Far North Rambles #28: Chopper 0/5: Part 1

There are many places across the far north where fixed wing aircraft on floats cannot land. There may be no lakes or the lakes may be too small or too shallow. In those cases, we used a helicopter, or chopper, to get around. It was generally accepted that during a chopper project, you would spend an unscheduled night in the bush because the chopper needed repairs and was unable to do the end-of-day pick up.

Especially when working with a chopper, it was standard practice to take emergency food and camp gear in the event the chopper could not pick us up. But it was a really hot summer and we began to leave the emergency supplies at base camp to reduce weight on our backs and in the chopper.

At the end of one long hot day, we assembled at the pick up location. There was always joyful chatter. What did you see? Any animals? Looking forward to dinner. We waited for pick up….and waited….and waited. By 7 PM, our work chatter shifted to speculation. “Wonder what is going on with the chopper?” “Who brought emergency food?”

Just before 8 PM, we heard an aircraft engine. It was an Otter aircraft. “They can’t land that here, what are they doing?” “Something must be wrong with the chopper!” We stood at the pick-up site and waved as the Otter flew over. The pilot saw us, dipped his wings, and gently banked to fly back over us.

We were excited. “They are going to drop food.” “No, they will drop a food AND a tent.” “No, they will drop food, a tent, mosquito coils, and fresh water.” “What a great aircraft company.”

To our dismay, on the second pass, we saw that only the co-pilot’s window was open. “What, no open cargo door? No food, tent, or water?” The person in the copilot’s seat held a small white object in his hand. He threw it clear of the floats. The propeller wash tossed it like a feather in a hurricane. It instantly started to unroll and turned into long and short streamers. It was a roll of toilet paper! We ran to where we expected the shredded toilet paper ribbons to land. Some streamers got hung up on the trees. Some drifted out of sight. Some actually made it to the ground. We gathered up what we could find. If you can’t have food, a tent, mosquito coils, or water, toilet paper was the next best thing.

We paused, looked at each other, and Bob said “they are nice, but not that nice. Why toilet paper?” John, who was the seasoned person said “there must be a message in the tube. Who picked up got the cardboard tube from the centre of the roll?” Silence. None of us. After all, the tube was of limited value when you consider the purpose of toilet paper! We dropped our toilet paper streamers and dashed back in search of the grand prize - the tiny brown tube. I have no idea how, but Bob found it on the muskeg. Sure enough, inside the tube was a piece of paper with a message on it. With great anticipation, we huddled around as Bob read the message: “chopper 0/5 - have a good night”.

John translated “well, we are going to spend an unscheduled night in the bush.”

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Andy Fyon, August 7, 2020