Community Fights to Save Flying Mailman

(CBS)  For Ray Arnold, delivering the mail isn't just a job - it's an adventure. At 72, he's the last flying mailman in the continental United States.

"There's a certain element of danger there," Arnold said.

The only way to get to most of his customers in Central Idaho is by air, so Arnold delivers far more than just the mail, including food, supplies, medication - if it fits in his plane, he'll deliver it.

"We can't just go out and get our mail because we're 32 miles from a dirt road in the summer, and 60 miles from a plowed road in the winter," said Holly Akenson, the manager of the University of Idaho Wildlife Research Station.

Arnold was a lifeline for Akenson when one of her students suffered a severe injury.

"We contacted Arnold Aviation right away because we knew we had a problem," Akenson said. "That's the fastest way to get him out to a hospital, even faster than Life Flight helicopters."

Flying through the narrow valleys and high mountains is dangerous, but that's something Arnold doesn't dwell on.

"If you thought of that all the time, you'd be a nervous wreck," Arnold said.

Although Arnold hasn't had a serious wreck in more than 30 years, he has lost two pilots that worked for him to the rugged Idaho back country. Despite that, he has no desire to give up his route, because the people that live in these mountains have come to depend on him to make his appointed rounds.

CBS News first caught up with Arnold 25 years ago, when he was making many of the same stops he makes today.

He has about 20 customers on his 500-mile route through central Idaho, which he makes twice a week. So it came as a shock when the Postal Service announced it was going to shut him down.

"That was some of the most devastating news I'd heard in the 35 years I've been here," said Mike Demerse, the manager at Shepp Ranch.

It costs 10 times as much for Arnold's deliveries as it does for the average postal customer - $2,400 a year, per resident. But residents appealed, arguing that Arnold is a one-man economic stimulus package, making it possible for the camps, river guides and hunting lodges to operate.

"We just couldn't do it back here without Ray, that's all there is to it," said Gloria Mozingo, the director of the Allison Ranch Retreat.

The Postal Service has now backed off its plan to ground Arnold, renewing his contract for another four years. After that, he'll leave the mail bag and some of the colorful characters behind, but he won't be leaving the cockpit.

"When I come around to 76, I'd like to do some flying, but I'd like to do my own flying, at my own time and where I want to go," Arnold said.

For now, the only place he wants to go is out on his mail route to see his extended family in the back country.