Wednesday November 9th, 2022
The Atlin Whisper “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.” Margaret Mead
TRAGEDY IN THE AIR “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.” by Paul Lucas That being said, there are a few bush pilots who have consistently beaten the odds. How, we don’t know. Gamblers never bet on ‘em because those odds are simply too long to guarantee survival. Dick Bond and Jimmy ‘Midnight’ Anderson, from previous tales, are two that come to mind. The chances these guys took almost guaranteed a death in the air, but no - both of them died in their beds. Both were reckless, often endangering lives. There’s a reason why the adage ‘Old Bold Pilots ... ‘ remains popular. I’m afraid Dick’s wife Theresa, also a pilot, didn’t have the same luck though - a fact that became all too clear at a musical gathering of locals one night. — Atlin, Early Spring,1990. The days were getting longer in huge chunks - the sun setting later and later in the evening. The place was full of spring energy and, in the North, that is a powerful engine for both man and beast. We were celebrating said spring with a little get together. Not that we needed a reason, but in case the issue came up, I suppose we could have tossed that on the table. “How are the fingers?” Alex said, knowing that the digits on my left hand would be on the raw side by now. Alex McConnell, along with a bevy of other ne’er do wells that included Fred Morris (northern philosopher from an earlier tale) lived out at Lina Creek, down the Warm Bay Road about 3 miles south of my place. He had staked five acres along with the rest of us during the land opening in the late seventies. Alex had this old archtop guitar with heavy strings and a high action that pretty well guaranteed, after an hour or so, you would have a nice set of blisters. “I think I’ve got a couple of more tunes in me,” I said. We’d been singing and playing for over an hour when Liz Andrade, Fred’s mate and a member of Atlin’s Emergency Response Team, got an alert on her phone. She listened intently for a couple of minutes, then slammed the phone down and bolted out the door.