Wisdom from 95-Year-Old Alaska Bush Pilot | Ron Hayes Interview
Wisdom from 95-Year-Old Alaska Bush Pilot | Ron Hayes Interview
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Today, we sit down with Ron Hayes, a 95-year-old Alaska bush pilot with nearly 70 years of flying experience. In this episode, Ron shares his incredible stories and invaluable knowledge about bush flying in Alaska. From guiding polar bear hunts in the Arctic to flying through dangerous conditions during the Cold War, Ron’s tales are nothing short of legendary.
We dive deep into his early years of learning to bush fly in the rugged Alaskan terrain, mastering STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) techniques in Cessna and Super Cub planes. Ron recounts hair-raising experiences like landing on steep slopes, performing STOL takeoffs and landings in narrow canyons, wrecking super cubs and float planes, running out of fuel over the Bering Sea at night, and getting caught in bad weather.
Ron also talks about his mentor, Lee Holland, and the critical lessons he learned about mountain flying, slow flight, and off-airport operations. Hear about his harrowing encounters with the Russian military during the Cold War, his expertise in polar bear hunting, and how he navigated through low visibility conditions with early navigation technology.
If you’re passionate about flying, bush planes, Alaska’s rich history, or want to learn how to fly a plane and land in extreme places, this episode is for you. Join us as Ron Hayes shares his wisdom, captivating stories, and the realities of being an Alaska bush pilot.
🔑 **Keywords:** airplane, plane, Cessna, Super Cub, flying, STOL, STOL takeoff, STOL landings and takeoffs, bush plane, bush pilot, bush flying, pilot, how to fly a plane, Alaska, Alaska Bush Pilot, Alaska History, Cold War, hunting, polar bear hunting, slow flight, off-airport, airplane crash, flying IFR, Alaska.
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#BushFlying #AlaskaBushPilot #STOL #PolarBearHunting #ColdWar #SuperCub #Cessna #Aviation #Flying #PilotStories #AlaskaHistory
when i was a kid i used to walk up hill both ways in the snow in palm springs calif in the summer. yup shore did. or was it downhill both ways being chased by rattle snakes. been a while.
Alaskan pride! Real simple!😉👍
Thanks for the Adventure Ron !!!
Do more with him soon. Cover more topics!
Wow! Absolutely could not stop watching. So much good stuff!
Man it’s so good to hear an old timer talk about my grandpa I’ve kinda only heard stories about him from my dad my grandpa is Nelson walker
Yup, Mr. Affraid of heights <— is back for another badass podcast!
I start the video thinking I’ll watch half this evening and half tomorrow……. Before I know it video is at the end and wishing it was longer. Just awesome, thanks for putting these videos together and sharing them, I can’t get enough!
True Legend! Long Live Ron! Most Respects
The career this dude had is the ultimate adventure… good uninterupted interview , thanks, plus he had to please high end clients…
Requesting your opinion Mr. Hayes: if a person obtained their CPL and float rating, do you think it is realistically possible to fly the bush as a commercial pilot at a more advanced age of 60-65 years old, and beyond?
(This, of course, being able to keeping their FAA medical valid).
Amazing interview, please get Ron back on.
I was at a bar in Talkeetna AK in Dec 1980 sitting next to a tipsy bush pilot who described polar bear hunting in Russia. He would declare May Day May Day and land and collect the bear. One time flying back just feet above the ocean, he was in a white out with the client in the back of the Super Cub with the head and skin. The client panicked and tried to climb in the front and grab control of the plane. The pilot had to fight him off. They ended up breaking a side window. The cold sub zero air froze the moisture on his eyes. The client calmed down and they stuffed a sleeping bag in the window and were able to continue back.
And just a few weeks ago I was camping at the Page Springs Rec Site near French Glen Oregon and met another bush pilot. He had flown in AK for 26 years and was now the campground host. He talked my ears off after he found out that I had owned a Cessna 120.
I worked for Ron in 1994 as my first job as an A&P. Quite an experience, and he helped secure a job after working for him. And what a character! He always had great stories could out work most at the lodge. Great to see he is still going strong.
To live to 95 is something, to look that good and be that alert is incredible. Great guest.
Love these stories ❤️ keep em coming 🎉
I’ve had a low opinion of Ron Hayes for 53 years; but of course I forgive him now. On Sept 9, 1971 I flew my Aeronca Champ w/ 85 hp continental down to the Gerstle River. I intended to go sheep hunting, solo. I wasn’t very experienced and only 20 y.o. I saw sheep on the adjacent mountains, so I looked for a place to land. I saw a flat gravel bar and could see the vague outline of airplane tracks, so I lined up and attempted to land. I overshot the end of the gravel bar and ended up below the landing surface in small alders and big rocks and boulders. I luckily had landed upstream or otherwise I would have gone into the river! I wasn’t sure what I was going to do because even with full power the airplane wouldn’t move an inch in the bigger boulders and rocks. Ron Hayes flew over me, turned and landed and he walked down to where I was standing by my plane. "What are you doing here?" I explained I was going sheep hunting but overshot the runway. He told me it was a private strip- but I told him I knew this was public land and not private (a gravel bar along the side of the Gerstle River). He said it was his strip and to not use it. Then he said if I leave the plane there, tied down, I might find sugar in my fuel tank. I told him I would shoot anybody who put sugar in my fuel. The last thing Ron said was "Tie your plane down real good because 70 mph winds come up during the night!". He turned and walked off, got in his plane and left me there stranded with my plane in the bushes below the strip. Ron’s supercub had a green "greenhouse" over the cockpit and I was in awe of his plane. I managed to get my plane back up on the gravel bar by rolling rocks out of the way, cutting brush with a small saw, and using the power of the empennage as a long lever with lots of muscle. I gradually walked it up the slope back onto the gravel bar taking several hours. I rested a bit, and flew back home to Phillips Field in Fairbanks glad to be able to get out of there. But I always felt Ron Hayes should have helped me get out of my pickle but I did feel pretty proud that I figured it out myself. I no longer hold a grudge against Ron Hayes!
