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More than a state,
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Alaska is almost a continent all its own.
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You know you're looking out the window
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at the scenery, it's astounding.
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They say there are over three million lakes
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in Alaska, but who in the world could ever count them?
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They literally look like diamonds,
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just exploding off this green valley.
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Just the beauty, the immensity of the earth,
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as far as you can see is open country,
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and it's just beautiful.
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And for all its breathtaking natural beauty,
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it carries with it an element of danger
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in the hazardous terrain, the treacherous weather,
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and the predatory animals.
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From the dangerous flying conditions,
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to extreme weather, and avalanches.
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There's no roads in Alaska.
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There's just no way to get to these locations.
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This is a land where man
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is not at the top of the food chain.
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This can be a very dangerous place.
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There's a lot of different ways you can die out here.
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It's not just from the animals.
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Hypothermia can set in very easily here.
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Alaska's just basically brutal and raw.
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The minute you don't give the land here its respect,
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it's probably gonna eat you, just like a bear would.
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Pound for pound, they're probably the toughest,
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strongest animal on this planet.
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You can't even imagine how strong they are.
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There ain't nothing bigger that eats meat out there.
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And we're meat.
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Alaska is a breathtaking place.
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Beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife
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can be found throughout the state.
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Nicknamed The Last Frontier, but Alaska also holds dangers
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that are not to be taken lightly.
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There are more accidental deaths per person here
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than any other state in America.
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This is due to several factors,
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including the high rate of flights in small aircraft,
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arctic weather patterns,
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and deadly encounters with wildlife.
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While most to travel into the back country of Alaska
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are keenly aware of the presence of gigantic brown bear
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and other dangerous predators,
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harsh and unpredictable weather can be just as deadly.
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Over 30 people die of hypothermia in Alaska every year.
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At a rate of 6.4 deaths per 100 thousand people,
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the most in the U.S.
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When you get wet and cold in Alaska this time of year,
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it's that perfect time of year to get hypothermia.
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There are many ways that Alaska can kill.
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(dramatic music)
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The black bear, the brown bear, and the grizzly bear
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of Alaska are powerful creatures
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that demand caution and respect.
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Wild bears are curious animals
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that usually come and go without incident.
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But under certain conditions,
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a bear encounter can quickly turn into a deadly attack.
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You're always ready for a bear
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to be just around the corner, or just behind the bush.
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These are powerful animals; they can kill you quick.
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You have to be prepared at all times,
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because you don't know what these animals are gonna do.
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They are wild, and you just have
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to take them very seriously.
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Good Lord, look at that!
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It's kinda surreal,
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and it's definitely a dangerous place to be,
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and you always have to be aware of where you're at.
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The further you travel
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into the wilderness of Alaska,
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the more likely you are to come across
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a dangerous encounter with wildlife.
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While floating down a remote river in western Alaska,
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humans quickly find themselves outnumbered by bears.
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Sit still, sit still.
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It's a young female.
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It's amazing.
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These animals are just gorgeous.
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Yeah, unless of course they're trying to get you.
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Of course, the more remote you get,
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the more you clearly realize
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that things can happen out here.
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You have no control over it all.
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You have to remember, we're in their home.
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We're in their territory,
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and they are gonna protect what's theirs.
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They are wild, and you just have
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to take them very seriously.
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And you always gotta be aware, you know.
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You gotta be aware of your surroundings,
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'cause you never know where there's gonna be a bear.
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Three bears.
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Three bears right there.
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(laughs)
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Big old blond bears.
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I think we came to the right place.
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Getting this close to the largest
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land-based carnivore on earth,
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is an adrenaline inducing experience.
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These massive beasts can reach
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speeds of 50 kilometers per hour,
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and can quickly run down wild prey,
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including the two-legged variety,
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but if you can maintain a safe distance,
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seeing one of Alaska's awesome bears
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up close is an unforgettable moment.
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Two bears.
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The sow is behind him, up in the bushes.
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Just to see a grizz,
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I mean, it's a whole different world.
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When you get in the grizzly realm, everything changes.
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(peaceful music)
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As the summer days become shorter and shorter,
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it signals the approach of the frigid Alaskan winter,
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but before the annual freeze moves in,
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Alaska will experience another annual cycle,
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as each fall, hundreds of millions of salmon swim upriver
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to spawn and die, which acts as a dinner bell
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for the massive bears that gorge themselves in advance
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of their upcoming winter hibernation.
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So Flip, we have a good sign, we found salmon.
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We've been looking for salmon,
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and we kinda hit the end of the salmon run
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a little bit late, but they're still here.
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This one is washed up, he's ready to die,
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and the bears are gonna come out looking for him.
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But that's good, bears like those
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stinky--
That's right.
