Well, here's the story. Their pilot, Ken, had to make an emergency landing this winter on a river. He was flying some passengers when the cylinder head went out on the engine. He made a safe landing, but tore up one of his struts. There was a village 3 miles away and they came down with snow mobiles and got the passengers and then towed the plane back to the village. Ken then had to travel 110 miles by snow mobile to get parts. That was just one way. The temperatures were 30 below. Next, he had to go back through the freezing cold. When George talked to him, all he said about the ordeal was, "it was damn cold." Apparently he was working on the plane in this cold trying to get it flight ready. This is where the story gets a little vague. George is a gold miner...not a good historian. He said Ken had to take the snow mobile to McGrath, where he lives, and then somehow his wife got involved in the mission. These guys are true Alaskan's. Next they both went by snow mobile back to where the plane was. I can't imagine going anywhere in -30 degree weather. This wasn't a little jaunt to the post office or store. This was 110 miles. If George and I lived in Alaska, I guarantee we would be playing rock, paper, scissors, just to give me a 50/50 chance of not getting out in the cold. This all took place in early February. It's now the end of April and Ken is down in Anchorage right. Thank God, Ken is a very meticulous pilot. He apparently found shavings and is in Anchorage getting his plane torn apart and rebuilt. We don't know if the heavy equipment is going to make it in to the site this year or not. It
is the end of April and I think the window is almost over to sled the equipment in...soooo....once again, I will have to keep you posted. I posted an old video of their take off from Moore Creek on their 2nd trip for your viewing pleasure. You can see what a good pilot Ken is and how rough it is in Alaska.
