Sky Angels - OFFICIAL FILM (2024)

Have you ever heard that famous quote? Love your enemies, do good, expect nothing in return, and your reward will be great. Well, out here in California, not many people like us bush pilots. Just 30 miles north of Santa Barbara is what some would consider the edge of the map. This is a story about how sometimes the edge of the map gets cut off. Growing up here, I just fell in love with the place. My great-grandfather came here after his wife died in Bozeman, Montana, and he joined the rest of his family, which was a colony here. And so that's how I got involved with this. I've been coming here since I was a kid, and I didn't know anything else. The land sat here after my grandfather moved out in the 20s. They had to move out because everyone else moved out. Big drought came, and there was pretty much the colony was dying. The children weren't staying. They're moving down to Santa Maria. We had sold some property below us to a sculptor named John Cody. One day, some friends of mine were in our Jeep, and Felicia Cody was in town talking to this girl. We stopped, talked to her, and it was like, who's that? She goes back to this girl as we leave, and that girl asks, who's that? Turned out to be her. And that, that was how it all started. I thought, we have this land, why not build something on it? From that day on, it was just gathering rocks, concrete, rebar, you name it. It was a long journey. It was like 20 years. My wife and I would go around to different sails, you know, ranch sails, different places, grabbing things like, oh, for the mountain house, you know. Every hour that we could get up here to build on this place, we were here. And it got to a point where we hated going back to the valley. The first year was definitely an adjustment for me, because I'm way more social than Brian. I left all of that, and I left my profession that I had for 35 years. So it was a big adjustment for me, but it was so positive on so many levels that I just feel like I have roots here deeper than any place I've ever lived. After Thanksgiving, it starts to rain, and we got trapped for a little bit before the road could dry up and I could get out. December, we were trapped a little bit, and then January 9th came. The National Weather Service in Santa Barbara has issued evacuation orders for Santa Barbara County. A flash flood warning is now in effect for San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Kern Counties in Central California as of 2.30 p.m. Pacific time. Residents in these areas should take immediate precautions and follow local evacuation orders. Today, the entire county of Santa Barbara is experiencing the effects of a very complex series of storms. There are multiple areas under evacuation orders, and we need the public's adherence to these orders as we expect additional high-intensity rainfall in the overnight hours. I never heard of a cyclone bomb before, you know. Big storm is what I knew about, but they called it a cyclone bomb. And it rained. It came down just like a fire hose. It was crazy. I'm pacing the house back and forth, looking out the back window here. There are gopher holes and squirrel holes that are shooting water out like fire hoses, and I'm just waiting for this mountain to get loose. It finally stopped raining that next morning, and we hiked down the river, and it was just bank to bank. And then it started dry out period after the night for a little bit, and we tried getting a dozer in, a six through the front. And then we're butting heads with the Forest Service the whole time. They're trying to shut us down, trying to arrest friends of ours who are on bikes, who go to the Baja every year. And so they were taking their cameras and taking photos of the slides. See what the damage caused for us. And then sending them through the internet so that I can see. So I get my dozer and start this way toward the front. I got as far as the road down here, about 400 yards away from us. No way. It was bank to bank, four foot deep. The road was washed out. So I had to wait for it to go down. Water went down again. I was able to build a road, change the direction of the road, get it in. Washed out again. Finally, I threw my hands up in the air and said, look, I'll just wait till you stop and then go down and then I'll do it. So we were cut off from everything and everyone. We just needed someone to help. For one day, I'm headed home. Good flying with you. Hey, you too, Neil. Safe flight home. I was coming back from another off airport in holding in the National Forest and had landed there, spent some time. And on the way home, it was a beautiful evening. I decided to take a longer route home. I was familiar with the country where Brian and Debbie are located. And there's a meadow adjacent to their property. And I wasn't aware of them at the time, but I did know the meadow was on private property. I went over to scout it and I did a low pass and I saw a cabin down there, which I hadn't noticed