Excerpt by Steve Levi-
Ferguson began the conversation in his own inimitable style: “Nome Radio, Nome Radio. This is Cessna Two Zero Seven Six Six. Gosh it’s startin’ to rain up here! Looks like some awful dirty stuff ahead! Gimme yer weather in the clear!”
Mindful that the only authorized chatter on the radio was for an emergency, the operator asked innocently: “Cessna Two Zero Seven Six Six, do you declare this an emergency?”
“Yer darn right,” snapped Archie into his microphone, “Any time I’m in the air it’s an emergency!”
In addition to being a pilot, Ferguson was also a successful entrepreneur. He and his brother built a sawmill and operated a handful of trading posts near Kotzebue. They also started and operated a mink farm, built and operated the first movie house in the Arctic, brought the first automobile [an International pickup] above the Circle and imported the first cow and motorcycle.
But of all his escapades, Ferguson is probably best known for what is called the “Arctic Bump.” For Archie, there was no such thing as a trip without excitement; even if he had to create that excitement himself. Flying between Kotzebue and Nome, as an example, he had to cross the Arctic Circle. When Ferguson crossed over that theoretical line he would sometimes cut the gas to the engine.
“We’re cumin’ ta the Arctic Circle!” he would shout excitedly as he secretly reached for the gas line switch. “Ya can’t see it but ya’ll sure know when we hit it. The engine’ll quit! There’s no air in that darn circle for eight hundred feet!”
Then he’d cut the gas line and the plane would go into a steep nose dive. Passengers would shriek and cry in terror as the plane plunged hundreds of feet. When he’d had enough fun, Archie would re-open the gas line and re-start the prop.
The man who popularized the Arctic Bump commercially was Fred Goodwin. Although he never turned his engine off to frighten his passengers, while flying for Wien he would “push it over and give the tourist the same sensation as when they went over the top of a roller coaster.” But he flashed the seat belt sign first to make sure everyone was strapped in.
For more on Archie Ferguson and his antics see –The Alaska Gold Rush-Secrets of the History Steve Levi’s Author page.