“I can see Mount Augustine over there,” said Danielle. “We got pretty close to it coming in this morning.”
“Yes, that’s it. That volcano grows right up from the bottom of Cook Inlet. Pretty amazing. I’ve been watching it erupt for years. The volcanic mountains on that side of the inlet are very active. If it isn’t Augustine, it’s Redoubt, Iliamna, or others to the north or farther down the Aleutians to the south. There’s always something making life interesting. You’ll be flying north of it to get to Bear Creek. It’s really settled down today, hardly smoking in comparison. This whole area went to blackout from the ash several days ago. Couldn’t see a thing when the ash dropped from the sky. I’m glad the wind changed and it’s blowing to someone else’s back yard now. The sulfur is really stinky and ruins electronics, cars, and just about anything it comes in contact with. Listen to my van window.” He hit the automatic window button, and it screeched and scraped loudly as it went down. “That’s volcanic ash inside, ruining my window.”
“That’s terrible. How much fell in Homer?” asked Danielle.
“Only about an eighth of an inch. My wife swept it up off the porch so it wouldn’t get in the house and put it under her apple trees. They love it.”
They soon were off the five-mile-long Homer Spit Road and heading down Ocean Drive. As they drove by the runway of the Homer Airport, two helicopters took off and headed west close together. Another search plane took off soon after and headed the same way.
“Lots of air traffic today. Everyone is out looking for that plane with the Special Olympics athletes. It’s only the second or third day they’ve really been able to look for them since they disappeared. No one’s found anything so far.”
“We’ve been reading all about it on this trip. I hope they find something soon,” said Danielle.
After crossing a causeway with Beluga Lake on the right and sea grass from the bay on the left, John turned off Ocean Drive. The van bumped onto a mud road and traveled a short distance to a little log house right on the shore of the lake. There were two planes tied to a dock there, and several passengers were being loaded into a Beaver on floats. The plane looked huge in comparison to the 207 Cessna sitting on its floats nearby at another small dock. The van slowed, and Nathan came out of the cabin with a big smile on his face. He opened the door to the van.
“What are you doing here?” asked Danielle with happiness and curiosity.
“I talked my family into going to see the bears too, but there isn’t enough room for me to fit in their plane. My brother and I are going to join you. Hope that’s okay.”
“Sure it is, honey,” said Irene. “Danielle will be happier than she already is. Now you’ll be able to always remember the day together.”
“Oh, Grandma! You’re embarrassing me.”
“Not me,” stated Nathan, smiling at Danielle.
A pilot came over to the van and assessed the situation. “Ladies, let me help you into the plane.” The pilot had loaded many elderly people over the years into small planes like this one. An able-bodied person would walk from the dock onto the narrow pontoon, reach up to a grip inside the door, step on a small metal step, and hoist themselves up onto the plane seat. This process was physically impossible for Irene. She had poor balance, was too short and weak, and too stiff to get her leg up to the step. Anticipating the problems, the pilot quickly rigged up a portable ladder/stairs on the dock. With the help of Nathan on one side, Danielle on the other, and the pilot walking behind her, they helped her balance and raise herself into the small cabin of the plane. She was soon seat-belted right behind the pilot’s seat with a big smile on her face. She had her brochure in her hands as she watched everyone else climb on board; Danielle was seated beside her and Nathan’s brother behind. Nathan was up front with the pilot. The stairs were pulled away and freight boxes of fresh food were loaded into the tail section of the plane before all the doors were secured for the flight.
“Danielle, this is going to be so wonderful. I’ve never been in a plane this small,” she said. “It’s like we’re in a boat.”
The Cessna, having been pushed away from the dock, rocked in the waves caused by the Beaver on floats. The Beaver was already warm by this time and was taxiing off up the lake, preparing for takeoff. Irene was watching the other plane intently as its passengers waved goodbye. Her little hand waved back.
Their Cessna pilot had his microphone and headset on as he warmed up the engine. The noise was so loud that Irene couldn’t be heard anymore, so she watched everything with fascination, like a little child. She wasn’t the least bit confused, just very much in the moment.