before. Brian and Debbie were out in front of the cabin and waved at me. And we have a saying in the off airport community that if they're waving at you, either they're enthusiastic about airplanes or they're in desperate need of help. And either way, it's a great opportunity to land. So I made a few inspection passes of their field. The first landing is always exciting. So you come in, you touch down. There's definitely a little bit of adrenaline associated with it. And you get out of the plane, you soak up that adrenaline and actually kind of enjoy it a bit because this is what we live for. Got out of the plane on this particular time and walked the field looking for rocks, anything that could be a hazard leaving. And it was clear. And at that time, the Davises came up onto the field to greet me. It comes down and I'm like, is this guy all right? What the hell's going on? So I tell Deb, get in the Jeep. So we go up there and there was a few nervous moments. They came up, we walked up, approached each other. Then I look at him and I said, you know, the reason I drove up here to see if your balls were as big as those tires you got. Man. So that started a relationship that's probably been going on four years. That was it. We've been friends ever since. Yeah, God. While we were talking, I was thinking all the while, how the hell am I going to get out of here? Because the meadow suddenly looked a lot smaller from that perspective than it did overhead. I think I commented on the tree line being a little higher than I anticipated. I never said a word to him. Next day, I get my tracker, I go up, I make an airstrip and I cut those trees out of the way. Oh, a couple months later, they're flying in. Neil's in the lead and Doug says to him, he says, yeah, there's a meadow up there that you can land on. And Neil says, you mean the one with the landing strip? And Doug says, landing strip? No, it's a meadow. He goes, no, it's got a landing strip on it. It's about a 550 foot strip uphill, probably 12 degrees. And it makes it nice because you can get stopped quick and then you turn around, leaving your downhill and flying out. And the wind was typically up canyon, uphill, if there's any wind at all. I made two or three approaches to make sure I was comfortable with it because at the time it was a slot between two trees and landing on an uphill runway that I hadn't been on before. There was plenty of room. It wasn't anything scary, but it was definitely fun. So they land and I drive up and I can hear Doug laughing. He goes, what the hell, Brian? I said, well, you needed that trees down. So I figured I'd put you a strip that you can land on too. That was definitely an invitation to continue to visit them. I was sure they were on board with it at that point. They really love the quiet back there. But like anyone, I think they also love a little interaction with people and they don't get a lot of that. And Debbie has some history in her family with flying. So there's definitely a connection there. Brian just loves airplanes and anything with an engine in it. So he was on board. The Super Cub was developed, purpose-built for off-airport flying, I think. It's slow. It's a very safe airfoil, very stable platform, can haul a lot of gear. They're very common in Alaska because there's a lot of off-airport activity up there. They're truly a workhorse up there. They're more of a hobby or an activity. And that's sort of how we view it. We've been using our planes for camping and backcountry exploration. But there are some missions that we've been involved, been fortunate enough to be involved with using our Super Cubs. And that's been really gratifying. It's been a lot of fun. So we had been going in and visiting the Davises for about a year. And I think it was January when I first went in there. And it was almost a year to the day, January of 2023. We had a particularly wet year and some very heavy rains countywide. So the rain event occurred. There was a lot of rescues, a lot of mayhem around the county. We're aware of the Davises situation, but they're very self-sufficient. I wasn't concerned about life or death. In fact, they had actually called around trying to get someone to bring them some supplies in. This was the road. It went clear out to the edge here, straight out toward that corner. And then this all just disappeared. So basically, I moved the road completely over with the dozer and made a new road. And then with all this slide material, once I get the dozer back here, I'll push all this in, fill it up so that there's a nice bank and there's no steep set off here. So I won't have to worry about this. And there used to be this and now it's down here. But it's all good. It's part of the deal living back in the backcountry. And we've got 12 miles of this north slope road. And some of it's a lot steeper than this. There's one that's called White Knuckle up there. I haven't been to see it yet, but hopefully it held up because it is pretty steep. Up