I hope I never have to go there. Atleast they weren't further enroute.
fbh

Inthe late 40s through the late 50s NW Orient ran that airport complete with maintenance personnel, radar site, and housing. Seems the old piston planes would sometimes need to drop in. As I recall, employees were sent there TAD for 90 days at a time.

Well, that explains the two AA 777s I saw in ANC this morning. I was having a hard time believing they had up-gauged two routes since last week.

... and AA61 DFW-NRT, another 777, just diverted into CYYC with an engine out. Turning out to be a Bob Reding-style week.

I took a trip to Shemya once - two of us drug by a single -135. We flew in to ops check the cables - so after landing, we did a few high-speed taxis at them, then shut down to refuel (nevermind the gas orbiting above the clouds) and fill out the paperwork. The tanker crew didn't want to land and risk getting stuck on the rock, so they just set up an orbit overhead and waited for us.

The contractor running the place insisted we go to lunch with him - he wanted to show off the mess hall. I told him about the tanker waiting for us, and he said something like, "he's got a lot of gas, right?"

Incredible: Fresh halibut, salmon, and king crab, with a good cook. He said he traded booze with fishing crews for whatever they had onboard. Those guys ate like kings. Wasn't sure my G-suit was going to fit afterwards.

A quick tour of the Shemya national forest and the Cobra Ball memorial followed, and then we got back to the jets. I could still hear the ebb and flow of the tanker in its orbit. We started up, declared our departure on UNICOM (it's uncontrolled, and nobody was anywhere), and took off to RZ, top off a bit later, then scoot back home before we went into food coma.

That made up (a little bit) for the time I was getting drug across the pond, piddling in a bag, and heard on the radio, "Co's getting up to stretch and take a leak." I'm sure it was an unintentional wafer switch error. If not, it was well played.

O.K. so, not realy sure... Are you saying that tankers guys are, or are not smarter than single seater guys?

I'm still waiting to hear how the first real "off the grid" former USSR diversion goes. QFE meters, language, flat bed trucks, perma frost, Vodka poured by Svetlana. It could go good or bad.

E.T.O.P.S. (Engines Turn Or People Swim)

Meanwhile I found this:


By ROSANNA RUIZ - Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Oil spewing from one of its engines, the limping airplane managed to
find
the tiny airfield at Midway Atoll.

From her window seat aboard the twin-engine Continental Boeing 777,
college
student Dawn Smith, 23, had a view of the ailing engine as she prepared
for
the landing on Midway's Sand Island airfield early Tuesday. The landing
made
for uncomfortable moments.

"The short runway was not built for a large aircraft," Smith, who
looked
flushed with her mussy hair, said Wednesday after the plane finally
made it
to Houston a day later than expected.

The 11-hour, 40-minute flight from Japan's Narita Airport to Houston's
Bush
Intercontinental Airport was due to arrive at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Continental Flight 6 had 279 passengers and 15 crew members. A
Continental
spokeswoman previously said there were 235 passengers.

No injuries were reported.

The plane made its emergency landing at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday, Midway time.
The
atoll is about 2,200 miles east of Japan and near the northwestern end
of
the Hawaiian Islands archipelago.

After repairs were made to the engine's starter, the plane left the
atoll at
2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Smith, a Sam Houston State University history major, had studied the
island's history as a key site of a U.S. naval victory during World War
II.
She took the unexpected 24-hour layover in stride.

Still, the food rations and uncomfortable sleeping arrangements inside
a
musty theater did not make for the most stellar accommodations.

"It'll be a long time before I get on another airplane," Smith said
upon her
arrival at Bush on Wednesday. She had spent the holidays with her
sister,
who is serving aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

Smith and the others waited a few hours aboard the plane before a
ladder was
found to get them off the aircraft. The passengers were given
sandwiches,
candy bars and beverages and were allowed to tour Midway Atoll National
Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.

The pristine beaches, lush tropical foliage and millions of birds, such
as
the Laysan albatrosses or "gooney birds," Hawaiian monk seals and other
animals led Smith to conclude that "God is so wonderful."

"It was something to see," said another passenger, Allen McMahon, a
61-year-old Montgomery resident, of the onslaught of almost 300 people
to an
island that typically is populated by about 30 people.

McMahon's wife, Judy, 57, began to cry as she embraced her husband, who
appeared a little travel-weary. "I'm just glad to have him home," she
said.

Julie King, a spokeswoman for Houston-based Continental, said customer
service officials had met all passengers when they arrived at Bush.
Some
passengers upset with the inconvenience were offered travel
certificate.

[quote=Wuzzo;840922]...
Incredible: Fresh halibut, salmon, and king crab, with a good cook. He said he traded booze with fishing crews for whatever they had onboard. Those guys ate like kings...

Some of the best food in AK; good thing they have a nice gym there.

4FF

@ Captain Bligh... I was the controller working that flight.... The pilots were NOT happy. What sucked was that was the begining of my shift so I had to deal with there crappy attitude the whole night. Don't know what was worse.... Company calling me multiple times asking me to confirm they had a 777 sitting on the island with a bad engine or the captain askng me over and over again to confirm company was sending someone to fix it.