What is a bush pilot?

Question

What is a bush pilot?

Answer 1

'Bush pilot' is a word coined by American pilots and you've already received many answers from your side of the 'big pond.' I am only a bit sad that, among the great bush pilots, only Americans are quoted here. French aviation pioneers like Mermoz and Guillaumet should also be mentionned.

In the country where I live and fly - Norway - we are also proud of our bush pilots but, perhaps of another type. My cousin who works for Eurocontrol in Brussels tells me that no other country than Norway has so many commercial small airfields. The reason is; the socialist government of the after-war period who decided that communications must exist to the most remote corners of the country.

Since then and flying Canadian beautiful aircraft like the Twin Otter, 'bush pilots' have connected those tiny runways at the bottom of the deep fjords of the far north in any kind of weather. Those are people who really know their 'short field' technique.

Answer 2

ITS A FLYING MONKEY IN THE SKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

I would think it is someone who is a pilot of a bush plane.  A Cessna 406 is bush plane.

Answer 4

Bush flying is a term for air operations carried out in remote, inhospitable regions of the world. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain, frequently necessitating bush planes be equipped with tundra tires, floats, or skis. This type of flying, combined with unpredictable weather and distance from help means that bush pilots have to be very resourceful to be successful, or all too frequently, just to stay alive. Given all these elements, bush flying has entered the world of aviation and popular culture as a rugged, romantic lifestyle that combines elements of great beauty and independence with constant danger.

Bush flying as it is known today originated in the Alaskan North. With no roads and many small, isolated communities air transport was the ideal method to open up the North. Originally started to provide logistics like food, medicine, and mail to northern communities, bush operations grew rapidly to support mining interests as well as climbing, canoeing, and hiking. Bush flying is the primary method of access across the Canadian and Alaskan tundra, the Australian Outback and to the African Sahara.

Bush pilots must fend for themselves because they are so far from help. Critical skills range from survival skills like trapping and shelter-building, to mechanical skills for airplane repair. The life-and-death nature of bush flying also means that bush pilots frequently resort to untested methods for accomplishing the job. Whether this means repairing an airplane engine with duct tape or landing a floatplane on snow, the result is that many common aviation practices are pioneered in bush flying. It also results in frequent accidents, as evidenced by the fact that even today Alaska records the highest percent of aviation accidents in the United States.

Bush flying has attracted many of the world's most famous aviators such as Punch Dickins, w*p May, Cliff Hudson, Don Sheldon and Beryl Markham, whose pioneering exploits helped push back the frontiers on some of the most inhospitable parts of the world.

Answer 5

A bush pilot one that flies to unpaved runways, and very rural areas per se. They' mostly fly VFR, and are known for common scud running, to get below clouds.

Mr Obama lover,keep politics out of here, this is the aircraft category

Answer 6

Bush pilots fly "out in the bush," which generally means undeveloped or slightly developed areas of the world.  Bush flying is usually based on small aircraft, but not always.  When we flew our C-118, which is a 4-engine propeller cargo airplane in the Alaskan back country, we were called "bush pilots" too.

It can be very hazardous and adventurous, and requires extra skills beyond ordinary commercial flying.  It can also be very beautiful and exciting.  And it can be the only way to get to some of these very remote areas.

Answer 7

Bush pilots are people who fly people and cargo in light aircraft to remote areas that are inaccessible by road. they fly VFR, frequently in bad weather. Most successful bush pilots have mastered the art of "scud running" which is the delicate balance of staying beneath a cloud layer and not hitting the ground. They often operate "off-airport", landing on beaches, gravel bars, tundra and frozen lakes. Many bush pilots tend to wear wool shirts.

Bush flying is very common in Alaska, Canada, Africa, and some parts of South America.

Answer 8

a pilot who has crashed into the bushes so many times no one lets him near an airplane anymore so now he just flies the bushes instead of the aircraft !

George W. is a good example, he only flies when he sits on the real pilots lap and then makes extremely extremely bold statements about a war that is not yet even half-won.

Be careful some may try to tell you its a guy who lands and takes off where there is little/no landing strip prepared to conduct flying services to remote, unpopulated areas of the world for limted numbers of passengers, and with smaller aircraft.

Answer 9

A pilot who flies into unpopulated areas, such as Canada or Alaska or the mountains and forest of any country.