A couple of times recently I have had the opportunity to ride along for the day with a MARC pilot to gain a better understanding of how they serve the remote areas of this land.
We start at 8:00 AM for a short time of devotion and prayer. This allows us to share with each other, connect with God, and focus on what we are working towards.
Shortly after, we preflight, retrieve and load the aircraft full of groceries, two push lawnmowers, and even large heavy pressurized propane tanks (that was kinda unnerving at first...).
The first day we were gone about 12 hours from base and made the following flights:
1. Groceries and propane tanks from Soldotna to Tanalian Bible Camp at Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
2. A load of Bible camp kids from Port Alsworth going home to Dillingham (1hr flight)
3. A load of new Bible camp kids from Dillingham to Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
4. Another load of Bible camp kids going home from Port Alsworth to Dillingham (1hr flight)
5. Another load of new Bible camp kids from Dillingham to Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
6. Another load of Bible camp kids going home from Port Alsworth to Dillingham (1hr flight)
7. Pick up some more new Bible camp kids in Manokotak going to Port Alsworth (1hr 15min)
8. Drop off our last load going to Tanalian Bible Camp in Port Alsworth and head home to Soldotna (1hr flight)
We got back to base in Soldotna around 10PM. Nine flights, hundreds of pounds of groceries, hundreds of pounds of propane tanks, two lawnmowers, and dozens of Bible camp kids.
That was just one day of the week. There are other flight crews with other aircraft flying similar missions in other parts of the state at the same time. Summer is busy up here.
