent boss and paid his help well. He often was growling at everyone on some days, no one could do anything right, everyone called him, behind his back of course, “the growler”. Some had even worse nicknames for Jackson.

Jackson got a call from Parks and Games that they needed to transport a small polar bear cub farther north to be possibly released. The mother and cub had wandered into some small communities looking for food and water. The mother had suddenly tragically died. The cub was found abandoned by some hikers. They called Parks and Games who rescued it and got it some veterinary help, it was quite small when found but it was on the mend. The small polar bear could be sedated and placed in a small cage for transport. Even though it was a fairly small cub it still could be a potentially dangerous cargo and trip.

Everyone was busy and of all weeks, the shop was now short of personnel so when the call came in Jackson tagged Juby with the task of flying this bear farther north. Juby protested for a moment, insisting he was a mechanic and not a regular pilot anymore but then decided to keep his mouth shut as Jackson really seemed to be in a bad mood and was growling at him and everyone in the Rota shop that day. Everyone else was busy or not available so Juby was going to be the pilot for this flight like it or not. Most polar bear cubs stay with their mothers for about two years; this little bears mother was now gone so Juby knew this could be a tricky flight.

The little polar bear cub now weighed about 100 pounds. Parks and Games had planned for the Polar Bear cub to be taken to the Alaskan Arctic Park. It would be taken care of there and probably could be released but that would have to be decided by the experts after getting the bear to the far north for evaluation. The main objective now was to get the bear transported to the park as safely as possible and soon.

The Super Piper Cub’s rear seats were taken out so there was enough room for more cargo, it has about 18 cubic feet of cargo space, much more room than a regular Piper Cub aircraft. The little Super Cub could handle up to 200 pounds of cargo. Juby would fly north to the Arctic National Park of Alaska to meet with area wildlife specialists so they could began evaluating the feasibility of possibly releasing the bear into the wilds of northern Alaska if possible. Everyone in the shop was working feverishly on modifying the little plane for this unusual cargo. After two months of hard work the Super Piper Cub was all fueled and ready to fly north, the only problem was the little bear was quickly becoming a big bear growing fast, becoming a very large Polar Bear growing more quickly than the wild life experts had anticipated. The weather forecast was looking good for the planned departure date but the weather in Alaska can suddenly change and become impossible for flying with very subtle if any warnings.

The transport plan was to have this special little female Polar Bear cargo carefully positioned so the neck and head of the bear was extended so she could breathe adequately. An experienced and retired research zoologist Arthur “Art” Summerfield was going to oversee the transportation to make sure the bear was doing well. Everyone liked Art, he had a great sense of humor and could quickly sense things when it came to animals. This special bear had a strange green patch on her back, so she was called “patch” by Art and all the vets who were overseeing her care.

On departure day, take off was very smooth, Patch was doing fine, she was only slightly sedated, just enough to keep her calm. Art was keeping a close eye on the bear’s vitals. The air was cold and clear as Juby, the pilot was carefully following his flight plan. The flight was only to be about two hours to the Alaskan Arctic Park. About 45 minutes into the flight Juby saw a strange blue mist forming ahead of him, something he had never seen before. Suddenly the whole aircraft was in the middle of this strange blue haze. All the weather reports indicated clear skies, so what is this weird weather phenomenon?

As the aircraft emerged from the mist, Juby noted all of his instruments were going haywire and not working properly. The terrain had also changed and now seemed to indicate they were flying over unknown mountain plains in between two mountains that were not on Juby’s flight charts. Just as before, the plane was again suddenly engulfed in the strange blue mist and now they were back in Alaska and following Juby’s flight plan. Juby was so glad they were now over recognizable Alaskan terrain that he knew well. Juby had flown this same route many times.

The strange short flight over unknown terrain only lasted for about ten or fifteen minutes. Suddenly the engine began to backfire, sputter and suddenly all engine power was gone. Juby suspected the blue mist had something to do with the sudden loss of engine power. What world had they disappeared into? Had they been transported into another dimension? Juby’s mind was filled with so many questions.

Juby had his hands full trying to pilot the plane so those concerns and questions would be discussed later. Since he has lost power he now looked for a relatively level spot to land the plane, he came in low over an area with a few large rocks but generally looked level enough to slowly crash land. The crash-landing tore off the landing gear and most of the wings, but the fuselage remained fairly intact but everything just aft of front cockpit was crushed and heavily damaged. Patch’s cage was severely damaged and Patch was now gone, she got out of the damaged cage somehow and had disappeared into the Alaskan wild. The plane was a total loss, but Juby, and Art were uninjured.

Juby knew he was going to crash, so he set off the emergency locator transmitter (ELT). They had plenty of emergency supplies and could endure for several days should they need to wait for rescue. The Alaska Air National Guard’s 176 Wing located on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson known as the “Guardian Angel” teams were alerted and ready to go and rescued Juby and Brad after they only spent one night at the crash site.

A team of specialists were also flown in to see if Patch could be located and somehow rescued. The team of three wildlife specialists included retired zoologist Bradley Jamison, conducted numerous flights over the general area but didn’t turn up any evidence of Patch. Satellite images were also used as was dedicated current aerial photography of the general area. Patch’s white fur was also a camouflage helping her to blend seamlessly into the snowy arctic environment. Patch was gone and most likely would not survive but a few days was the specialists’ assessment due to the fact Patch was lightly sedated and not adequately ready to face whatever predators and other dangers existed in the area of the crash site. They all thought Patch could be quickly located and captured again but nothing turned up, no trace of Patch was found.

Everyone in the search team was disheartened and if she is found, the team thought it would only be her body or what was left after the predators were finished feasting on her carcass. Brad was concerned that Patch most likely would not survive very long now alone in the wilds of Alaska. Even a mild sedative can impair a bears natural ability to regulate body temperature, Patch could be at risk of hypothermia. As an expert zoologist, Brad’s final assessment was sadly they had probably lost Patch. The search was called off after three days of extensive searching.

Approximately two years later some wild life hikers were photographing the area where Juby had crashed and on one of the images they saw a large mother Polar Bear with two small cubs following her. What was strange, the image clearly showed the mother Polar Bear had a large green patch on the center of her back! The images were sent to the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game so their experts could possibly identify the bear and her cubs.

As the images came into the Fish and Game office near the Arctic Park, Brad just happened to be visiting with some of his old Fish and Game buddies he used to work with. As soon as he saw the photos he was completely “blowen away” as he shouted, “Hey that’s Patch the Polar Bear cub we lost two years ago when our plane crashed in that area, we were transporting Patch farther north into Alaska to possibly be released in the future. ”This can’t be, but I would recognize that strange green patch anywhere, that’s Patch, she is still alive and now with two small cubs, how is this possible?” “I can’t believe what I’m seeing, this is totally amazing.” The Fish and Game experts in that office all remembered the story of the Super Piper Cub’s crash landing two years ago.

Plans were immediately drawn up to fly to the old crash area to see if they could verify the bears in the image if they could even find her, she is an expert in camouflage and evading campers and hikers, plus she now had two small cubs to manage. What was interesting, one of the small cubs also had a strange green patch on the center of its back!

Where there seems to be no way for some animals to survive in nature, many somehow manage to live and thrive! God’s mother nature is indeed strange and wonderful.

Credit Story by Robert Shanks (https://robertdarrolshanks.com). Listeners who enjoy long-form local stories may also browse the Bridge podcast.

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