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They'll scavenge on these for another, what, week maybe.
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Yeah.
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Every year, the bears move
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to the rivers of Alaska to find easy meals,
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which creates close encounters with humans.
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(dramatic music)
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(bears growl)
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(dramatic music)
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A team of bear experts are traveling upriver
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to try to get an accurate count
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of the local bear populations,
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and to study the male to female ratio in the wild.
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But identifying the sex of a brown bear
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can be a challenging task.
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If the bear has a slender face,
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then that's probably a female.
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Roger, Roger, look, do you see this one?
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Might be a she.
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You think it's a female?
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Yeah, it's gorgeous.
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As soon as she turned towards us,
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it was confirmed that she had to be a female.
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Her face was slender, and her shoulders were really narrow.
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All her weight was carried inward.
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Whereas the male that we had seen, his shoulders were big,
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and all his weight was outside of his shoulders.
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What do you think, Sarah?
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It's pretty small, like a small male.
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What you're calling small is not small.
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It's a big bear.
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He's still a big bear.
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Our black bear's aren't that big.
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Well that's 'cause you're used
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to the size of a good black bear,
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but that's not what we're looking for.
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It's amazing how close we're getting to him.
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There he goes, looky, looky.
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Man, he's quick, isn't he?
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(cheerful music)
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Yeah, just about every year,
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there's people that are wounded, maimed,
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and even killed by bears, you know?
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We read it in the paper every so often,
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and so the chances of us getting
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nailed by one is even greater.
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When you're in close proximity,
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100 yards and in from a big animal like this,
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he's just seconds away from being on you.
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So everything's gotta work.
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Now, as beautiful and majestic as these animals are,
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they're also very dangerous.
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We must respect them tremendously.
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They're extremely powerful, extremely quick,
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I think most people know that, from the dead start,
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they'll be the quarter horse for the first 50 yards.
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If you're looking at an animal between 600 and 900 pounds.
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The power in these bears, they're just brutes.
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When they start popping their jaws,
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that's their way of telling you,
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you really should not be where you are now.
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You have to be careful, you have to be very alert,
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because things can go wrong.
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A grizzly bear can flip over boulders
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and split open tree trunks.
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Its bite is among the strongest in the animal kingdom.
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Even its sense of smell is over
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2,000 times stronger than ours.
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It's like a ghost, it's like a ghost.
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You never, you never hear them coming.
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They're absolutely amazing.
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Their power, when you watch them take a moose leg bone,
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and they just pop it like you would chew
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on an overdone chicken bone.
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I've got a very good friend in Nome,
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who was severely mauled two years ago.
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They were hunting grizzlies,
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and they were tracking them with snowmobiles,
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and apparently the bear had gone up over,
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into some area where there was not much snow,
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and he turned back, so they weren't really on his track,
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and he stopped to work with his camera.
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The bear came out of the deep snow,
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and by the time he realized what was happening,
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he looked up and there was no time at all.
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The bear ripped his lower jaw off,
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and ripped his vocal cords out.
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Nothing punctured his brain, the helmet saved his life.
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As Wesley said in his own words, he's been through hell.
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You know, 99 bears out of 100 will probably leave you alone,
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but every once in a while you'll come across
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the one percent that will charge, will attack.
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And the power in a grizzly bear is just phenomenal.
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While the brown bear has the reputation
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of the most dangerous animal in the Alaskan wilderness,
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the smaller black bear is also a creature
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to be respectful and mindful of.
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These cagey predators can quickly turn a peaceful encounter
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into a fight for life or death.
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Over 600 thousand black bears live across North America,
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making them by far the most populous subspecies
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of bear in the world.
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And as urban sprawl moves into bear habitat,
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deadly attacks are on the rise,
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wherever these fearless bruins roam,
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including the summer of 2017, when two black bear fatalities
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occurred on consecutive days in Alaska.
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Darren DeLuca once survived a bear attack
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while guiding a client through the back country.
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We were moving in on a black bear,
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and he was laying in the sedge grass there,
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and we could only see part of him.
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And so I lined the hunter up, I said get ready.
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When he gets up, take your shot.
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And the bear got up on just two legs,
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just on his front legs, and the hunter shot.
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So he shot a little early, didn't let the bear stand up,
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and he ended up gut-shooting the bear.
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You know, with a gutshot bear it could take days
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for that bear to die out, so we had to go in after him.
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Followed for about another hundred yards,
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so we'd been tracking this bear
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for probably about 250 yards, and suddenly I turned,
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and the bear was charging.
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And it came busting out of the bush
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so fast that I couldn't swing my gun.
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The bear leaped, and I could see the bear going for my face.
