North of the Kuskokwim Mountains

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Mt. Redoubt

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Life on the River

Pretty sure this little gem is Aniak. Another tiny village on the river. Pretty too, with some small mountains to the North and East and rolling tundra to the West and South.
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Unloading a Trailer in Point Lay

Our Engineer was willing to go the extra mile to secure this trailer for offloading. He was also the lightest of our crew and so the obvious choice for a delicate balancing act. Good job Brian!
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Era Alaska - Caravan

This Caravan (Cessna 208) was behind us landing in Point Lay. He unloaded his people, loaded up new ones and left again. Most likely he was going back and forth to Barrow.
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Point Lay

Landing in Point Lay. Northern coast of Alaska, about 150 miles South-Southwest of Barrow. Point lay is an LRRS and a Native village. Note the spits when the tide is low, this village is right on the coast. I remember it because the weather is notorious for being either fantastic or awful. This day it was Fantastic!
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Mid-flight Catastrophe!

"Oh Crap! I forgot to charge my I-Pod!"

The Captain forgot to charge the tunes up. Luckily we were all having a good day and filled in the gaps with jokes and stories.
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Coastal scenes

One of the perks of my job. Some days I just sit back and enjoy the view!
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Sand Point

Fresh Sockeye Salmon anyone?
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King Salmon

The busy metropolis of King Salmon where the shrubs are the Center Attraction, the mall is a set of atco trailers, where Jesus is always uplifted and you can ride a moose at Eddies Fireplace Inn and let's not forget the coolest cars can be found in the most out of the way places.

Still waiting on the weather.
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Weather Delay in King Salmon

On a weather hold in King Salmon waiting for clearer skies in Sand Point to go pick up a load of fish.
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Cape Newenham

113 miles to West-Southwest of Dillingham is Cape Newenham LRRS. A military airport that is also a Long Range Radar Station. There are many of these type airports around the state. Most are coastal, but a few are inland. All of them are a little lonely. Staffed by a skeleton crew most of the year, with the occasional C-130 full of servicemen arriving for practice.
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When Things Malfunction

Top two photos are the carnage of "ring land failure". When the metal holding the piston rings in place gets weak and lets go, bits of piston ring break off and smash the spark plugs for that cylinder. Some times the engine coughs, and sometime we go the whole flight without knowing! Luckily there are 18 cylinders on each engine, more than enough power to keep going...
Bottom photo is what happens when a cylinder "drops a valve". A stuck or loose valve will destroy the piston of it's cylinder in seconds. Unlike a ring land failure, when a valve drops, we will know it right away, and shut down the engine immediately. If soon enough they can just change the cylinder. If it chews too long though, it turns into an engine change...
Neither problem is frequent since we created our own cylinder rebuild shop!
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