Well, another season of “Flying Wild Alaska” -- the Discovery Channel’s reality TV show about Bush pilots working for Era Alaska in some of the most remote parts of the Last Frontier -- has come and gone.
This second season had more storylines than the first, with Jim Tweto, Era COO, keeping tabs on a group of mountain climbers scaling an unnamed rock face in the Arrigetch Peaks, his daughter Ariel Tweto buckling down to pursue her private pilot license, and several deliveries to the winter-only sea ice runway at Little Diomede.
But the final episode of the second season featured more beginnings than endings: one pilot worked on upgrading his aircraft; Ariel took her first solo, a big step in earning her license; and other, long-term missions go uncompleted.
It’s fitting that storylines beginning here don’t end because that reflects the life of an Alaska Bush pilot -- a continuing struggle to do the job, to drop off passengers and pick up cargo while showing up every day, not knowing what’s coming next.
We the viewers don't know what's coming next either. By the time the first season ended, the show had already been renewed for a second. There's been no such announcement yet this year, so this may be the last "Flying Wild Alaska" that we get to see if it isn't picked up for a third season.
With that, the finale.
Gear down, fired up
It’s early summer in Interior Alaska, and that means several forest fires are blasting the area. Cue Era Alaska and its role in delivering extra help to fight the massive fires, which have already annihilated 230 acres.
Tony Marchini explains the role of the smokejumpers -- firefighters who parachute into areas where the fires are small, trying to snuff them out before they grow or mitigate their spread -- as footage of the firefighters leaping from planes plays.
Jim Tweto’s working with forestry and the Bureau of Land Management to deliver extra help to Fairbanks.
“There’s some big fires around Fairbanks, so we’ve been having a 1900 come in to help them out,” Jim says. The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger aircraft they’ve been using to shuttle help to Alaska’s second-largest city.
Era pilots Doug Stewart and Nick Stone handle the plane delivering firefighters to Fairbanks from Galena. After dropping their passengers and getting back in the air, they notice their landing gear warning light is down -- which means the gear isn’t retracting as it should.
“Whenever you have a gear malfunction, it’s better to just leave it down than troubleshoot it while you’re flying,” Stewart says.
They decide to return to Nome, but flying with the gear down will cut their speed in half. The landing is also going to be tricky, since they’re not sure the gear is locked into the proper position or could fold underneath them as they touch down. “I really don’t feel like having a gear-up landing, not today,” Stewart says.
Is any day a good day for a gear-up landing?
Despite the worry, they manage to get on the ground just fine and have the aircraft towed into a hangar.
Once there, the mechanics check out the aircraft, jacking it up and raising and lowering the landing gear. The gear’s fully retracting, but the light in the cockpit remains on.
Turns out the problem was a simple one -- the switch that detects when the landing gear is fully up has malfunctioned. After a replacement is installed, Stewart and Stone head back out, to finish what they’ve started.
Dead ends and U-turns
In Palmer, John Ponts -- until recently a Cessna 207 pilot based in Unalakleet -- is getting ready to take a run in the aircraft he hopes to qualify to fly next for Era, the Cessna 208 Caravan. It’s a larger plane, flying busier routes than the runs out of Unalakleet, so he must be qualified to fly the aircraft.
Helping him is Bethel-based pilot John Dronenberg, a 208 veteran. They’re getting ready to fly through Merrill Pass, named for famous Alaska aviator Russell Merrill, who is also the namesake for Anchorage’s Merrill Field airport.
It’s a new route for Ponts, and they sit down to go over the charts and plan their flight. After a while, Ponts is ready. “I’m totally unprepared to sit here anymore,” he says. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
We're not all rednecks and such down here; still, we don't, as a rule, eat meat left buried for weeks that must be boiled to prevent toxic bacteria from sickening or killing people who consume it, either. I live in the lower 48 and I like "Flying Wild Alaska" for these reasons: First, I am a private pilot who doesn't get to fly much anymore because of a disability. Second, I like the family story lines and how they handle all the work that has to be done to keep a business like theirs up and going. Third, it's unlikely that I will ever get to see the beauty of Alaska personally. So, I, too, hope the show is picked up for a third season. I do have to admit, though, that Ariel's piloting skills, such as they are, scare the crap out of me and I only hope she doesn't end up bending something that can't be fixed while she learns to fly. Piloting an aircraft, any aircraft, can be catastrophic for anyone failing to understand his or her limits, or the plane's operating limits. And it only takes one time of overwhelming fear to cause a terrible outcome. Anyway, good luck "FWA"!!
The only "real" reality show on television anywhere. Too tame and intelligent for renewal by the Discovery Channel boys where everything else has deteriorated into redneck southern lifestyles, guns and killing, wannabe gold miners demonstrating just how little intelligence it takes to dig up huge land areas for a few ounces of gold, ranting and raving about government interference after they refuse to follow laws and regulations.
So far, "Flying Wild" is the only program showing people who live and work year round in Alaska. All others show the boomers who show up for a few months to make their pile and leave. Too bad it is too tame for the television crowd willing to promote stupidity through false creations starring the dumbest people in the nation.
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