Bush Pilot in Alaska: The many lives of Don Lee

$29.95

With a deft touch, Christoph Barszczewski tells the exciting tales that have shaped the life of an extraordinary person. A life dedicated to Alaska aviation. And remember: flying in Alaska means more than just flying. It’s pure adventure! Hardback book, 152 pages.

Foreword

A life well lived by Jeff Skiles
First Officer — “The Miracle on the Hudson”

Alaska is but a dream to most, merely a far northern notion of wilderness, beauty, and unbridled adventure. To Don Lee, however, the often – changing skies of Alaska are as natural and familiar as the shifting path of nearby Susitna River, ever flowing from the Denali to the Pacific. Don came to this country to live in the Alaskan bush and fly in its striking blue
skies in the manner of the first pilots to come to this vast territory only a generation before. Often it has been a hard life spent scratching a living from the sky in this vast and bountiful land, but at the same time a rewarding calling for a soul yearning for excitement.
Don Lee is that rare breed of aviator who absolutely comes to life in the cockpit. On the ground he is unassuming, even reserved, but aloft Don becomes animated as he shares his wisdom and knowledge. His restless hands act out his thoughts and words as they fly through the air gliding and pirouetting in the odd manner shared by aviators of great experience.
One quickly becomes aware that everything this man has to say is worth the time to listen.
You would expect Don to be a swashbuckler taking chances and surviving on his sheer flying skill and ability, a man who is willing to take risks without a concern or care. But Don has survived these many decades by being exactly the opposite. His lessons in the cockpit are of risk mitigation, weighing situations carefully and making the smart decision.
Don related to me how, when he first came to Alaska, he met many of the original bush pilots in this country. He, too, imagined that they would be fearless risk-takers living on nothing but courage and bravado, but instead he found them to be universally cautious and conservative. There are certainly occasions when risks must be taken in the Alaskan skies, perhaps to rush someone who has been injured in the bush to medical attention, or to take precious supplies to remote villages that have suffered an overlong winter. Don has made many such flights. But those are rare occasions when a bush pilot might cast aside normal considerations for the safety of others. A pilot doesn’t survive forty years of such action.
Through the author’s inimitable prose you will be placed behind the controls of a simple bush plane and be drawn into Don’s world of flying in the sometimes harsh and unforgiving skies of the far north. This book, however, is about more than just the reminiscences of a bush pilot.
This is a story of a life well lived. The world is full of men who barely chance to dream. Don Lee shows us how a simple teenage passion can lead to a lifetime of adventure for those who are brave enough to walk the less-traveled road. While Don’s many years have encompassed both accomplishment and adversity, the pages of this book slowly reveal the spirit of a man who has made a place for himself in the skies over this unspoiled wilderness, and, more significantly, it gives a window into the soul of a man who has dared to live a life that is truly extraordinary.