My worst flight ever!

Last Wednesday, I was scheduled to leave Galena at 4:25 pm fly on a 1900 (a small prop plane, but bigger and nicer than other super small planes) to Fairbanks. Then I was scheduled to fly a Saab 2000 (still a prop, but looks like what people think of when they think of a commercial airliner albeit a small one). The weather in Galena on Wednesday was not good and we were all holding our breath. Ravn doesn’t fly on Thanksgiving and three of my co-workers and I were booked on the last flight. High school doesn’t end until 3:55 pm and so the three of us who teach high school were expecting to need to have part of our last class covered. With the weather looking so poor I thought that I’d probably be able to teach all day, and not leave until late, if we made it out at all. Quite honestly, I was mentally preparing to not get out of Galena at all.

Boarding the plane in Galena

Lunch starts at 12:05 and my students are always the last ones to lunch because not only is my classroom one of the farther ones from the entrance into the gym the students must use for lunch, but I dismiss them late nearly every day. On Wednesday the kitchen staff had outdone themselves and created an absolutely amazing feast. On the serving line they had turkey, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, home-made rolls, and a choice of pumpkin pie or strawberry pretzel delight ( think there must have been a vegetable on the serving line, but I don’t remember it). Then outside of the kitchen in the self-serve area there was green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, roasted asparagus, turkey gravy, a fresh vegie tray and the usual salad bar. While my students were working, I checked out lunch during the elementary school lunch and decided that since the students at the end of the line frequently get gipped on the self-serve items, that I would dismiss early. I dismissed my students at 12:02 and we walked to the gym together (I let them go the short way). It was too early so lunch wasn’t being served yet so we stood in line waiting (along with a few students who don’t have a class that period). The principal came in to monitor lunch and I told him that since my class was always the last ones to lunch, I had dismissed them early that day (I only have 8 students in that class and two were absent). Because the principal was there we actually started discussing physics in line until they started serving (still a bit prior to the bell ringing).

I got my food and went to the common room where several teachers and staff eat lunch. A couple friends had arrived and we were discussing the flight and if we thought we would make it out. I had taken 2-3 bites of my food when my phone rang. It was a local Ravn agent telling me that they didn’t think my flight would make it out, but they had a plane on the ground right then and could I come to the airport immediately. I told her I would have to ask my principal and she said to call back (I was trying to keep her on the line and walk to the gym to find him at the same time, but she clearly didn’t want to wait). I found him and before I could say anything he told me, “I’ve already heard. Go. Have a good Thanksgiving.” I went back and told my friends what was happening. One went to the kitchen to get paper plates for my food. Another called the airline to try and get on the flight too. She got the last seat. In total three of us rushed out the door with our uneaten lunches and drove straight to the airport. We were all glad to get the chance to go, but while we were waiting at the airport we realized that the three of us comprised the entire table cleaning staff. I guess one (or both) of the principals had to clean up (hopefully some students helped).

When I arrived at the Galena airport (really an airstrip with a log cabin for the Ravn “terminal” and a couple of other buildings for the other airline and the school) there were two planes on the ground a Cessna Caravan and a Piper Navajo. Galena usually has Beachcraft 1900 and Piper Navajo service. The Caravan was unusual. The “terminal” was quite full and after I checked in there was only about one seat left. I ate part of my lunch while talking with others. After awhile a pilot came over and read out the list of passengers who were on his flight. That group headed out and boarded the Caravan. The rest of us waited about 20 minutes before our pilot came over and said he had seven seats and seven passengers for Fairbanks. I counted at there were seven of us still waiting. He suggested using the restroom (none of the planes that fly regular service to Galena have lavatories) and when something was ready we followed him out to the plane (this is pretty standard procedure. There’s no TSA, no ID checks and names are only called when there’s more than one flight for a given destination waiting). As we were walking out to the plane one of my friends remembered a fourth friend, who teaches elementary school was also on our flight that afternoon. We don’t know if she got a phone call or not.

The pilot giving the safety briefing. 

The van and de-icing

He also did a lot of the de-icing from the ground.

Thanksgiving lunch on the plane - actually this is mostly fake. 

I ate some of it in the airport in Galena and more in the 

airport in Fairbanks and I'm afriad I have to admit

I threw some of it away.

After we boarded the plane, the pilot made sure everyone was in and then climbed along the window to enter the plane at the pilot’s seat. He made sure everyone had their seatbelts on and told us about the emergency beacon and how it should go off automatically in the event in a crash, but in case it didn’t he explained where the manual switch was. He also told us where the survival gear was (right wing locker) and then there was quite a pause. We just sat there and then the pilot started talking on his radio. We began to get nervous. When you’re flying from a village out you never feel confident you’re going to make it until the plane takes off. When you fly from a hub to a village you aren’t assured the plane will land until well it lands. I’ve been on planes that circle and turn back, never a good feeling. When the left engine turned off we got really nervous until I noticed a blue van labeled “ethylene glycol.” I realized the engine was just turned off for de-icing. The van had a generator in the back and hoses running out a hole in the side. There was a cherry basket attached off of the roof and someone sprayed down the plane. The left engine turned back on and then the right engine shut off. At this point I was feeling pretty confident and sure enough after de-icing was complete, we took off.