Within two minutes, the Cessna had moved away from the dock, taxied to the west side, and called the airport tower to verify other aircraft in the area. In less than a minute they were following the Beaver down the lake, bumping along as the pontoons slammed through the waves. When the plane reached step, it seemed to just touch the top of the waves and finally was airborne.
“Oh, my!” exclaimed Irene as they rose higher and higher over the lake and tundra at the end. “It’s beautiful, the water, trees, green grass. They flew down Kachemak Bay heading for Cook Inlet. As they approached closer and closer to the inlet, the water changed color from a sea green to a silted grey. There were large smooth waves in the inlet and lots of boats with people fishing for halibut. Eventually they got closer to the other side and were passing Mt. Augustine just as a cloud of white and grey smoke billowed out the top and headed west away from them.
“My, did it just erupt?” asked Irene.
“Sure did. That’s nothing to worry about, though. Just a little belch compared to the way it has been,” said the pilot.
They had a great view of the natural wonder from a place of safety.
“Oh, good. I was wondering too,” said Danielle.
The five continued to head north of the volcano until they were once again over land. The plane eventually circled a bay with a beautiful log lodge and a dock down to the beach. The Beaver was landing as they approached the area. The pilot lowered the flaps, slowed their speed, and made a perfect landing in the smooth water of the bay before taxiing over to the dock.
Chapter 34
Clean Again
Everyone’s clothes were a mess and they all needed a bath. Nicholi had the filthiest clothes of all. Helen decided he needed to wear the clothes they’d found in the cabin while he washed his own, since they fit him.
Lillian and Nicholi worked together like a team as usual. Nicholi lugged the machine out onto the porch and hauled the water up from the creek. Lillian soon had the knack of working the lever to make the clothes slush back and forth until she was sure they were at least somewhat cleaner. She didn’t really care if they were perfect, as long as Helen thought they were good enough.
Nicholi was standing beside her, rocking and talking to his hand as she worked up a sweat pushing and pulling the lever. She tried to use the wringer, but couldn’t manage to hold the clothes to be wrung and turn the crank to squish them at the same time. Helen showed her again how it was done, but it was beyond her strength or interest. They needed Nicholi to do that also, but he was in his world. Helen couldn’t get him to return, but Lillian again worked her wonders with him and soon had him wringing while she washed. It wasn’t long before they had everything washed. Rinsing would take more time and a lot of water.
“Lillian, want to steam with us? It’s ready,” asked Marie as she walked back from checking on the bath. “It’s nice and hot.”
“Probably a good idea,” said Helen. “Take a break from the wash and let’s go get clean. Nicholi, could you bring up some buckets of rinse water for the clothes? When Lillian gets out of the bath, she’ll help you again.”
Lillian pulled the plug in the tub, and the soapy water soon disappeared. Her hair was standing on end, a greasy mess. She slowly touched her hair and looked at Helen.
“I think she’s saying she wants to wash her hair,” said Marie.
Soon the three had their bath things and, holding onto Helen, walked down the path to the steam bath. Quickly they stripped before entering the second room’s inferno.
Nicholi slowly picked up the buckets and walked down to the creek to fill them. Sam was under the trees, playing with his cars. He had built a raceway for them to go on.
“An el” (Want help)? Sam asked.
“Sure.” The two each took a five-gallon bucket, filled it up, and carried the sloshing container up to the porch.
Patrick was sitting inside the house, watching through the window, which was open for ventilation. “Why don’t you go ahead and put the water in the tub? Then it’ll be already when Lillian gets back. Better yet, why don’t you two rinse and wring them and then let Lillian hang them up?”
Two trips and the tub was full of fresh, clean water. Sam returned to his creek track, and Nicholi, standing on the porch, went back to talking to his hand. He was happy in his own world. Patrick coughed and coughed inside the house, wishing he could go out, when he heard a low rumble, which rapidly grew louder.
