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Yup'ik Raven This collection of student work is from Frank Keim's classes. He wants to share these works for others to use as an example of culturally-based curriculum and documentation. These documents have been OCR-scanned and are available for educational use only.


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Blown off the Airstrip

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Blown off the Airstrip

There is one airplane trip that Palassa Fitka will never forget. In the summer of 1985, Buggy, Lillian Nicolai, Jaelene Nicolai, Leo Fitka, and Pal were going to Marshall from Bethel in a Coastal Aviation Cessna. Leo and Pal were returning home from a Maserculiq Corporation meeting that was held in Anchorage.

While they were landing at the airport they were pushed by a very strong tail wind blowing at a very high speed. The pilot realized that they were going too fast to stop before running off the runway, so he gunned the throttle and tried to take off. But the plane and passengers were too heavy and the take-off space was too short. They had no choice but to overshoot the airstrip at take-off speed, and they jumped off the end and hit a couple of trees, breaking both of them before they came to a stop. One of the airplane's wings had a hole in it and the pilot told the passengers to quickly jump on the ground and lay down for a while, just in case there was an explosion.

The airplane was a wreck but there were no serious injuries. The only one who was injured was the pilot, and all he had was a little cut on his face.

"I was so scared that my mind just went blank during the crash," Pal said. "I used to enjoy flying very much but after that crash I don't feel as comfortable flying anymore.''

By: Palassa Fitka

Interview by: Chris Fitka

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