there, you got about, well, close to a thousand feet drop. The ranch is the Crow Flies. It's only about 15 miles, maybe 15 minutes from the airport. Their driveway is about 17 miles through the backcountry, all dirt road on a north slope, which is really prone to washouts and rain, mountainous country. It's a two-hour drive to go out anywhere just to get to the valley. Then you got to go drive up to Sand Ridge. It's another half hour. And then so you're in a truck like six, seven hours during the day to do about hour or two hours of shopping. And so by the time you get back, you're wiped out. We had an archeologist out the front trying to stop and arrest my cousin from getting equipment. He had our gate. To get, so we could get a supply line in by ground. So they called the sheriff's department and said, hey, can you help bring supplies into us? With their helicopters. And the sheriff's department said, we'll come in and take you out, but we can't bring in supplies to you. I just held some feet for the horses. Deb called on Neil because we were having trouble getting the road work in. Neil says, don't worry about a thing. As long as this airport's open, you guys won't have anything to worry about. Didn't even know Neil. No. Hardly knew. There was such goodness in each one of those men. And I've traveled the world and I've never met three men like that. When they brought in that first load, I just couldn't hold back the tears. They were my sky angels. I'm Seth Hammond and I'm a local resident born and raised in Santa Barbara. And I've been flying a helicopter for 40 years. I never really got interested in aviation until I got drafted and sent to Vietnam as a helicopter mechanic, which later turned into be a crew chief and a door gunner on a gunship. And I was young. I was 21. I turned 21 in country. So here all the time I wanted to drink and I had no fake ID. And then I go over there and they didn't care if you had an ID. You could drink all you wanted. But it was all warm beer and it was crappy beer. It was the cheapest beer you could get. It was actually very interesting. The downside was we got shot at. But when we weren't getting shot at, it was very, very interesting flying around the countryside. So I always kind of thought if I ever made enough money in life, I'd see if I could afford my own helicopter. And a number of years went by and I learned right at the Santa Barbara airport. That was 1984. I got a call from my friends, Doug Cole and Neil Cushman, and they had befriended the Davises over here at this ranch. They called Doug and Neil and said, could you bring us supplies? So I ordered some feed and had my girlfriend in Los Olivos drive it over to the hangars. And then the drums started to roll. Everybody found out that Brian and I were stranded. And they went to the feed store and they brought feed. Doug said the first day, he was like, oh, that's cool. Somebody brought some chicken feed. That's good. That was me calling, you know, calling up. He goes, the next day he came to the hangar. He goes, what the hell happened? It was just feed piled high, horse feed, chicken feed. My role was to, well, my wife and I kind of coordinated on this end of it, using this hangar as a base, this hangar and Doug's, to just meet with people, unload supplies. I'd weigh them, box them, put the weights on them, put them in the hangar and get all that collected. And then we'd have a fly day where it's going to be Saturday morning or something. When we could all get away from work and get over here and do it. And then we'd load it up and head out there. Well, they realized after they started bringing supplies over to the Santa Ynez airport, that they had way more supplies than they could bring in their Piper Cubs. So they called me and said, hey, I'm personal friends with the guys. We've flown together and done different things. I said, would you be interested in helping these people out? And I said, oh yeah, that sounds like fun. It sounds like an adventure. I like that kind of stuff. So we met at the airport and there was a huge pile of supplies that need to go over here because they had all these animals. Just as we were ready to take off, Katie, Neil's wife, said, can you guys wait a little bit? They're bringing the mail. And I just had this like flashback and I thought, oh my God, my dad did this years ago, back in the thirties. He flew mail and supplies to San Miguel Island. When Katie said, can you take the mail? Man, I just, I just couldn't even believe it. I mean, I couldn't even believe I was hearing those words. That's my dad and that's his Waco that he bought in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1932 or 33, something like that. He flew that thing to California and at the request of his mother, she said, why don't you fly over and help these people that live on the island? It was like 30 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara. And so he said, okay, so I'll do it. Now think about this, 1934, his mother, my