First Flight to the Bush

So I'm supposed to be in Atqasuk in my own home right now... I'm not. Instead I'm hanging out in a hotel in Barrow, which is the hub of the North Slope. Why you ask, am I hanging out in the Airport Inn instead of enjoying my new queen sized bed? Because flying in bush Alaska is an adventure.

I met Danielle at the Anchorage airport this morning around 5. The plane boarded at 5:30 and we hung out for a long time while they balanced the plane's cargo and everything. Then it was off to Fairbanks!

I've never been to Fairbanks before, but today I got to visit it. Twice. But my view was very limited, mostly because I couldn't leave my airplane seat. Why did I go to Fairbanks twice? This is where the fun really started.

The people who were staying in Fairbanks got off the plane and the rest of us who were carrying on to Prudhoe Bay or Barrow stayed on the plane. As we're sitting there, two guys get on the plane. Their carry-ons were boxes, which I thought was weird, but this is bush Alaska. I'm not really sure what's normal yet to be honest. Then, I saw there was a female police officer following them, and after that I realized that they were handcuffed together. What? Where are they going? Why are there prisoners getting on the plane? Clearly they aren't dangerous criminals or they'd have some sort of private flight, right? Like, not the one that's full of innocent bush teachers and oil pipeline workers.

We were under weather advisory for landing in Prudhoe Bay, so we sat on the tarmac for a long time waiting for clearance to take off. After what seemed like a long time, we took off and began the 1 hour and five minute flight to Prudhoe Bay.

It was a really pretty flight going over the mountains, but when we got a little further north the sun was so bright that I had to close the blind. My seat was right over the window, and the sun was at the perfect angle to reflect off the silver wing and into my eyes. I opened it again when we started our descent into Prudhoe Bay. The sky was clear, and then all of a sudden we were over a really thick fog bank. I was super impressed by the pilot descending and landing under these conditions. I remembered the joke that the guide at the Anchorage Museum told us, saying that bush pilots decided it was okay to take off as long as they could see their co-pilot.

We were dipping a little below the cloud bank, occasionally able to see the ground, but mostly not able to see anything. Then, all of a sudden, the pilot was gunning it and we were shooting back up into the sky. I figured we'd missed the landing strip and were going for try number two. You couldn't see through the fog, I wasn't going to blame the pilot. Except, then we hung a u-turn in the 737 and headed back to Fairbanks. What? A u-turn in a plane? I figured if we couldn't land, we'd at least circle until we could land, like they do back home during summer thunderstorms.

Another hour later and we're landing in Fairbanks. Again. And what did they decide to do at Fairbanks? Fuel us up and send us right back out. So we took off again and headed back to Prudhoe Bay, where most of the people on the plane got off to go work on the oil pipeline. Another group of guys got on after working their shift on the pipeline. And guess what? We had to re-balance the plane. Again. Which doesn't sound like it would take a long time, but it did. It really, really did.

Long story short, we ended up landing in Barrow around 2:30 when we were supposed to arrive closer to 10:30. A four hour plane trip turned into a seven hour plane trip, and I felt a little bit like I'd been sucked into Gilligan's Island. Our connecting flight to Atqasuk had left at 12:20, and we couldn't get on the one at 4:00. So we have to stay overnight in Barrow.

But, as with everything, there is a silver lining. The head of HR at the school district met us at the Barrow Airport and took us on an awesome tour of Barrow, Alaska. Barrow is the hub of the North Slope Borough, as well as being the furthest northern city in the United States. Their slogan is "the top of the world". We were taken to lunch and had a chance to review our personnel files, and the school district even paid to put us up in a hotel for the night. Even though none of the delay was their fault. It's great being in a school district where I'm confident that all my needs will be taken care of. They obviously go the extra mile where personnel is concerned.

So tomorrow I will be headed out to Atqasuk bright and early. Or cross your fingers that happens anyway. The fog thing apparently happens fairly often in the morning during the summer. But I did learn my lesson, things don't always happen in the bush the way you planned them to happen!