Back in king, Internet down, and look both ways!

Well, I am back in King Salmon. It's been a little chilly but not bad. Keeping warm and flying a lot. Joel is not back yet and he might not be out here for awhile. One of our planes has undergone a rebuilding of the tail. It was bent and cracked. Probably from Joel's escapades down in the chigs earlier this month. So we are all getting extra days off and working more hours. It's been great. Sucks being here alone though. Nothing to do! I'm at eddies at the moment. Internet is down at the Penair hangar so I have to go to eddies when I can. This has been my first time down here this shift. I got an Alaskan amber with a free token I got from a couple of chigs passengers that are here in the bar. Pretty nice of them. Anyways, the last two days have been eventful. Went to the chigs both days. Weather has been beautiful. Calm and high overcast skies. No bumps and good performance. So today I was flying with Captain Pip. We talked and did all of our stops in the chigs. I asked to land in chignik lagoon. This is our shortest strip we go to and it usually takes awhile to get enough experience so the captains trust you. Captain Pip let me take it. I flew a beautiful approach right on airspeed and landed on my mark. As soon as we touched I threw the caravan into reverse. Out of the corner of my eye I see a truck start to drive across the runway! Mind you this strip is maybe 1500 feet. With the road running through the middle. The village drives this road to and from north town an south town. It's well traveled. The gal was driving a truck full of garbage in the back. She must have been going to the dump. Anyways, she pulls out into the middle of the runway. She sees us and stops dead. I jammed the plane into full reverse, slammed on the brakes, and pulled the yoke full aft. Picture a 2000 pound truck in the middle of the runway, a 5000 pound airplane traveling at 85 mph with 600 feet to stop on an icy/snow packed runway. Wasnt gonna happen! We gave it everything we had. The gal gunned her truck and we missed her by a couple of feet! The truck literally went underneath the wing. The prop wash blew snow everywhere and blew half the garbage out of the back of her truck. I CANNOT BELIEVE WE DIDN'T HIT HER! Lucky! The lady was balling her eyes out and was being held by two bystanders who watch the whole thing. I was shaking. Biggest adrenaline rush since I've been flying here in southwest Alaska. No doubt in my mind that lady would have lost her life if we hit her. Who knows what would have happened to Captain Pep and myself. Airplane would have been done. New prop/engine and everything. Moral of the story... Look both ways before crossing the damn runway!

10F down and out

Well, still at home in stanwood. Only one airplane works in king salmon so they gave me the option to stay home. The plane needs serious structural repairs. Probably from the flight my roommate Joel had a couple weeks ago! Lucky it held till the routine phase check. So, I am flying here with one of my students so I can get some hours. I'm looking really good for meeting my goal of 680 by the end of February. I got an email confirming my upgrade to the Saab! So I will be moving to anchorage in April. Pretty excited but stressed about where to live and how I am going to move! Going to cost some money that I don't have so we will see how it goes! Hopefully I figure something out soon. Still have 2 shifts in king salmon to complete. So I will write soon. Possibly Friday or Saturday.

Seattle

Well, I think I may have brought this snow and cold weather with me from Alaska. School has been cancelled for days and the roads have been a mess. This of course complicates me getting everything done that I wanted to get done while I'm home in civilization. Still need to ship my supplies and go to the bank. Also need to go grocery shopping. Been stuck in the damn house for days. Starting to get annoyed. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to venture out and finish up what I need to. As for now I better go pack up my stuck! Talk to you in King Salmon!

Homeward Bound

Well, I will be headed south for my days off tonight. No blogging until the 21st of January. Looking forward to being home. Last two days we have had to turn around due to poor visibility, icing, and low clouds. Only flew with captain Low T once this month. Joel's down in the chigs with captain Hero. I'm sure they will save the day by pushing it. That's the difference between Hero and Low T. Low T has limits. Hero doesn't. It's not like we are out here running life or death missions. No one cares if you somehow manage to make it in. Everybody has their thing I guess. Anyways, see ya later!

Broncos!

Slept in today. No flying on Sunday. Congrats to the Denver Broncos on taking out the Steelers! Althought next week against the Patriots doesnt look good for Tebow. Still happy the Steelers are out.Had a great night last night. Haha. Let's just say I woke up with a headache. Anyways, weather is better today. Looking like a busy day tomorrow. Hopefully only one flight Tuesday so I can come home early but we will see. Watching a Bourne Identity marathon today. Good series. Finally got permission to use a PO box here in king. So, I will be shipping up next months supplies. Can't wait to get back to stanwood. Got a new phone waiting for me. Got the new IPhone 4s. Excited to play with that. Well, happy Sunday. Blog soon.

