/ 2008 Archived Material / Iditarod Air Force Pilot Adventure

Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Iditarod Air Force Pilot Adventure

by Jane Blaile

 

 Sunday was a very eventful day for long time Iditarod Air Force pilot Joe Pendergrass. He shared this story with me. He had 10 dogs in his plane, flying from Ruby to McGrath.  For their and any passenger's safety, the dogs are hooked to a cable in the plane.  One of the 10 dogs he was carrying got loose and started running from the front, over the other dogs, and to the back.  Oh, no!  On one trip to the back, he got the cord from one of the headsets wrapped around him.  So Joe unbuckled his seat belt and climbed over the seat REALLY QUICKLY and unplugged the headset, and returned to the pilot seat safely. Wow!  The loose dog then climbed over the cargo net and got into the extended baggage compartment all the way in the back of the plane. That changed the weight and balance of the plane, so he had to push extra hard on the yoke to compensate.  Gee!  As if that wasn't enough already, his door popped open because the dogs were leaning against it really hard.  Yikes!  He couldn't get it closed without pulling the dogs away from it.  Just about the time he thought everything was going to be OK (What more could possibly happen?) a dog had diarrhea and it went all over the engine cover and back panel and side walls.  Ew!  This story has a happy ending.  When Joe arrived in McGrath, he got his engine cover and plane cleaned up.  Yeah!  Will this make Joe think twice about volunteering for next year's Iditarod?  Not a chance.  He is a dedicated race volunteer and this just adds to his list of experiences to share as he sits around the tables with others and their stories of the trail.

 

Writing:  Notice the use of interjections.  Use interjections to describe a memorable event for you.