The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Bob Ferguson came to the Flin Flon area as a "bush" pilot in 1946. He said in the beginning it was a "single man operation" and he flew to Lynn Lake, La Ronge and area transporting Native peoples, prospectors and Mid-West Diamond Drillers around the North. In 1947 he formed a company when he bought another plane and hired bush pilot Ross Lennox. He said they had a training school and spent most of their time flying to mining companies. It was a "tough life", you had to be hardy or freeze to death! The airplanes in those days were far from air-tight. "You didn't need to look out the window to see where you were going, there were open spaces all over the plane," Bob said. They had no instruments other than an air speed indicator and an altimeter but in the winter most of the time they were froze and didn't work any way. Bob said, "You flew by the seat of your pants!" There were no maps to speak of because most of the North hadn't been mapped out. You found your way through memory of various objects on the landscape. In those days we got far more snow than we do now and Bob commented that "often I'd manage to land on one of the lakes and the snow would be up to the belly of the plane and I'd have to shovel myself out to be able to take off again". He said he'd often "take chances to try to accommodate the mining camps" and would fly longer than he perhaps should have with the skis, or he'd keep the wheels on longer than he should and land on the ice with the plane still in wheels. See 'Supplies' P.# Con't from P.# "The guys were anxious for their mail and supplies," he noted. In 1948 Central Northern Airways based out of Snow Lake approached Bob and asked him if he'd come work for them. So he took off for Snow Lake leaving Ross to run the business in Flin Flon. He said that, "There was no radio communication in those days, at least not a public radio, Hudson Bay had their own radio but that was private". Bob said they ran three flights a week from Snow Lake to Flin Flon as well as three flights a week from Snow Lake to The Pas so as to connect with Canadian Pacific who had the flights from the smaller communities to Winnipeg. "I did a lot of charter work in those days out of Snow Lake and people in the isolated areas got to depend on me," he said. "However, people were different in those days, more independent, not so demanding, more appreciative, as well as more reliable." Bob transported everything from dogs, freight, mail and food. Once the restrictions on the railway were lifted after the war, the first thing they did was to go on strike. The strike happened in about 1950 but that meant that the only way people could get their supplies and move anywhere was by airplane. He was then relied on to get the fresh meat and vegetables into the people as well. He worked there till 1952 when, while loading a Chrysler engine onto a plane, it was dropped on his left hand and he was off work for awhile. During that time Hudson Bay transport approached him to fly for them. Bob said, "That was quite a varied experience." He flew from the southern states right up into the Northern Yukon. There were no fly-in fishing camps at that time but Bob figured out his air miles and found that his average flight lasted only about 17 minutes moving from one camp to another. "Sure taught you how to take off and land in a short area," he laughed. He worked with Hudson Bay transport till 1965 and then came to work for Hank Parson back in Flin Flon. "The first winter Hank put me in charge and he went south. It didn't take me long to realize that if I was going to run the business, I might as well own it!" Bob took over Parson's Air Services in 1967. Parson's had five planes and five pilots. There was a steady growth with the business till about 1983. By then they had 22 planes and 48 employees. Of course communications had improved a great deal although sometimes the radios would work and sometimes they wouldn't. Bob said, "About 1965 I could see the tourist potential for fly-in fishing camps so I started another business on the side and set up two fishing camps that would accommodate about six people each". The idea took off so well that he eventually had 10 fly-in camps and was flying from 6 a.m. till well past dark He smiles and says, "We had no landing lights then, either you know!" See 'Fly' P.# Con't from P.# In about 1983 interest rates started to soar and things began to slow down and Bob said, "People just couldn't afford to fly like they had". However, the fishing camps were not affected at all because 99% of the business was Americans and they weren't affected by Canada's economic problems. So, business wise Parson's had lots of flying hours. However, in about 1989 Bob decided to shut down Parson's for many reasons but kept the fly-in camps. He still had ten camps. Later he sold that business to his son Craig who is also a pilot. When asked when he thought he'd retire, Bob smilingly said, "The day they carry me out of here will by my retirement day!" Bob says that, "Life as a bush pilot was not a dull life, and I have had many incredible experiences". I asked him if he would talk about some of his close calls and he related these: "One winter in about 1951, it wasn't too cold here but I had to go to the north end of Reindeer Lake to pick up a load of fish. When I got there the wind was bitterly cold, blowing across the lake. One of the fisherman asked if I had room for passengers and I reluctantly agreed. A man, a woman and a little girl came on board. "We took off and we were about 50 miles from camp when I started experiencing engine trouble, so I landed on a lake to try and find out what was wrong. When I landed I discovered a steady stream of oil coming out of the air cooler and I realized that we were completely out of oil. This was 'game over' and we had to do something right away or freeze to death. So I moved everything to the nearest shore which was about 300 yards away. Got the engine cover for shelter. We only had one sleeping bag, so I gave it to the woman and child. The man happened to have a jug of whiskey that kept him warm and of no use to me or anyone else. "We were there for four days and three nights and all I could do was keep cutting wood to keep the fire going. I had to stay awake to prevent us from freezing to death, by making sure the fire didn't go out. "Finally Parsons sent a plane looking for us. They thought I was alone and could manage by myself, which I could have but my concern was for the little girl. So they didn't send a search plane sooner. "That little girl was so brave, she never cried. She was only two years old and her name is Marcia Johnson. "I had a lot of forced landings, so Parsons never worried about me!" he laughed. Bob recounted another time when he was with Hudson Bay Transport up by the Mackenzie Pass in the Northern Yukon. "There is what is known as 'the point of no return' which meant that there comes a time when you either turn back or keep going but there is only so much fuel. "Late in March I had to get this cook up to the camp and after I passed the point of no return, they radioed me that the runway had melted, I still had skis on my plane so I didn't know what was going to happen. "When we landed, the plane was absolutely covered in mud, the poor cook got out of the plane, headed for camp without even looking back or saying a word. The next time I saw him the cook's hair was snow white," Bob laughed. See 'Trip' P.# Con't from P.# During another trip Bob landed on a glacier when going to MacKenzie Pass. However, he said there was "a huge crack on the glacier and I didn't notice it until I was almost on top of it. I had to gun the plane to jump over it". Another time Bob got a call that there was a girl very sick in a camp in the mountains in British Columbia and they actually thought she may have polio. "I had to fly in a narrow passage and when coming out the visibility was gone because of the snow, my only reference was a little river below us, as I kept circling hoping for a clearing . The thoughts that were going through my mind where that my insurance was paid up, and I thought of my wife and daughter. Finally I caught a glimpse of light as the snow began to clear and I managed to get out of the pass. As it turned out the girl didn't have polio either Ð just a high fever." What an exciting life and also what a fantastic memory, Bob. Thanks so much for sharing these interesting stories with us.
