DGrant Gibson

Big decisions must rest upon the answer to small questions. This original yet profound statement by well known and respected Alaska Pioneer Bud Helmericks was written in his book, The Last of The Bush Pilots of which was published in 1969.

I have been a pilot for many years and highly respected Bud Helmericks as a true role model for Alaskan aviation pioneering and true leadership. I have had a copy of this book for years, read it and flipped through it reading short passages, reading this statement every time, yet missing something profound. This year I once again picked up the book from my library shelf after reading about the death of this great man.

Where would you find one of the most perilous air routes in the world? Colombian pilots fly through extreme storms and hot days in 2nd world war Douglas DC-3’s over dense forests to deliver food and goods to villagers isolated from the rest of the world…

Gear up in the wells point is Villavicencio, a city in the foothills of the Andean Cordillera. There destination? Any one of the number of native Indian villages scattered throughout the jungle, cut off from civilisation.

The sound of the plane’s arrival in the villages is a major event. Landing here only once or twice a month, its cargo comprising vegetables, beds, dogs, chicken, TV sets.

But the greatest danger is not storms, mechanical faults or extreme heat, it’s the amazon jungle below. Known as a green hell. A green hell twice the size of Texas. With no space to land…

I decided to do a calculation of sorts. Following my article September 29th on Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outliers, I decided to do something interesting and factual about myself. I examined my own work ethic. Specifically, how many years it took for me, Grant Gibson, to achieve 10,000 hours of work ethic. When I did all the numbers(hours of work), I achieved this magic number before the age of twenty. As a matter of fact, I achieved it between 18 and 19 years of age. I went back to the first time I got a small job at the Edmonton Municipal Airport* working for Mike Hackman Aircraft Sales. I was 13 years old at the time.

It is a very special day today, June 13th, as it is my mother’s birth date. Although she passed away in 1989 I honor this day every year in memory of Eleanor McCready. A very special lady indeed. In 1975 I set up a special trip for mom, all paid by me, and her and I flew off from Edmonton, Alberta on a direct flight to Los Angeles. We boarded the yellow DC-9 under the banner Hughes Airwest owned by the famous and rich Howard Hughes who lived in Las Vegas.

A few years back I was invited to fly to the head office of a small airline to do a presentation in their boardroom. This was paid for by the company I was going to visit for the business meeting. The meeting was to provide logistics and aid in the growth of a possible new division to their core aviation business model. I had done extensive work in the background to prepare, having a resource company considering going forward with my plans if I could put this deal together. I arrived on their first flight in the morning and was met and ushered to their boardroom.

If you lost one wing during an airshow, how would you react? Watch this short video to see a master aerobatic pilot perform what should have been impossible. Quick assessment, quick judgment of the situation and the clear decision to get to the ground safely saved this guy’s life. How many of us could have done the same…

In our life’s choosings, it is fascinating to note how many times decisions are based on fear vs. faith. I know many points along the road which have proved this in my own life. Yet there are also times when the choice was a firm ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ based on a ‘gut feeling’- knowing what was ‘the right thing to do. A deeper drive based on faith regardless of outcome. Did it always work out? No, but most times the ‘right thing’ opened new experiences that created new directions and people in my life which

I have been, like thousands of others, tracking the news stories daily in hopes of good news finding Steve Fossett alive and hopefully un-injured. The days diminish that possibility but that’s all you can hope for. It’s amazing the team spirit and collective force that gets into motion to search for a missing aircraft.
I have had the opportunity to search for more than one aircraft that went missing in my years as being a pilot…