This is the view from the Navajo, which doesn't fly very high (or fast).

The visibility was terrible, but the flight was pretty uneventful until we were about 20 minutes outside of Fairbanks. If I had flown on the faster 1900 the flight would have taken about one hour, but on the slower Navajo it takes about just under 1.5 hours. Therefore, we were about an hour into the flight when the winds picked up. The Navajo is a small plane (remember the seven seats and seven passengers- the plane was full) and we were hit with crosswinds. The crosswinds pretty much threw the plane from side to side. It was the worst I’ve been in and it was bad enough I was concerned about someone getting air sick. There are no flight attendants, lavatories or even air sick bags on the plane so if someone got sick it wouldn’t be pretty. Thankfully, no one got sick and we landed in Fairbanks three hours early.

After deplaning (you walk down the steps of the plane – the ones attached to the plane, not a stairwell that is rolled up- onto the tarmac and then into the terminal) I went to the ticket counter to see if there were any earlier flights I could get on. There was a flight that should have already departed, but had been delayed. They had seats on the flight, but since the plane was a relatively small prop plane (a Dash-8 with 37 seats, much larger than any of the flights to and from Galena) they don’t fill all the seats because of weight. They weren’t able to put me on the flight because as it was they had to take fourteen bags off the flight and send them on an Alaska Airlines flight to Anchorage. Thus, I had many hours to wait.

My flight to Anchorage was a Saab 200. This is the only plane Ravn flies that has assigned seats. It is bigger than a Dash-8, but still fairly small and a prop job. The flight attendant was really annoying. Every sentence of her safety briefing was followed by her walking down the aisle and checking things. Then when she got to the end she stopped and checked every phone to make sure it was in airplane mode (which was really stupid because we then sat on the tarmac for a long time and then had to get de-iced and so we didn’t take off for another 45 minutes or more. I, and probably everyone else, switched the airplane mode back off as soon as she was gone).

Finally, about the time we were scheduled to arrive in Anchorage, we departed. The pilot warned us that the flight in had been bumpy, especially close to Fairbanks and so they expected it to be a bit bumpy. I don’t remember very well, but I think it was a bit bumpy leaving Fairbanks, but nothing major. I’ve flown a lot and had a lot of turbulence so it wasn’t a big deal. However, about 20 minutes before we landed in Anchorage it became a major deal (FYI flight time is only an hour). The plane hit major winds as we were approaching Anchorage and for the last twenty minutes it rocked back and forth and I think up and down. It felt like we were on a ship being tossed around by wicked seas. Since it was dark out you couldn’t see the ground and it also seemed to be like we were on a rocket hurtling through space. The multiple directions of movement made the plane feel like it was moving much faster than it was. My seatmate was an older woman whom I’m pretty sure has flown a lot and across the aisle was another older woman from Galena who I know has traveled extensively. They were scared to death. At one point my seatmate looked so green, I asked her if she was going to vomit. I commented that we had no airsick bags and a man two rows up apparently heard me and held up a bag offering it to us. She thought she was going to be okay and we declined it. Both women hunkered down in their seats petrified. I spent the time craning my neck to see out the windows on the other side of the plane and ahead because these were the only windows out which you could see the lights of Anchorage. The rocking off the plane made it so discombobulating that one couldn’t tell how high we were or what sort of downward progress we were making. By looking at the lights, I was able to keep myself more centered. As we approached touchdown I was coaching my seatmate, “we’re almost down.” Then “we’re feet from touchdown.” And finally, “there it is touchdown.” The stopping was a bit rough, but we made it.

I have to admit, while my seatmate thought I wasn’t bothered at all through the landing, I not only was, but I was also contemplating a recent Ravn Air Group crash. On October 17 (the day I flew back to Galena after my ear surgery), Ravn Air crashed a Saab 200 in Unalaska. Since the crash the NTSB announced the pilot has 14000 hours in a Dash 8, but only 201 in a Saab 200. Ravn recently acquired the Saab 200s when they purchased Peninsula Airways, which flew to Unalaska. Ravn is now using those planes for many of the Anchorage-Fairbanks flights. After the announcement, I said Ravn needed to have their pilots who need experience in the Saab 200 the Anchorage-Fairbanks flights because neither of those airports are tricky landings. Now, with all that in mind I was on a Saab 200 that was rocking and shaking and none of these thoughts were helping.

After we landed the flight attendant announced that since she had been unable to finish service on the flight we could pick up our cookies (little kids call the Dash 8s cookie planes because before Ravn acquired the Saab 200s the Dash 8 was the only plane with a flight attendant and when they have on-board service, Ravn provides really tasty cookies) as we deplaned. Altogether what would be less than 350 miles, if I could fly directly, took me nearly 10 hours.
By the way, I flew an Alaska jet to Fairbanks today and am now waiting on my much delayed flight to Galena. You will be happy to learn that my flight to Fairbanks today was uneventful.