Paper Airplanes

The first plane of the day, with it's flat tire..

There were many times during my flight to Igiugig today that I visualized the many flights a paper airplane takes. The way they sometimes sail smoothly while other times they so easily get tossed off their course by a gust of wind. I have never really detailed what bush flying truly entails, such as the adventures, the emotions, the bonds that form between pilots and passengers. One thing that I have always appreciated about bush living is the way you can so easily share such raw emotions with people that you barely know or who you may never see again. Well, today was a day in which the bonds formed for the passengers and pilot on my flight. Buckle up friends, we’re going on a bush flight, blog-style.

It started as a snowy, yet relatively calm morning in Nondalton. As I walked to school in the dark, I made mention of hearing a plane flying in the sky. I wondered what air taxi was out and about at 7:20 in the morning and hoped it wasn’t a Life-Flight (medivac). Then, as the light of the day started to appear as I was in my morning math session, I thought aloud that flights would likely be delayed again today. Flights had been cancelled yesterday due to strong winds and snow-storms that lasted all day. However, by the time the session ended, I could see the mountain across the lake and knew I’d be flying today. During my morning break, Sam and I even discussed how it had turned into a beautiful day for flying… If there’s one thing I learned in elementary school, it was how I should not to judge a book by it’s cover. Well… today I judged travel conditions by the cover of the beautiful view from my classroom window. How wrong I was on that one.

Just towing a plane,
nothing to see here.. 

I hate eating on travel days until I arrive at my final stop, but the hours were passing and at lunch time I decided to sit down to eat. It’s a short flight to Igiugig I thought, it will be fine if I don’t feel well. Luckily, I’d only taken a bite of food before getting the call that the plane would be on the ground in 10 minutes. I have been the substitute principal, so as I was gathering my belongings, I simultaneously met the visiting dentist who had just arrived, while also recapping afternoon responsibilities for the teacher who’d take over once I left. Needless to say, it was a whirlwind as Sam and I ran home to grab my bags and for me to throw on my winter gear. It wasn’t until we got to the runway that I realized how the wind had picked up. However, seeing one of my favorite pilots, I gave Sam a smooch, handed my bags over, and hopped on the plane. The plane, I’ll remind you, that has five seats. The pilot, a male passenger up front, a district specialist I work with sitting next to me, and a female passenger behind us. Now that I’ve painted that picture, let’s take off! 

When we got to the end of the runway and the plane struggled to turn to face into the wind, I knew it was going to be one of those days. My Grey’s Anatomy fans will understand that it was at the point I had a thought that compared to Meredith’s feeling the morning the bomb went off in the hospital. For anyone who doesn’t watch Grey’s, I mean to say that I knew it was going to be an awful adventure type of day. As we picked up speed and got into the air, or should I say tossed into the air, and then all over the air, my fears were confirmed. Today I was on the “milk-run”, meaning that I was the last of the four passengers to be dropped off. Our first stop would be Iliamna, a roughly 15-minute flight. We hit so many pockets of wind that I questioned whether or not to ask Sam to drive down to Iliamna and pick me up. Turbulence in a bush-plane is quite literally being lifted out of your seat, no matter how tight the seat belt is, and sometimes going as high as hitting your head on the ceiling. There was a lot of head hitting today. Igiugig would still be there tomorrow, I rationalized as I mentally planned my phone conversation with Sam. However, I talked myself down as my pilot joked and seemed as though it was any normal day. So we bid the first passenger farewell and took off again. 

Today's flight plan! 

Our second take off was comparable to the first, if not a bit worse. Our second destination was Pedro Bay. Let me paint another picture, because the rest of the flights on today’s commute all take place in villages along Iliamna Lake. Keep in mind that Iliamna is Alaska’s largest lake, and that the flight time between each location today ranges from 15-20 minutes. Today’s flight plan is conveniently illustrated in this post. 

Alright, back to the flight. We flew towards Pedro Bay and as we got closer, the turbulence caused me to have my bag ready in case I got sick. Let me note that in over three years and over 125 bush flights, I have never been sick on a flight. But, today was one of those days.. In order to get to Pedro Bay, you must fly between two mountains. As we approached the mountains, I was hopeful that the slight lack of visibility would cause the pilot to skip this stop. We trudged on, as the pilot noted to the male passenger that we’d fly o

ver and check it out before he decided about landing. So through the mountains and over the village we went. This is when I made the decision that I NEVER wanted to fly to Pedro Bay again. Perhaps it wasn’t the worst flight in the eyes of many experienced bush residents, but it was without a doubt the worst flight experience to date. I held tightly to anything I could, and couldn’t help but let out what I will call, yelps of fear. It was a reflex that I could not stop despite my attempts to suffer in silence. Surely, our being pushed across the sky like the ball in a pinball machine, the pilot would keep going on to Kokhanok. Nope, wrong again Paige. We turned back around and went in for a very bumpy and very nerve-wracking landing. Upon landing, the passenger said something along the lines of it being better than he expected.. It must be nice to be fearless. Anywho, while the pilot and passenger unloaded, the remaining passenger and I discussed the fact that the wind was pushing the plane so hard that we had not truly stopped moving, even after landing. 