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That was the one thing I remember the most,
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and it clawed me across the face,
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and clawed me across the chest,
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and I was holding it like this,
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and then the bear dropped to the ground
265
00:12:15,780 --> 00:12:18,340
and it went back down the tunnel we had just come out of.
266
00:12:18,340 --> 00:12:19,580
You know, the adrenaline was pumping,
267
00:12:19,580 --> 00:12:21,350
so I dropped down to my hands and knees,
268
00:12:21,350 --> 00:12:23,210
and I could see the bear in front of me,
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00:12:23,210 --> 00:12:25,110
and I was going fast, and he was going fast,
270
00:12:25,110 --> 00:12:26,920
and suddenly the bear took a left turn
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00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,520
and went off a side tunnel.
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00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,105
We ended up finding it dead up the trail,
273
00:12:31,105 --> 00:12:32,999
about another 300 yards.
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00:12:32,999 --> 00:12:35,749
(dramatic music)
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00:12:42,140 --> 00:12:43,030
They're sneaky.
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I've been stalked here like three or four times.
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00:12:46,950 --> 00:12:49,730
They basically wanna kill you.
278
00:12:49,730 --> 00:12:52,900
It's their, their thought goes from
279
00:12:52,900 --> 00:12:57,330
not eliminating the threat, they kinda see you as food.
280
00:12:57,330 --> 00:12:58,790
Outdoorsmen should be well aware
281
00:12:58,790 --> 00:13:02,800
of this 140-kilogram beast, underrated lethality,
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00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:04,370
leveraging its cunning speed
283
00:13:04,370 --> 00:13:07,260
and extraordinary sense of smell to close quickly
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on its prey with deadly results.
285
00:13:09,610 --> 00:13:10,940
With spring in the air,
286
00:13:10,940 --> 00:13:13,920
the black bears have awoken from their winter hibernation,
287
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,440
and are now hungry to refill their bodies with calories.
288
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,230
See one watering there.
289
00:13:19,230 --> 00:13:21,410
Looks like he's on a mission.
290
00:13:21,410 --> 00:13:24,220
It seems like when the smaller ones
291
00:13:24,220 --> 00:13:26,143
come out and start wandering around,
292
00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:29,550
usually a little after that, or a little later,
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00:13:29,550 --> 00:13:31,600
is when you'd start to see the bigger ones.
294
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,230
These bears came out of their dens
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00:13:33,230 --> 00:13:35,600
about a couple weeks ago,
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00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,350
and they literally have starved themselves for six months.
297
00:13:40,350 --> 00:13:42,460
And these bears are very, very hungry.
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00:13:42,460 --> 00:13:44,020
Most of the areas they don't seem
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to be quite as aggressive as this area, and like I say,
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00:13:46,630 --> 00:13:49,360
I believe it is because of the high population,
301
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,670
and I believe it is because they're,
302
00:13:51,670 --> 00:13:54,680
the black bears are also competing with the brown bears.
303
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I think it makes them a more aggressive bear.
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00:13:56,950 --> 00:13:58,290
And with each other,
305
00:13:58,290 --> 00:14:01,050
they tend to try to push each other off the food.
306
00:14:01,050 --> 00:14:04,310
There's plenty of food here, but I think that's just it.
307
00:14:04,310 --> 00:14:06,670
I think the population's so high
308
00:14:06,670 --> 00:14:08,850
it makes them more aggressive.
309
00:14:08,850 --> 00:14:10,180
The only time you really get attacked
310
00:14:10,180 --> 00:14:13,653
is if you surprise a bear, or a sow with cubs.
311
00:14:16,610 --> 00:14:18,680
Hairs on the back of my neck were standing up
312
00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:20,954
straight up when that little bear started mauling,
313
00:14:20,954 --> 00:14:22,980
and she started running around the bottom,
314
00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:24,760
and looking for some trouble, and she,
315
00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,520
that's what she does, and she will literally kill herself
316
00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,270
to protect that little baby cub.
317
00:14:30,270 --> 00:14:32,400
There is perhaps nothing more dangerous
318
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,060
in the Alaskan back country than to find yourself
319
00:14:35,060 --> 00:14:39,083
in an encounter with a mother bear protecting her cubs.
320
00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:44,720
We went up on the hill, and we were glassing around,
321
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,470
and I noticed that there was a bunch of ravens,
322
00:14:47,470 --> 00:14:50,700
and that they were circling, and a lot of times ravens,
323
00:14:50,700 --> 00:14:53,530
they circle around kills that might be a bear kill,
324
00:14:53,530 --> 00:14:55,300
it might be just an animal wounded,
325
00:14:55,300 --> 00:14:58,190
but in this particular situation,
326
00:14:58,190 --> 00:14:59,800
we saw the ravens flying around,
327
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,650
and we wanted to go and check it out.
