National Geographic - Alaska Wing Men DVD

Who Flies The Most Dangerous Skies In America?

Aeroplanes and pilots are critical to life in Alaska but the rugged terrain and extreme weather make flying a dangerous and sometimes deadly proposition. In this season of Alaska Wing Men: a group of climbers gets stranded on the mountain, a veteran pilot hits a dangerous cloud of ice and a chopper pilot races fog to extract a team of scientists. The men and women who risk their lives to fly in Alaska are pilots on the edge. Ep1: Fatal Crash In this episode, veteran pilot Jack Barber turns his plane into a flying bomb by loading it with 400 gallons of explosive fuel. Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Clint Johnson is summoned to the scene of a fatal plane crash in Ketchikan. And Lear jet pilot Greg Johnson gets called to Barrow, Alaska to pick-up a child who?s been seriously injured in an ATV accident. Finally, pilot Don Lee teaches a greenhorn how to do something that most pilots would never dream of doing: land on an active highway. Ep2: Gold Rush In this episode, a pilot from Talkeetna Air Taxi attempts to rescue a group of stranded climbers from a glacier near Mt. McKinley. A husband and wife team face weather complications when delivering a 1,300 pound drill engine to a gold-prospecting company. Guardian pilot Greg Johnson and his team fly to the northernmost edge of the continent to rescue a 14-month old child in respiratory distress. And veteran pilot Don Lee flies into the remote wilderness to deliver a pile of lumber and retrieve a vintage snowmobile, both of which must be strapped to the pontoons of his floatplane and flown cautiously over an icy lake. Ep3: Deadly Skies In this episode, high winds, rain, and clouds force three veteran pilots to make some life or death decisions. Pilot Jack Barber hits a dangerous cloud of ice that threatens to bring him down. Chopper pilot Dave King races the fog to pick-up a team of scientists, and pilot Steve Hakala and his legendary Grumman Goose are grounded. Meanwhile, rookie pilot Veronica Morthorpe must complete a risky solo flight in order to get her full license, and bush pilot Paul Claus braves the wilds of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to track down one of the largest moose he?s ever seen.