The loud noise startled Nicholi, who was dressed in blue jeans and a green plaid shirt of Indian Joe’s, out of his trance. Looking up, he could see a plane whose pilot looked down at him and tipped his wing to the side as if saying “hi” to the boy. Nicholi gave a slow wave, his mouth open in surprise.
Patrick yelled, “Nicholi, wave your arms! Maybe they’ll realize we need help!”
The pilot looked at the person down below. The figure was the same build as Indian Joe, who owned the cabin, and had the same black hair. He tipped the plane’s wings back up and made one more little dip to say “bye” and flew on. “Looks like Joe’s home,” he said to his copilot. “Let’s make our turn and head for our next pass on the grid.”
Helen heard the loud vibration from the low-flying plane, but she was naked in the bath and couldn’t get out fast enough. Too soon it had passed by.
Lillian and Marie looked and listened. “What was that?” asked Marie.
“Probably our search plane. Did you guys ever build the SOS on the beach?”
“We tried a couple of times, but it washes away with the tide. Too much work.”
“We have to build it every day or they might not ever find us,” said Helen with frustration in her voice. She realized she hadn’t been hearing the truth from the others. Not surprising. They probably didn’t really understand the importance of the signal. “I guess you guys are going to have to help me get down to the beach when the tide turns so we can build it. This is a priority, Marie. Don’t you get it? I’ve been trusting that you were doing it. Good thing I’m feeling better now so we can make it happen.”
They went back to scrubbing their bodies and washing their hair. It was very quiet in the bath, as everyone listened intently for sounds of search planes.
Chapter 35
Plane
After a day of watching bear catch salmon and feasting on a fabulous lunch of barbeque salmon sandwiches on sourdough bread, coleslaw, and tea, they all boarded the plane to return to Homer and the ship. Time was getting short before the ship was to sail. All were strapped in and the engine roaring as the plane floated away. Soon they were up in the air.
The tide was way out, one of the lowest for the month, in fact. The beaches were exposed everywhere, cut through with streams that flowed from the lush green forests and wound through the sand and gravel toward the grey waters of Cook Inlet.
The pilot followed the coastline north to avoid Augustine before turning east to cross Cook Inlet, aiming toward Anchor Point, the closest land on the other side. Irene, riding on the right side of the plane on the return flight, watched everything that went by. With her binoculars in hand and her forehead glued to the window, her little eyes intently surveyed the vista. This was probably her last bush plane flight for the cruise, and possibly for her lifetime.
A sharp light caught her attention, almost blinding her. She thought the light must be reflecting off some object below. She remembered the Special Olympics athletes who were lost somewhere in the area, and as she pondered that, she recognized the shape of the tail of a plane in the shallow, muddy water. She remembered her binoculars and tried to use them to focus on it. A wave washed over it, and she was able to make out 0 7 L T through the mud. The mud covered it, obscuring the numbers, and by the time the next wave came, they were already too far away; the numbers were not visible. She knew it was a small plane and the color was blue and white.
She waved her hands, pointing and exclaiming, but no one could understand her over the noise of the engines. No one but her granddaughter even seemed to notice her.
“What is it, Grandma?” Danielle yelled.
She couldn’t see what was so exciting and tried to calm her grandmother down, but Irene, not about to give in, waved larger circles and pointed down to the beach behind them even more emphatically, exclaiming as loudly as she could, “Look! Look! A plane.”
Despite her yelling as loudly as she could, no one could hear her naturally soft voice. She finally pointed two fingers toward her eyes and then out the window. Danielle tried to stretch her body to peer over the bottom of the window, but could see only grey inlet water and small waves—nothing to justify Irene’s odd behavior.
“The plane, the lost one!” Irene yelled again.
Danielle still couldn’t understand her.
The pilot noticed something was up, but didn’t know what to think about it. Was the old lady crazy or what? he wondered. He asked Nathan, who was riding next to him, “Can you see anything out there? She’s acting crazy behind you.”
