Mike Obland: A Plane With a View
Juneau, Alaska, April 20, 2008 -- Today may have been the most scenic flight I have had on the King Air since taking this job last June. We started our transit back to Virginia and flew from Barrow to Fairbanks and on to Juneau in two flights.
Almost all of the crew met at 7:30 a.m. in the lobby of the King Eider for one last breakfast in Barrow together. A number of people were in the habit of having breakfast at Sam and Lee’s every morning. Chris had become so much of a regular that he didn’t even require a waitress; he would just go up to the kitchen and tell the cook what he was having that day. We were wondering if the owners were going to give him a key so that he could open the place up for them in the morning! Anyway, with Sam and Lee’s the only restaurant in Barrow that I had not yet visited, I decided to go along. It was a very good meal, as most of our meals in Barrow have been.
Most of my gear was packed last night, so when we got back to the hotel, I just had to put a few last-minute items in my bag, upload some data and check my email. I checked out of the hotel, and we drove our gear down to the hangar. Ray and I did the preflight for the instrument and made sure all the gear that we needed was onboard. After tightly packing luggage and gear for the four crew members who would be transiting back with the plane (Rick, Mike, Dale and myself), Rick, Mike and I went to church.
After church, we were expecting to basically just say our goodbyes, load onto the plane and take off. Unfortunately, getting jet fuel in Barrow on a Sunday morning can sometimes be problematic, and we were forced to wait for a few hours as Dale and P.J. called everyone they could to try and find fuel. In the meantime, we played many rounds of really bad pool at the hangar. With all the thawing and freezing in the Arctic, building foundations tend to be very warped. A consequence of this is that the pool table is not exactly level, creating some interesting shots.
We finally lifted off at 1:15 p.m. and put Barrow behind us. We landed in Fairbanks to refuel and grabbed some quick snacks for lunch, and then we were on our way.
Up until that point, the scenery was about the same as it had been: hazy with little visibility of the Alaskan country. South of Fairbanks, though, the air started getting much clearer, and we finally had amazing views of southern Alaska: mountain peaks as far as you could see, being carved out by gigantic glaciers. All four of us had our cameras out and were taking pictures. Mike was calling out the names of peaks and glaciers that we were flying over. Rick even flew almost exactly over the peak of the second-highest mountain in North America, at over 19,500 feet, Canada’s Mount Logan. Very impressive!
Our approach into Juneau was amazing, too. Juneau is situated between towering mountain peaks and right on an inlet from the ocean, and the airport is right in the middle of all that. We were lucky to fly in here on a clear-weather day. Dale had contacts with the local Army National Guard unit, and they graciously allowed us to park our airplane in their hangar overnight and use one of their vans to drive around town. We checked into a local hotel and went to the downtown area. We watched the sun go down behind the mountains, and then had some phenomenal food at a local eatery on the water. After a relaxing time at the restaurant, we went back to the hotel, where I uploaded today’s data and crashed into bed.
If you love to travel and see new places and things, this is a great job.
Photo: Mike Wusk
Recent Comments