Page 26 - Twin & Turbine May 2017

increasing. Sometimes the schools are so thick the depth sounder cannot detect the bottom. This is great from the crew’s perspective, because each vessel has a seasonal quota. Once that is caught, they can all go home.
We then talk about the flight details for the morning. There were six Auriga crew members scheduled as passengers, but now it appears there is also an additional fellow, well over 6-foot, 6-inches tall, who they would like to go with us. We decide anyone that can tolerate working on a fishing boat on freezing rough seas can handle being a bit cramped on the airplane’s (legal) toilet seat for a couple of hours.
The next morning Jeff and I get arrive at the airport to find most of our trawler crew, now dressed in jeans and pullovers rather than rain gear, already waiting. As a fisherman’s gift, they also bring us a large box of freshly caught frozen cod. We make sure the box is safely stashed in the luggage bay, and load up the group.
The winds mandate a departure on runway 13, which shortly after liftoff requires a sharp left turn to stay over the water and avoid terrain directly ahead on the other side of the bay. When releasing the brakes after getting the engines to stabilize at maximum takeoff thrust (MTO),
2
I
24
4•
M
•
7
TU
UR
RB
B
I
the airplane shoots down the runway like a drag racer accompanied by shouts of enthusiasm from the guys in back. With the Lear climbing at over 4,000 fpm, we make the required sharp left turn pulling an extra one-half G in the process, only to hear more whoops from our now enthusiastic homebound passengers.
We arrive in Anchorage an hour and a half later, do a quick refuel and load a couple of cases of Alaska Amber Ale and lunches for everyone. We depart and hear the caps coming off the beer bottles as we climb to altitude. Jeff and I, of course pass on the beer, and in fact drink little else, wanting to avoid the potentially awkward mix of beer-drinking fishermen, the largest of whom has comfortably adopted the small toilet room as his own.
From FL410 we can see all the way to Vancouver Island as we work our way southeast, and shortly thereafter go IMC over Victoria (YYJ). We remain in moderately bouncy clouds (which doesn’t seem to bother our Bering Sea experienced trawler crew at all), until reaching SOCLO the initial approach fix (IAF) for the RNAV approach to runway 11 at BVS. We land in a gusty crosswind, and pull up to a crowded ramp with a light rain falling. As the engines spool down Jeff opens the door and our passengers begin to file out to loud cheers from an excited group of wives and children waiting on the ramp just outside the FBO.
I am standing by the cockpit entry nodding to our guests as they exit, when a little girl yells out “Daddy” and breaks away from her mother’s tightly held hand and with long, blond hair streaming. She runs toward the airplane’s door with a huge smile on her face, and arms outstretched. Our stoic, fisherman/pax still dressed in his Dutch Harbor best, picks her up, throws her above his head then catches her with a big hug. Her watchful mother starts wiping tears, as the fisherman beams, and his •little blond daughter laughs with joy.
Sometimes flying has rewards beyond the activity itself, even if the trip is to Dutch. T&T
NE EM
Fresh pollock being processed near Dutch Harbor.
The Learjet 40 on the frozen ramp at Anchorage during a planned fuel stop en route to Dutch Harbor.
T
N
TW
WI
I
N
N&
&
T
a
a
y
y
2
2
0
0
1
1
7