Chuck Sassara

BORN: Oct. 11, 1930
BIRTHPLACE: Detroit, Michigan
SOLOED: 26 years old
MARRIED: 1953, to Ann Baackes
FAVORITE AIRCRAFT: Turbo charged Cessna 195

It was supposed to be a routine flight.

Chuck Sassara had planned a flight into Anchorage to have a radio installed in one of his planes. His friend, Dave Fitzwater, came along. The weather looked good and they thought it would be a quick jaunt into town.

Sassara was flying tight against the mountainside through Merrill Pass, following the shoreline along the south side of Chakachamna Lake. All of a sudden, snow began falling hard and fast and Sassara had to make a life or death decision. He executed three 180-degree turns. Considered the 50-plus wrecked aircraft littering the Pass. It was time to put the plane down on the snow-covered surface of the lake—not an ideal landing.

"The prop was bent, left wing tip was mangled," Sassara recalled of the fateful 1976 day.

The duo waited six days in the wild before being rescued. On Jan. 24, 1976, The Miami Herald wrote about the incident—the headline read: "Downed Pilot Burns Tires to Lead Rescuers to Plane."  

Though the event was traumatic, Sassara can joke about it now. He said on the way back the rescue team asked the pair what they ate while waiting.

"Chakachamna chicken soup," Sassara said. "That's where you put some snow into a Sunny Jim peanut butter can, imagine yourself adding a piece of chicken, bring it to a brisk boil and drink it quickly before the illusion fades."

It's a story Sassara has shared many a time—it's even on the second page of his memoir, Chuck Sassara's Alaska: Propellers, Politics & People. Sassara's book also shares stories of living in Alaska in the early years of statehood, remote flights and his political past.

CATCHING THE FLYING BUG

If you look at Sassara's formative years, it's not a surprise he had high-flying and adventurous aspirations.

Sassara was born in Detroit, but his family moved to Los Angeles within his first year of life. By the time he graduated college (University of California, Los Angeles) he'd moved with his family several times.

Sassara's first taste of the sky came in 1936 at age 6. He and his 3-year-old brother rode in the back seat of a "tandem something or other" and clung to each other as the aircraft zoomed around downtown Miami. The short ride cost $3—equivalent to about $52 in 2016.  

It was his second trip in an airplane that determined his future, though. In 1940, Sassara, his brother and mother flew to Havana, Cuba, en route to Panama where his dad was working.

To get there, they took a four engine Sikorsky flying boat operated by Pan American Airways. To board it, the family had to walk out the gangway, then through a hatch in the fuselage and down a ladder to the main cabin. Once seated, Sassara looked out the window and realized the water was at eye level.

"I was hooked," Sassara said. "As the captain poured on the power, water was flying everywhere.Then we slowly began rising to the surface with black and blue smoke and fire belching out of the engines. How could a 9-year-old not imagine himself a pilot after riding in that?"

In college Sassara learned to fly in a Luscombe, but most of his lessons were at night to accommodate the rest of his schedule. In addition to being a full-time student, he was also employed at RAND Corporation, tasked with figuring out how to defend the United States from an attack by the Soviet air force.

At RAND he also met a fellow researcher who'd just returned from a trip to Alaska. He told Sassara grand stories about the state's natural beauty, abundance of fish and game and the vast, roadless territory. Sassara decided he'd go to simply "take a look" after graduation.

He and his wife, Ann, took off for Alaska in a 1954 Volkswagen bus and his parents followed soon after in the family pickup truck. It took two weeks for Sassara and his wife to reach Alaska, thanks to rough roads, numerous flat tires and one broken axle.

Soon after arriving in Anchorage, he walked into the Pacific Northern Airline terminal office and introduced himself. He told the station manager that he'd just graduated from college, knew how to fly and was looking for a job. He was hired to help out at the counter, writing tickets and checking in passengers.

That was just the beginning of what would become a long career in aviation.

FINDING A HOME IN ALASKA

Two months after arriving in Alaska, his mother bought a small lodge on Big Lake with 3,000 feet of water frontage.

"The timing was good," Sassara said. "Big Lake was a rough 80-mile drive from Anchorage, but it was only a 20-minute flight and had become a magnet for a growing number of fledgling pilots looking to try their new wings away from the close supervision and confinement of the city."

Sassara made friends with a number of pilots who allowed him to try out their planes.

One day, when Sassara had just returned from a long drive home from Anchorage, he asked his mother how her day was over coffee.

"She said, 'Funny thing happened today. I bought an airplane,'" Sassara recalled.

It was an Aeronca 15 AC Sedan, a big, roomy aircraft, perfect for the whole family. Because the plane was financed, the bank required its pilot to have insurance. To get the insurance, Sassara needed to obtain a land endorsement—he was only a single engine sea pilot at the time.

"For the next three years I practically lived in the Sedan, polishing my skills while flying throughout Alaska," Sassara said.

In 1960, the family sold the lodge and Sassara leased a lot in Merrill Field to open Airport Auto Sales, selling cars, trucks and airplanes. But he wasn't satisfied with just being a business owner—he wanted to help shape Alaska's future, too.

It wasn't until after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that Sassara made his decision to run for a seat in the House of Representatives. Because he had little knowledge of how to run for office, he decided to write a position paper to create University of Alaska Anchorage. While it was met with much opposition, he ran a successful campaign. He was sworn into office in January 1965, along with his best friend and fellow UCLA grad, Ted Stevens.

He continued as a businessman and pilot, though.

Sassara acquired Christianson Air Service, an air taxi based in Bethel. After selling, he went to work for Wilbur Air on Merrill Field and later took over the Piper dealership. In 1978, he built a home in Girdwood and started Airlift Alaska. Not long after, he sold it and created Alyeska Air Service. He spent the next 30 years showing tourists, tour operators and movie crews aerial views of the Last Frontier.

In the past few years Sassara has been busy writing and promoting his new book—sharing his stories of a life spent circling in the air.

This story first appeared in the 2016 edition of Alaska Aviation Legends Magazine, a partner publication with Alaska Air Carriers Association. Contact the editor, Jamie Gonzales, at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.