He gives and takes away

Last Tuesday was a big day. I had to be at the airport at 6:30 in the morning, which is kind of a strech for me, considering my lack of morning motivation. But it was great. We help the UPS every once in a while when they get behind, so we took a load of packages to Fairbanks. Here is a little bit of what I experienced:

-hearing taps at 7 from elmendorf while getting the 99 ready
-buzzing all the 747s at international
-cool canadian water bombers stationed at fairbanks
-180 knots and 10,000 feet in the 99

I also got to log some twin turbine time, even if it was second in command.

That afternoon, we watched a 206 taxi by for takeoff. Not an uncommon feature, as I work at one of the world's busiest general aviation airports. However, this particular 206 was very heavy laden. I shrugged my shoulders, and attributed it to another crazy bush pilot, just doing his thing. After all, this is Alaska.

Not too long after that, we started to hear the sirens. Looking west down past the runway, giant plumes of smoke were rising. I got off work about a half hour later, and went to investigate. It wasn't till I saw the accident scene that I realized it was the same overloaded 206. One of my co-workers called me that evening to inform me that the people in the plane were from the bush village (Port Alsworth) where our main office and maintenance hangar is based. Please pray for the family. I can't imagine what they are going through. They lost their oldest boy (4) in the wreck, and all the others are in the Northwest for the next few months recieving serious medical treatment.