The tradition of bush pilots in the Central Adirondacks is a solid one. With pilots like Jim and Tom Payne and Buster and Don Bird wearing the mantle in recent times, the history goes back to 1926 with the arrival of Harold “Scotty” Scott of Syracuse who began flying then and formally opened his flying service in Inlet in 1929. He eventually moved his base to Eagle Bay and stopped flying in 1945. He later started a restaurant and gift shop in Inlet.

Merrill Phoenix began hanging around the Syracuse airport in 1927 and soloed in 1928. He joined Van Auken’s and Brussel’s Eagle Bay Seaplane Base here before spending the next several decades as an international pilot and finally starting his own Inlet-based service. Bud Windhausen started flying in 1930 at age 11 and had a distinguished career as a pilot before taking over Scott’s Eagle Bay service in 1945. His brother Chuck was also a pilot and flew for the service.

Phil Ellsworth flew hunting parties from Big Moose into Canada. He later owned the Poughkeepsie airport. Harold Van Auken didn’t fly, but with his partner Al Brussel—who flew a little—they started their plane service purely as a business venture. Harry “Stub” Weedmark flew with Ellsworth and Scott before he went on his own.

Scott, Phoenix, Windhausen and Brussel recorded their memories of flying for the Town of Webb Historical Association in 1952. In his remarks Windhausen tells of flying a party of hunters into Beaver River Flow in 1949. While there, one man was accidentally shot in the head and was in critical condition. Windhausen called the Inlet Ambulance and then flew Dr. Lindsay of Old Forge in to care for the injured man who was then flown out to the waiting ambulance. The hunter recovered in a Utica hospital thanks, at least in part, to the timely response.

The record shows, and most bush pilots of the Central Adirondacks agree, that the risk of fatal disaster has been, and is, low. While there have been some fatal and near disasters, the number is statistically insignificant. Nevertheless, such events make sensational photos and new clips.