Nathan knew Irene had her moments of childlike behavior, but she had been very lucid for hours. She was absent-minded, sure, but she’d never seemed unhinged. He leaned over and peered out the window to the side, and to his amazement he saw the tail of a plane in the water, receding rapidly into the distance behind them.
“Lost athletes’ plane! It’s the lost plane!” Irene yelled.
Danielle finally figured it out and thumped the pilot on the shoulder to tell him.
At the beginning of the flight the pilot had had Nathan put on the copilot’s headset so he could hear what was happening. Now he calmly told the pilot, “It’s an airplane, half sunk in the beach water. The tail is sticking out.”
“It’s the lost special Olympic athletes’ plane!” yelled Danielle.
The pilot yelled to the passengers, “We need to check it out closer. Hold on; we’re going down.” He banked the plane to the right and circled around the downed plane at a much lower altitude, almost like he was going to land in the mud.
“Can you read the numbers on it?”
“Yup, N-2-0-7-L-T,” Nathan said.
“Any sign of life?”
“None.”
“None from my side either,” said Danielle.
The pilot switched his radio to 121.5 megahertz, the emergency channel. “Mayday, Mayday, this is November 5-9-8 Echo Charlie. We have found a downed plane.”
“5-9-8 Echo Charlie, this is the US Coast Guard in Kodiak. Read you loud and clear. What is your location and what do you see?”
“Numbers on the tail, November 2-0-7 Lima Tango. It is partially submerged in Cook Inlet.” He gave the location’s latitude and longitude according to the plane’s GPS. “We’re going to circle around again and search for any survivors on shore, over.”
The radio operator repeated the given information and asked, “How much of the plane can you see at this time?”
“It’s presently tipped on its nose. I can see from the back door to the tip of the tail only. It’ll be under water soon if the tide has turned, over.”
“Looks like the plane’s in pretty good shape to me,” Danielle commented.
Nathan said, “I still don’t see any people.”
The pilot radioed, “We’re looking on shore for any signs of life, SOS
markers, firepits.”
“Those athletes must be out there somewhere,” Irene said to herself. She focused intently out the window but saw nothing human.
After several passes, the pilot radioed, “I can only make one more pass before I have to get my passengers back to their ship.”
Another pilot that was flying grid patterns slightly south of the downed Cessna came on the radio. “Kodiak, this is November 7-9-8-1 Zulu. Just want you to know we will continue searching in the area of the partially submerged plane to relieve the previous pilot. Over.”
“7-9-8-1 Zulu, this is 5-9-8 Echo Charlie. I see you coming, thanks. Good luck finding them. I’m switching off the emergency channel. Over.”
The pilot changed channels and called, “ Homer Radio, this is November 5-9-8 Echo Charlie. I am northwest of Augustine Island, increasing altitude to 2100 and heading across Cook Inlet, destination Beluga Lake. Estimated arrival time, thirteen ten. Over.”
“Copy that 5-9-8 Echo Charlie.”
Nathan yelled back, “Good job finding the plane, Irene! It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Amazing that you saw it!”
“You betcha!” said the pilot.
Danielle smiled and grasped Irene’s hand with pride. “That’s my grandma. She’s amazing.”
Irene grinned at each of the people in the plane. She yelled as loudly as possible, “I just hope they find all the athletes and their pilot.”
“It’s been two weeks now. That’s a long time,” yelled Danielle.
“It must have been terrible over here by that volcano,” yelled Nathan to the pilot through the headset.
“Yeah, like living in Hell,” he answered.
Chapter 36
Mark’s Ideas
Mark sat in the FAA Flight Service Station at Homer Airport, thinking about the search efforts under way. So they finally found the plane, partially submerged, but on a beach. That’s good. Tides were strong, and with the storms it could have crashed and later washed away. Maybe they got out. They could be alive, he concluded. If they had survived the volcano, he knew they could be alive over there somewhere. No one knew where, just somewhere. He needed to keep his ears open for all reports in that region. They could be miles away, miles away with the extreme tidal currents in Cook Inlet.
Let Us Be Brave Page 20