Rocky Mountain Helicopters early 80's
I was with company out of Provo then Rialto as mechanic. I think I worked full time for four years starting on the 47-soloy, and G3b. We laid fence posts across miles of Nevada cattle range land for BLM. Then had sharp shooters pick off wild wolfs by the hundreds to let cattle barrons be happy. My Bell 47's were a bloody mess. It was a sad use of my machines. Then a few years of laying Jug lines and explosives for seismic testing. Next I was called on the shortwave radio (yes) and Hans H asked me to urgently move my tools to Alaska due to another mechanic changed his mind. A Piper Seneca came in from Provo to pick me up. We had a abort take off and overrun into the tumble weed due to nose baggage door popped open on rotation and loose luggage went into left propeller. Anyway made it to Vegas for transfers up to Alaska (with all my desert clothing). Alaska contracts another three or four years. The first couple of years was for Houston oil and minerals. There was come core drilling rigs set up around Nome and Kotsubue and Bettles. Helicopters mobilized all the parts in sling nets and hauled out to drilling sites. It was 24-7. Good cooks in the large hoop tents and we ate quite good. Lots of bears coming into camp then going off again. One camp was set up in a river bed (flood plain). It rained and you guessed it flooded our camp tents etc. Another season we tagged Muskox heard. Another season we put floats on the Hughes 500D and using a massive early Global position computer that must have been the size of a microwave we dipped into nearly every pond on the north slope to bag and tag mud samples for mineral analysis (uranium search). My last season was border control to Canada. Yes a bunch of grunts with chainsaws clearcutting a swath to mark Alaska/Canada border. My pilots I recall were Bruce something, and Dirk Vanderhorn and a few others. .When I was based in Provo my next door neighbor was Marie Osmond. She kept her Personal Hughes 500 in the Provo Hangar. Also I recall one icy foggy morning an emergency call came in for a boater in distress not far from the hangar. It was a real quick prep and the Bell 206 was in air and off into the soup. Somehow our pilot picked up the boater and came back to ramp. The rotor blades and Tail blades were fully loaded with Rime Ice so lucky he made it back....