Flying Overloaded: Adventures of a Canadian Arctic Pilot

Donald F. Hamilton

There’s a saying that flying consists of hours and hours of absolute boredom - interspersed by moments of stark terror... Flying Overloaded offers a series of remarkable stories about flying in the Arctic in the pioneering days of early bush pilots, braving brutal Arctic conditions, with barely any navigational equipment, in the dark with blowing snow, minus 60 degree temperatures and most of it in a single engine aircraft. The book tells of Don's experiences flying for various companies, including training pilots on the DC-3 in the early days of Buffalo Airways. It also tells of supply trips in his own aircraft to his two fly-in companies, High Arctic Lodge (the world’s most northernly sportfishing and hunting lodge) and DAL Aviation, a charter service based on Victoria Island in Nunavut. These trips were exciting; more so since he overloaded most of the time and flew in bad weather simply because there was no other choice.