Ron Bowes - Flying Hero
In our little corner of the world there are
commercial bush pilots with outstanding accomplishments.
What makes them unique is that you never hear
them boast. They go about their business in a quiet unassuming
way, never making undue noise. What is sad about this is that
most of these air warriors are either retired or now deceased
or near their last flying days, yet nobody seems to take advantage
of their abilities, experiences, and valuable flying skills.
Once retired they are not searched out or recognized for their
accomplishments. They take all of that valuable information with
them to their graves.
What makes these unique pilots rise above the
rest is their ability to recognize and understand the limitations
of aircraft ability and performance, weather and topography,
and safety. None of these factors are ever compromised, ever.
Their skills allow them to operate at the top end of the limitations,
in that narrow fine line that allows them to operate efficiently,
safely, and successfully.
In my lifetime, I was fortunate enough to meet
many of these people, and proud to call them “friend.” One
such man is a Beaver pilot named Ronny Bowes.
Ronny lives in Renfrew County on a farm near
Douglas, Ontario, with his wife Karine. He is now retired as
a commercial pilot. Ronny still flies and operates his own private
airplane and still making precise landings on his self made airstrip
on his property.
Ronny Bowes ran the float plane operation out
of Rapides Des Joachims, Que, (“SWISHA”) for years.
He was and still is an institution there. Along with his flying
chores, he was chief pilot, base manager, and the AME (aeronautical
maintenance engineer). This guy did everything, and remember – no
compromises!!
Ronny began his humble beginnings as an aerial
fire detection pilot based in “Swisha” and graduated
to a Beaver pilot, and then to chief everything. During this
period this man accumulated thousands of flying hours (20,000)
I believe. Most of them flown in a Beaver called CF-ODA. Can
you imagine the rapport this man had with that aircraft. He speaks
of it with reverence still. CF-ODA was constantly tuned, improved
on, and kept immaculately clean throughout their association.
Here are a few interesting statistics: If you
convert the number of flying hours this man has to an 8:00 hour
working day this amounts to 7 years in the air in the same airplane!!
Another statistic – most of these hours were flown in Western
Quebec, and all flown never further than 50 miles from home!
What accomplishments!
There are many other incredible stories about
this man performing his functions as an AME in the Arctic. Whenever
the company he was working for found themselves in need of a
loyal, no nonsense, ingenious individual to recover a downed
aircraft in the land of no forgiveness – they called on
Ronny Bowes a man that get's the job done. Someday the stories
about his Arctic exploits should be told. Some are blood chilling,
and life threatening. But he got the job done, and saved these
companies bundles of dollars in the process.
In closing this short story of a long novel.
Here are some of my personal descriptions of this man:
Ron Bowes – a man of God, a family man, an environmentalist,
a nature lover, artifact collector, insatiable appetite for meaningful
work, but mostly his simple approach to everything complicated.
Ronny lives by this creed: If you can make it – don't buy
it. If you can grow it – don't buy it. If you can pick
it from nature – don't buy it.
Ronny Bowes -- a man among men that would make all parents proud
to have their children emulate and look up to.
