This is just another one of those posts that I’ve been meaning to write since August but keeps getting pushed back because it’s one of those continuously occurring events. One of the frustrating things about living in the Bush is the flights in and out of villages.. Not only does it cost and arm and a leg, but flights don't work on a precise schedule out here. While planes may be set to come at a certain time it truly means nothing because the pilots fly based on the weather. If it’s a good weather day, they might take advantage of this and leave early. On the other hand, if it’s too windy or there's little visibility, they might be delayed or not able to fly at all.
The only way to really know when a plane is coming is to call the company or pilot the morning of a travel day to get an estimate. If you’re lucky, they’ll give you a call to let you know when they’re on the way. Sometimes though, the only warning we get is when we hear the plane coming in. One of the quickest adjustments I made when I got here was to pick up the sounds of an incoming plane. Sure I’d heard planes all the time back home, but now I know it means one of three things; visitors, mail, or a plane passing by on it’s way to another village.
One of the worst parts about this is that before we had our school bus up and running again, it if we had visitors, either my co-op or I had to stop our lessons when the plane buzzed the school. We’d give the other a heads up to ask them to watch over our class and then hop in the truck to get to the airstrip. There were a few times where this was inconvenient, and we were happy to have the bus fixed so we could leave a vehicle at the airstrip for arriving visitors.
Another downfall is that on days when people are traveling in or out, you never know what to plan for. For example, we had visitors this weekend and we’d been planning to get out to the beach for a walk. However, before we were able to do so they got a phone call saying the plane would be in PIP in about 20 minutes (meaning that the plane was about an hour and a half early). If we had been out on the beach, they might have missed their plane; You just never know. So we quickly got their stuff packed up and headed to the airstrip. Of course communication had been off and we ended up waiting for about 40 minutes, (which is okay because I didn't want to see them go anyway) but that's life out here! Only a few days until I get to head up to King Salmon for Thanksgiving, so fingers crossed for a nice weather day with an on-time plane!:)
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