About this season
A chronicle of the daily challenges of the airport staff who manage to keep the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) open, freight flowing, and passengers flying, all despite weather that regularly dips to -38 Fahrenheit and wind speeds that typically exceed 100 mph.
Episodes (10)
1. Flight of the Grizzly
Aired 27 October 2024 • 44 min
An orphaned bear cub flies to a new home, bush pilots bring life-saving medical machinery to a remote village, record snowfall threatens to close down Anchorage Airport for Thanksgiving, and the US Army prepares for airborne war.
2. Mountain Sheep, Pizza Pie
Aired 3 November 2024 • 44 min
A breakdown on the Fairbanks runway threatens a heavy-weight military jet's urgent mission; a rookie flight instructor faces a make-or-break flight; an ice-tour pilot races against Alaskan weather; a bush airline flies a 400-mile pizza delivery.
3. The Flight Before Christmas
Aired 10 November 2024 • 44 min
A major snowstorm disrupts Christmas travel in Anchorage; bush pilots aid an Arctic village after a fire; ice jeopardizes an airborne science mission; Customs agents combat a surge in illegal holiday food imports.
4. Shivering Timbers
Aired 17 November 2024 • 44 min
A Coast Guard chopper pilot battles winds in a mission that will decide her flying career, a mountain construction project gets an express aerial delivery of materials in Alaska-style, and two bald eagles hitch a first-class rid.
5. Flight to Glory
Aired 24 November 2024 • 44 min
A trainee chopper pilot tackles a mid-air engine shutdown. Bush pilots face a high-altitude test on an aerial grocery run. The US Army in Alaska launch their biggest helicopter deployment ever, and an Arctic-sports phenom flies.
6. Avalanche Warning
Aired 1 December 2024 • 44 min
Scientists fly to save Anchorage from avalanche destruction. Border agents stop a potential insect invasion at Anchorage International. A bush pilot flies explosive cargo for a village festival, and the Coast Guard race to repair a rescue helicopter.
7. The Big Chill
Aired 8 December 2024 • 44 min
A DC-6 flies into fuel-freezing weather to deliver vital medicine. A rookie Coast Guard rescue swimmer faces his final helicopter test. An engine fault could ruin the flightseeing season, and a blizzard threatens to close two international airports.
8. Sunspot
Aired 15 December 2024 • 44 min
Two pilots try to build a new bush plane from 70-year-old designs. The Army gets its big guns airborne to protect America's north. Hurricane-force winds threaten Anchorage International, and NASA scientists blast off from Alaska's own Cape Canaveral.
9. Runway Meltdown
Aired 22 December 2024 • 44 min
A pilot races to fly food to a homesteader. Entrepreneurs reviving a 1940's airframe land on ice to prove it can be the future of bush flying. Trainee plane mechanics face a crucial test, and an airport night guardian calls time on a 30-year career.
10. Flight of the Goose
Aired 22 December 2024 • 44 min
The Coast Guard flies a twelve-ton fuel truck to keep a remote base operational. An athlete flies to a dangerous airport for a glacier race. Fairbanks crews fight an avian invasion, and after a decade in a museum, a Grumman Goose takes to the skies.