Smithsonian Channel’s Ice Airport Alaska returns for a double-header of frozen Alaskan adventures this Sunday. First up: supplying a remote homesteader by air. The weather is so brutal it would make a team of Iditarod Huskies whimper and call for Mom. Meanwhile, some enterprising bush pilots dust off a vintage 1940s aircraft, aiming to show that classic technology still has a place in the modern Alaskan wilderness. We’ll also check in with aspiring mechanics enduring a particularly frigid on-the-job learning experience and a night watchman possibly ready to trade his aurora borealis view for a less bone-chilling gig.
Later, in “Fight of the Goose,” things get even more… interesting? A Coast Guard crew airlifts a twelve-ton fuel truck. The line between bravery and recklessness blurs. We also meet an athlete determined to reach a remote airport for a glacier race, because apparently frostbite adds a certain je ne sais quoi to a Sunday afternoon. Back in Fairbanks, the airport battles a full-blown bird infestation. And, in a moment sure to please aviation enthusiasts, a vintage Grumman Goose aircraft gets pulled out of mothballs after a decade-long museum residency.
Ice Airport Alaska airs Sunday at 8/7c and 9/8c on Smithsonian Channel.
