I’m back in Aniak after a trip to New Orleans and Santiago, Chile. I’ve been working in Alaska for a year now. I started as a copilot of the Cessna Caravan and now I’m captain of the Cessna 207. I work the first half of every month and travel the second. It’s amazing what flight benefits can do. I’m on day 2 of this shift and this one is already rough. The temperature bordered on 0 degrees celsius all day. What that means is that the cold dark hand of ice was trying to drag my plane into the trees below. The sketchy weather led to a lot of sitting around explaining to pushy passengers that we didn’t want to die today and we wouldn’t risk our lives for their freight.