Flying Wild Alaska series finale

[Jim Logajan]

So it took Ariel two years and over 60 hours (according to the narrator, if I heard correctly) and a checkride with an FAA examiner to get her certificate.

She did well to pass, since the FAA statistics show pass rates are higher with DPEs than with FAA examiners.

Not sure why they showed the non-ERA guys landing on the glacier - are they going to start a show using them as a focus?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I thought it was the "season ender" not the "show ender"

In the show and in their schedule description it is described as the series finale:

"In the series finale, after 30 years of running Era Alaska, Jim Tweto sets his eye on a new path. Doug loses all avionics while flying over the North Slope. Ariel comes face to face with the FAA in the last step of getting her pilot's license."
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.16862.26262.40219.x

Before Flying Wild Alaska, Ariel was a contestant on the ABC game show Wipeout in 2008 and 2009.

I expect we'll see her on other reality shows -- maybe Survivor or Amazing Race, or, heaven forbid, Dancing with the Stars.

Is anyone watching Ice Pilots NWT (Buffalo Airways.) I like that show a lot, too.

I have not seen Ice Pilots because I don't get the National Geographic channel.

The most interesting segments of FWA for me were those involving bush piloting. Such as when Jim Tweto took the climbers to the mountains. Scouting for landing spots, delivery, pick-up, and some mountain climbing all seemed to hold my interest. Definitely helped that there was a sense of camaraderie between Jim and the climbers.

I also thought that episodes that dealt with some of the local culture were interesting - such as whale hunting. I thought they handled that well. (I've been to Barrow Alaska as a tourist several years ago; the young guide we had seemed excited by the next season's whale hunt.)

The problem with focusing on ERA is that if it is a well run airline, it should be as exciting as watching paint dry.

If someone does a series with the kind of flying that is described in the bio of Don Sheldon in "Wager with the Wind" by James Greiner, I'd be very interested.