Pilots And Posterity

The allure of backcountry flying in Maine has long been irresistible to certain pilots, some of whom go on to become its storytellers, writing of the lifestyle in works of fiction and nonfiction.

The nonfiction genre is the realm of Jake Morrel, an engineering school graduate turned math teacher turned bush pilot and Maine lodge operator, who captures the Maine aviation scene in selected anecdotes from the 20,000 flight hours of Gary Dumond, a Maine Warden Service pilot who learned his craft from legends of the Maine flying scene.

In Gary Dumond Remembers Maine Warden Pilots, the reader follows the flying career of a Fort Kent, Maine, native who flew a Piper PA–11 above the North Woods as a high-schooler, and logged 1,400 hours as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam before returning to Maine to become a warden pilot and learn bush pilot skills from renowned figures including Dick Folsom and Andy Stinson—two names that would be essential entries in any historical account of aviation in Maine.

This is not the first aviation-themed effort by Morrel, whose life in Maine flying began when he was teaching math and physics at a school next to an airstrip (with the catchy name of Poverty Flats) from which he flew a 1946 Taylorcraft. Morrel would go on to tow banners and work as a flight instructor before quitting teaching and getting hired on to his dream job with Folsom, flying floatplanes into the North Woods from Moosehead Lake in Greenville, Maine.

His book was preceded by publication of Hardscrabble Lodge: True Maine Bush Flying Stories, an account of the Maine bush pilot’s lifestyle centered on the project Morrel and his wife Beth took on to reconstruct an “old set of logging camps” as a fly-in sporting camp.

Morrel is also the author of Dick Folsom: Bush Pilot, A Legend Reflects, recounting the founding and history of Folsom’s Air Service, which—long before roads reached remote corners of the deep Maine woods—provided unique access to the wilderness for those with a thirst for peace and solitude or wilderness adventure.

Written by Dan Namowitz - Associate Editor Web

Associate Editor Web Dan Namowitz has been writing for AOPA in a variety of capacities since 1991. He has been a flight instructor since 1990 and is a 30-year AOPA member.