'Flying Wild Alaska' set to premiere season 2

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Like so many things in the 49th State, “Flying Wild Alaska” -- the Discovery Channel’s reality program about Alaska bush pilots working for Era Alaska -- was the result of a “small-world” story.

Tommy Baynard, the creator and executive producer of the show, is also a longtime camera operator. In 2008, he was in Alaska, traveling on the Iditarod Trail working on a documentary program for the Discovery Channel. When the race wound its way to Unalakleet, Baynard’s guide suggested they go meet a woman named Ferno Tweto, wife of Era COO Jim Tweto. They did, and Baynard had fond memories of the tough Inupiat woman.

“(My guide) told me about the Twetos,” Baynard remembers, but nothing came of it then. “We went on to Nome and finished the event,” Baynard says.

Then, one year later, Baynard was back in California, working on the set of “Wipeout,” an ABC obstacle-course game show, when he met a young woman named Ariel Tweto at the starting line, getting ready to compete.

“She said she was from Unalakleet, and I said ‘Oh, do you know Ferno?’” Baynard says. “And she said, ‘that’s my mom!’”

So they went out after filming Ariel’s appearance and got to talking. According to Baynard, Ariel eventually said something along the lines of “'You should really make a show on my family, because you’ve met ‘em, and you know what we do.’”

So Baynard, who had never executive-produced a show, took a couple of cameramen up to Alaska and filmed what’s known as a “sizzle reel” -- a collection of clips that summarize what the show would be like. Baynard says they then shopped that sizzle reel around to a number of networks before Discovery Channel “gave me a chance,” as Baynard puts it, and ordered the series.

It looks like the chance has paid off. “Flying Wild Alaska” had the highest-rated debut of any show in Discovery Channel history, and this Friday, it returns for a second season.

An unfamiliar world

When the second season premieres, it will be a bit of a less-familiar world for viewers from the Lower 48.

When the last season left off, winter was settling in in Unalakleet, and Jim Tweto -- now one of the show’s stars along with his wife Ferno and two of their three daughters, Ayla and Ariel -- had just put up his trusty, tail-dragging Cessna 180 for the winter. The new season will open while the Last Frontier is still in the midst of the ice and snow of winter, and the season will also include a trip to see the Iditarod, as well as a visit to Anchorage to participate in the Fur Rondy “Running of the Reindeer” event.

Ariel Tweto, the exuberant, outgoing young woman who has become the face of the show, says that the camera crews were "the real heros" for the early parts of this most recent season for filming in winter.

“I feel bad for the crew,” Ariel says, “because we get to go in and warm up (between shots). They have to stay still while we’re moving around to stay warm. Those guys are the tough ones.”

Plus, Ariel says, she grew up in Alaska, so she knows how to dress for winter, and she’s used to the long, cold darkness. But she also notes that bad weather is important for the show’s success.

“You can’t really film exciting stuff when it’s sunny and nice out,” she says.

It’s true -- where most reality shows derive their drama from clashing personalities and unstable egos, “Flying Wild Alaska” is populated by levelheaded, oftentimes laid-back pilots, mechanics and other employees who make Era Alaska tick. Drama comes from the situations that Alaska bush pilots often encounter -- high winds, low ceilings and other scenarios faced every day by real-life pilots. The first season even featured a bird striking a propeller, and it was all caught (and splattered) on film.

Oftentimes, the interest comes from the cargo they’re carrying -- the first season featured a wedding cake and explosive harpoon heads (for whaling), among other things. The upcoming season will see delivery of a village’s first-ATM, replete with the cash to stock it.

Ariel says that even though the show’s personalities don’t always take center stage, “each person has their own story, and they bring their story to the show.”

But there shouldn’t be a shortage of drama in the new episodes. “There’s a lot of crappy weather this season,” Ariel says.