Great stories. I worked with an old non-licensed bush pilot yrs ago.
So glad I have been In Alaska past 43 years, and flown with some of the best bush pilots on earth! Real simple!😉👍
I flew Beavers for Ron Hayes at Alaska Rainbow Lodge from 2001 through 2018 when he sold the lodge. Continued on at the lodge another 5 years. Ron is the real deal. We are good friends to this day. I got the job by showing up and having a fly off between me and another pilot. Ron flew ith us both, then had me fly the other guy to King Salmon!
To much talk about animals need more talk about flying
This is the most epic interview I have ever listened to! Ron keeps the laughter rolling, and just when you think you’ve regained yourself, he adds another layer and ya lose it again. What a life. I aspire to experience a tenth of what he’s experienced. I’m not afraid to wreck my plane Ron!!
What a treasure!
Fascinating!
A lots of us. Flying cubs in Alaska Learned something from Ron
He’s so right about having a mentor
I’ve talked with him several times but this video was just awesome
I read some of the comment
No doubt he is a legend
Not knowing one time
I was looking at buying a PA 14
Looks at the book and sure enough Ron owned it way back
I called him and told him he started telling me stories after stories about that airplane
You’d listen to him without interrupting him
He’s remember everything
Amazing human being
I was born in the wrong generation
Trophy hunting churns my stomach.
I was in a Super Cub "wreck" / crash landing with Ron back in the late 80’s. Ron is a legend. He has a book manuscript – he just needs a publisher – just imagine this interview but in written format. The things he’s seen, done and experienced will probably never be duplicated.
One of the most enjoyable interviews that I have had the opportunity to listen to in a long time. Remarkable gentleman with the wisdom that can’t be saved for others to follow. What a shame we have to learn from personal experience what this person has learned and accomplished during his wonderful lifetime of events.
nice video THANKS
HF in a Super Cub?!!? Wow. Oceanic jets use HF to communicate to land.
This spring I was flying a wheel ski contract and a coworker and I bought some Pilot bread out of curiosity.
After choking our way through the first piece we swore we’d never touch the stuff again.
But, curiosity would bring us back and we’d choke down another.
By the end of the box, we were both quite enjoying it and would have a couple pieces each evening. Butter helped it, but wasn’t required. Some sort of liquid was.
I suspect our enjoyment of the miserable stuff was actually some pilot phycology mashup of Sunk Cost Fallacy and Stockholm Syndrome.
Great interview. Priceless knowledge to be absorbed. Thanks for doing these long-form interviews and for just letting these guys talk. Great stuff.
An old, bold pilot 😎 🎉
Thanks for sharing!
There will never be another Ron Hayes in this world. If his name doesn’t mean anything to you then you aren’t much of an Alaskan single engine pilot, big game hunter or adventurer. He looks and reflects like a man in his mid 70s.
Hunting bears from an airplane is hardly a sport.
95? looks like, talks like, moves like 75 years old. What’s his secret?
He’s still sharp lol “ wait this was supposed to be about the airplane wreck…” “🤚🏻it’s comin.”
Lucky to fly with original owner of k2 Jim Okenak and Lowell Thomas Jr and many other great Alaskan bush pilots here in Alaska! Priceless!😉👍
There was probably a lot of praying going on in some of these planes, great interview, I would like to hear his guiding of famous people,I’ve seen a pic of him with Steve McQueen..
This channel is going to end up making me buy a plane, I swear.
As a longtime Alaskan who has flown around AK with great pilots over the years, this is freaking priceless interview!😉👍
The low-frequency radio range, also known as the four-course radio range, was the main navigation system used by aircraft for instrument flying in the 1930s and 1940s. It was eventually replaced by the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) in the late 1940s and was used for en route navigation, instrument approaches, and holds.
I could talk to this guy all day the slowest I ever got was 45 knots on a 172 XP with a Horton stall kit😅
Ron Hayes That Name is special I remember my year of flying Bristol Bay 1990 to 2003 as a Beaver Pilot Guide A&P Flight instructor my best job was with Bill Simms 5 years working for Bill was Great.
Ron was an artist with a PA-18, no doubt. The airplane was a tool to achieve an end, and Ron sure knew how to use it.
I worked for Ron back in the 80s and was lucky enough to fly with him almost every day. Wonderful pilot and story teller.
Great interview and content, i love to hunt and have been in Hunting in Alaska several times and when you can reach out to a Owner Guide Named Sam Fiejies Names Fejes Guide Services LTD from Cordova Alaska, he’s flown me into some interesting paces to hunt Moose and Mountain Goats, you would get a great interview with over 35 years of home as a guide outfitter flying his Super cubs and Beavers. We landed on a glacier with my wife and it was a Beautiful experience. Keep up the great content and mush success with your seat cove business. I have been a helicopter pilot for 24 years and got my fixed wing 4 years ago and decided to but a carbon Cub and love to fly it. Thanks Maurice Cayon
Fantastic episode, love these oldtimer stories… the best!