Needing to talk myself into remaining on the flight, I asked the pilot, “on a scale of one to not fun, what will take-off be?”. He thought about and it said that we just had to get in the air and past the tree line where we would for sure hit “one bump” and then be quickly climbing high enough to get out of it. We all laughed as he reminded us the rule of bush flying: you don’t have reason to worry until you see your pilot start to worry. He promised that he was not worried. There formed one of those bonds I had mentioned earlier. So off we went.. We got into the air and then crossed over the tree line with no “bump”. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking we’d traveled into a good path and had gotten luck. Wrong again, Paige. The promised bump hit us, then another, and another. Each “bump” causing us all to be lifted out of our seats and jostled in the air for a brief second. But then, as promised, we got out of it. I knew we were good to go when the pilot turned around to face me with a huge grin and a thumbs up. Another bond formed. 

Our next leg of the flight was a bit bumpy, but not so bad, and the pilot and other passenger scoped out the ice looking for seals. I however was back to focusing on not getting sick. Again, we neared Kokhanok, a place I have landed many times on windy days. At this point I’ll switch gears to mention a fun fact about my anxiety; when I get too panicked, my body’s natural reaction is to shut down and for me to sleep. Without fail, I hit a point where sleep is necessary for me to rebound and continue on. So I was hitting this point when we began our descent, meaning I was rather calmly in a state of “Jesus take the wheel”. As we made it to the runway, I remember thinking that this was a pretty smooth landing for Kokhanok. Then, I watched for the tires to hit solid ground so I could cross this flight off the list. However, as I looked out my window, I noticed the tire looked very odd and seemed to be moving away from the rim. I think I had a look of shock as I glanced to the passenger next to me thinking “is it just me? Am I dreaming? Is this happening on your side? Is this normal? Do I say something?”. As I was about to speak up, the pilot turned back and asked me to confirm that we had gotten a flat. I thought I was prepared for anything. Wrong again, Paige. We laughed as we all commented at about the same time, “of course this happened in Kokhanok where there’s no service on the runway..”. Another bond formed. 

Sorry Mr. Plane, better luck next time! 

Though flat tires on planes don’t happen often, this occurrence is rather ordinary. The only problem was that we were in the middle of the runway and no other planes would be able to land. As the other passenger was going to the school, the staff member picking her up helped pull the plane off to the side of the runway. Then, in a strangely normal way, the pilot asked the other woman and I to sit on one of the back wings of the plane to help weigh it down as he sat on the other and walked the back of the plane to the side of the runway as well. At this point we were all in a comical state because if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry right? So we stopped for pictures and laughs and then all piled in the school truck. We went to school where I was able to visit with some other teachers as we waited on a plane to bring in a new tire and rim. About an hour later, the plane arrived and offloaded the supplies, a pilot, and a mechanic. Before long, "my" pilot and I got into the plane that had carried them and began our last leg of the flight. 

As we taxied down the runway, the pilot thanked me for my patience and for not freaking out at any point. We joked as we talked through the thought process I had had upon seeing the flat tire. Another bond formed. I simply requested an uneventful last leg. Almost unbelievably, my request and prayer was granted. Our final 15-minute flight was smooth as can be, the sun was shining, and the panic-induced sleep was washing over me. However, just as I was about to fall asleep, we smoothly landed and finally, about 2 hours later than planned, I got to my last stop of the day. While the pilot helped me pull my bags out, I thanked him for getting me here safely and he laughed as I thanked him for giving me something to blog about. Since the school truck wasn’t at the runway, I gladly grabbed my bags and took the short 3-5 minute walk, feeling thankful to be on solid ground. 

By the time I arrived, school had just let out. I had to get logged on for a professional development session, but once that ended, I found where I’d be sleeping during my stay, unpacked my sleeping back and let my body work it’s magic and put me to into shut-down mode. About an hour later, I woke up and was able to function normally again. That’s probably why I’m working on this blog at 11:00 and not feeling too sleepy. Even in the midst of it all, with each landing and take-off, and with each wind pocket we hit, I reflected on this crazy chapter of my life and how incredible each moment is, whether incredibly scary or incredibly wonderful. Oh, what a day, what a flight, what an adventure this thing called life is!