I'd split my summer contract with an old curmudgeon and fellow contract pilot , Butch Foster , who in his retirement years kept busy by building and flying small airplanes , fire bombing in the summer and sharing his passion with his students at the Springbank Airport.
So instead of paying for an expensive consultant to draw up the application for the Operating Certificate , I cunningly diverted that money towards the hiring of an assistant. So Honest Ken , our local aircraft broker highly reccommended a young local lad who had flawlessly completed some photographic missions out on the praries and sold me a plane while he was at it.
This young chap , also called Ken , was a little shy of the flying hours I was looking for but he possessed two items I could use , an instructor rating and a university degree.
Ah ! It was like Flying Scorcery the way I played my magic..... and a little flying school appeared.... with a Cessna Cardinal as the trainer and future light charter and rental aircraft.
Now with my new access to a university education the slogging paper war was waged to a successful conclusion and Timberline Air Ltd began operations. I was the operations manager , chief pilot , maintainence co-ordinator , dispatcher and pilot. Ken was an instructor , secretary , dispatcher , safety officer , pilot and swamper. The generous owners , Walter and Mrs W were well respected , hard working people.
Whilst awaiting the certificate , we got the nod to install the latest in Navigation technology .... Loran C. We were so excited at the chance to escape reliance on a distant VOR/DME position when trapped on top of cloud pierced by jagged peaks above ten thousand feet. We would search for a hole and auger down VFR, gear and flaps extended so as to keep power on , only to lose the VOR below the peaks and then transition to rainy , foggy map reading and local knowledge to scud run into the narrow valley where your destination tried to deny you access. And Vortex Generators too. We put them on as soon as we heard of the benefits to doing so and thereby saved their cost many times over especially with tires and brakes.
We were swamped with work right out of the gate and thankfully , under the excellent maintainence performed by Firkus Aircraft , the old 'Ho rode some rough and tough ground in bad conditions at full gallop. She carried crews , tools , spares , explosives , large 1000lb hydraulic cylinders , truck radiators saws , beer and so on ....in and out of short gravel strips carved into hillsides and valley bottoms only to be asked to perform the ballet of an IFR approach in rain , fog and ice ... right down to the numbers at home.
And the Christmas bonus ... wow ....
It just doesn't get any better than this.
..............then , one day .....