Saturday in the Bush

Well, port alsworth and Igiugik. Did an instrument approach back into king salmon. Pretty nice. Had a few beers with captain low T and Captain AZ. Watched lots of football. Had a grand time. Wondered to eddies and had a few beers on Captains tabs. Thanks guys. It was an awesome time. Eddies was Saturday busy. Weather today was marginal. Joel and Captain Low T had an interesting time in the chigs. Check out Joel's blog today for more info. Went and got the Herman Nelson with Captain Hero. The Goose lives! They got it back to anchorage for inspection. I think the pilot did a great job during the landing. Had fun... Time to check out the tube. See ya!

Busy Busy

Flew to all of the chigniks, perryville, port heiden, and egegik. Stopped at the lake twice as well. Moved alot of people and a little bit of mail. Weather was ok. Not as nice as the days before. Flew with the other caravan into egegik and king salmon. I beat Joel back to king by going up high and getting better airspeed. It was quite comical. I flew with captain Hero. Joel was with Captain Low T. We welcome him back from vacation today. Got back just in time. Fogged in now. Also heard my cousin is in Labor! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Browne. Hope to see you when I come home!

Anonymous folks....

If you post on my blog. Please write your name on the last line. Otherwise I don't know who you are! Thanks!

Chigs in the Morning

Already back from today's flight. Went with Captain Hero. Talked about hunting and traveling. Things went well. Dropped off everything for chigs. Went to chignik bay and the lagoon. Great weather. Had a weird approach into king. Followed a DC-9 in and then had to go around cuz they took forever to get off the runway. It was no big deal but Captain Hero was irritated. For some reason he gets in a big hurry coming back to kig salmon. Every time! Just need to chill.

January 4th

Today is Joel's day to fly first. I will take the second flight if there is one today. May be going up north again to rescue the goose. We are waiting for the ice to get thicker and thicker so it can take off on the ice. We have not heard if there will be another. Joel and captain Hero left about 10:15 local time. 11:15 Seattle time. Going to the Chigniks, Perryville, and Port Heiden. Perryville is calling zero zero which means u can't see your hand in front of your face. So try may not go into Perryville today. We will see. Captain Hero has a way of doing the impossible. Pretty windy down there to. Even really cold down there with snow! So we will see how the day goes. Washing clothes today and watching TV. So, it will be a lazy day! This morning was -40F. Hard to breathe. My eye lashes grew idicles. Pretty nuts. Well, Talk to you soon!

I have fixed the commenting!

Anyone and everyone can now post comments to my blog! Feel free! Another side note, Joel and I have decided to only use our first names and no one else's. We have given Alias to these people because our intension is not to offend anyone. Just tell the story from our points of view. To comment, all you need to do is click on the greenish comments button below my post. Then write your comment and click publish. Thank you for following along!

Goose is being Rescued

Just sent a caravan to Port Alsworth to rescue our Goose. Taking up engine heaters and barrels of fuel. Gotta get the plane back to Anchorage. It will be fully inspected and then returned to Dutch Harbor hopefully. Joel and Captain Hero headed up there. I was there yesterday. Beautiful area. Very nice and all the people are very gracious. Flew to the chigs and port Heiden today. Bumpy today and starting to get super cold again. Forecasting -25 to -30 below zero. Windchills to -40 below zero. At this point it's not even funny. When you step outside you can barely breathe. And any exposed skin hurts. It basically skips the feeling of being cold and goes straight to pain. Keeping pretty warm though. Working everyday so far. Getting to fly too. I am only 74 hours away from the hours required to upgrade to the Saab in March. I am right on track and will make it without question. I am really excited and I hope I get the chance to upgrade. This is what I want most. Keep your fingers crossed!
Follow my roommate Joel everyone!
http://www.alaskanbushpilot.blogspot.com/

Goose Down

Well, today was pretty exciting. Flew to egegik and pilot point with Captain Pip. Got back and was told we needed to go to port alsworth. Our one and only Grumman Goose went down in a frozen lake ten miles north of port alsworth. General D and I got into the Caravan and flew up. Good news is only one guy on board. The pilot survived without a scratch. Actually the plane sounds like it is not damaged. So that's good. It's was pretty scary when we got word the plane went down and we didn't know where to look. Once we got on the ground we got invited in to a local guys house for a feast. It was delicious. Lots of people were there. It was a Russian feast. Apparently new years is a big holiday in Russia and the family's daughter in law is Russian. It was really nice and people there were great. We grabbed the pilot and flew back to king salmon. He flew back to anchorage on the Saab tonight. Pretty exciting. Wonder what we will do about the goose. Stay tuned!

Internet interruption

Our Internet sucks right now. Only way to do anything is go to eddies so be patient with my posts. They may be scarce unless they fix Internet. I will do my best. Didn't do much today. Walked around and hung out. I slept till noon. Felt good. Work is gonna be extremely slow this month. Only one flight per day. Gonna trade off with Joel. I will leave here the 10th of January for 10 days back in Seattle. Then come back up the 20th and will not be back till the 15th of February. Long shift but hopefully I will find out about upgrades soon. I will keep you all posted.