Goosed!

A memorable experience of flying a highly original Grumman Goose − tricky to taxi and somewhat laborious on the water but a benign and fun-to-fly machine in the air

- Nick Lee

Some time ago, on one of my working trips to Anchorage, I got talking to the guys at the Commemorative Air Force Alaska Wing about the possibly of flying in one of their aircraft. On my visit to their hangar I met one of the pilots who flies for them, Burke Mees, who mentioned that he also flew a Grumman Goose for the owner and was able to conduct instructional flights.

It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, so I promised myself that, come another trip to Anchorage with good weather, I’d get it organised with Burke to take a flight. The stars aligned with my July roster and plans were made. I was operating a flight in from Tokyo that landed at 0430 Anchorage time so Burke arranged to pick me up at the hotel at 0845 to go to the hangar at Lake Hood. That timing worked perfectly for me as my body clock was still on UK time, any later in the day and I’d be wanting to sleep. The weather was perfect, little wind and unusually warm as Anchorage was experiencing a heat wave with temperatures predicted around 30°. The only issue was poor visibility due to a large number of forest fires in the area.