grandmother says, get in that airplane and fly over water and go help these people. I mean, look at that airplane. By having an airplane that could fly over there in about 35 or 40 minutes, it made a totally different opportunity than it would for safety and for helping and for getting stuff out there than it did if you were going over there in a boat. I mean, it's a three hour boat ride in a boat out of Santa Barbara Harbor. He ended up delivering mail to them from 1934 till 1941 when the war broke out. You know, a lot of years later and all of a sudden I get this call. I didn't think anything of it. Katie said, can you wait for the mail? Man, it just really hit home because Dad used to talk about flying the mail out there so much. I couldn't believe it that we're in this day and age and we're doing the same type of thing. This first trip, he comes across in front of the castle walk. I heard him coming and we went outside and I saw him going across. We hiked up the hill. My heart started. Well, I did. I got emotional. It was a good cry. It was a cry of hope and faith. To see that helicopter come in, oh my God. Knowing that, wow. It was almost overwhelming. They brought in 1,200 pounds of food. He made three round trips. Three trips that day. So for the next five months, him and Doug and Seth ferried food, equipment, fuel, you know, propane. Anything we needed, they were bringing in. With those guys flying in, we were spoiled. We're just like, man, this is, this is it. Since they were leaving the airport now in like 10 minutes, they'd be here or 15. Oh, yeah. And that got to be, I mean, I couldn't hardly. I didn't want to wrap my head around it because it's like 10 minutes. Are you kidding me? If it took two hours to get out there and you're here, three minutes? And so it was like a, you know, a time warp and it was, it was great. They were, they were stuck back here for four months. We just kept bringing supplies over as needed. And I remember one trip I came over and brought nothing but five gallon jugs of fuel for Brian's tractor because he was working on, on taking this, opening the road up. Two or three times we had to come a different route because we're in a canyon. And of course the canyons all lead, take water to the ocean. So sometimes we could come when the mountains were obscured, we could fly right over the mountains that made about a 13 minute trip. When you had to fly up the canyons, it almost doubled the length of the flight from San Ynez airport. Well, the weather on the coast is, you know, cloudy and cloudy or it's beautiful and beautiful. So, you know, and I always say the same with the scenery, the scenery, it's either brown or it's green. The first thing for me in mountain flying is, is weather. The wind is obviously going to be tricky and swirly back in there. It's in the mountains, so we're not far away from it. We have a pretty good idea of what it's like down here. Although it can be different up there, but someone's relying on you. It's, it's not, and you gotta, you gotta get the stuff over there, you know, so that added a little bit of pressure to it. But it was also at the same time, it was real rewarding to see the look on their faces when he got in there and, and knowing how much they needed the help. We're fortunate in Southern California that the weather is pretty well forecasted. We don't experience the same problems they do up in Alaska, even some of the northern states. There are occasions that we can get caught off guard and yesterday was a prime example of that. We went back into the ranch and a thunderstorm came over. A few of us had departed with the intention of coming back and rejoining and they never came back. Any word from Chris? Hey guys, if you can hear us, uh, Joey and Chris are, are up. We just took off Ziegler's. We're heading back in the, up the sysquak right now. We pushed back for that storm. We'll, uh, we'll probably see about five minutes. We're about to turn up into the Manzana right now. When Dunn first landed here and we talked to him and then he left, I had that same kind of feeling in me that I looked at Brian and I said, he's going to be a friend of yours. And then who would have known a year later that we needed him to save us. And then, so looking back, you can connect the dots. You can never connect dots going forward. You know, you, you run into one place, the door shuts. Well, you go through another door. And then the other thing is, is moving forward. And the whole thing, look down, you look down, you look at your feet, which way did they point it? They're pointed forward. That's the way you go. It was April, April, when I was finally able to get my dozer to start out. And like, I think I shared with you before is that in their hearts, their hearts, their pure of heart and their soul were just good. And it's, it touches a part of your soul that if I never saw them again ever, I would never forget those faces. I would never forget those, each one of them individually.