328
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,170
Researchers often carry rifles
329
00:15:08,170 --> 00:15:10,870
into the Alaskan bush to make sure they have protection
330
00:15:10,870 --> 00:15:14,600
in case they find themselves in such a deadly situation.
331
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:16,020
You know, you're always cautious,
332
00:15:16,020 --> 00:15:17,980
but at least you can see around you.
333
00:15:17,980 --> 00:15:20,020
This time we were going into some really thick brush.
334
00:15:20,020 --> 00:15:22,490
You couldn't see around you very well, it was getting dark.
335
00:15:22,490 --> 00:15:25,240
We came across what we think is a caribou leg,
336
00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:26,903
and then things got serious.
337
00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,320
We went a little bit farther in,
338
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,598
and then that's where we noticed there was a sow with cubs.
339
00:15:36,598 --> 00:15:37,627
Oh, she's got, she's got--
340
00:15:37,627 --> 00:15:38,460
She's got cubs, she's got cubs.
341
00:15:38,460 --> 00:15:39,293
Warning shot.
342
00:15:39,293 --> 00:15:43,362
I got you covered, I got you covered.
343
00:15:43,362 --> 00:15:45,112
Go, go, go!
344
00:15:46,754 --> 00:15:48,173
Good, she's gone.
345
00:15:48,173 --> 00:15:49,206
We got her running.
346
00:15:49,206 --> 00:15:50,344
All right, let's get out of here.
347
00:15:50,344 --> 00:15:51,240
Let's get out of here.
348
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,960
We fired off a warning shot to try to scare her away,
349
00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:55,990
and we cautiously backed out of the woods.
350
00:15:55,990 --> 00:15:57,870
We actually are seeing the most dangerous thing
351
00:15:57,870 --> 00:15:59,760
we could've seen at that point,
352
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,060
and that was a sow and her two cubs,
353
00:16:02,060 --> 00:16:05,890
and that's when it really got a little spooky to be honest.
354
00:16:05,890 --> 00:16:07,110
'Cause you don't know what they're gonna do.
355
00:16:07,110 --> 00:16:09,260
That sow's gonna protect the cubs,
356
00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:12,260
and she is for sure gonna protect that meat,
357
00:16:12,260 --> 00:16:14,300
and hide that she's just hauled off,
358
00:16:14,300 --> 00:16:18,010
so that was a dangerous situation for sure.
359
00:16:18,010 --> 00:16:19,010
We're still in bear country.
360
00:16:19,010 --> 00:16:21,320
You cannot get comfortable, anything can happen,
361
00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:22,620
and anything can go wrong.
362
00:16:28,017 --> 00:16:30,434
(calm music)
363
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:37,830
The dangers of Alaska
364
00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:40,030
are not restricted to the ground.
365
00:16:40,030 --> 00:16:43,630
The weather here is notorious for violent mood swings,
366
00:16:43,630 --> 00:16:46,333
making this a challenging location to fly in.
367
00:16:48,890 --> 00:16:51,070
Alaska is not a tame lion.
368
00:16:51,070 --> 00:16:54,690
Beautiful, majestic, but not to be messed with.
369
00:16:58,941 --> 00:17:01,691
(dramatic music)
370
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:10,500
Alaska averages over
371
00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:15,423
100 plane crashes annually, and one in 10 are fatal.
372
00:17:16,690 --> 00:17:18,590
If you fly in Alaska, anytime at all,
373
00:17:18,590 --> 00:17:19,750
you're gonna have close calls.
374
00:17:19,750 --> 00:17:23,523
Whether it's a mechanical issue, or whatever.
375
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,550
Flight plans are frequently changed
376
00:17:27,550 --> 00:17:29,130
due to threatening weather.
377
00:17:29,130 --> 00:17:33,413
A seemingly safe route one minute can quickly turn lethal.
378
00:17:33,413 --> 00:17:35,040
This is usually the worst spot.
379
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,520
It is more dangerous to fly in Alaska than other places.
380
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,300
It's the unknowns, it's the weather,
381
00:17:40,300 --> 00:17:42,350
and the wind, and the mountains,
382
00:17:42,350 --> 00:17:45,763
and all the things you encounter that you can't predict.
383
00:17:48,090 --> 00:17:49,893
There is quite a swell.
384
00:17:51,057 --> 00:17:51,950
[Deep-Voiced Man On Radio] I mean, with these big seas,
385
00:17:51,950 --> 00:17:54,643
easy to get this show, it's right in the water, so,
386
00:17:57,490 --> 00:18:01,120
between those areas, you're gonna have shears.
387
00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,720
Shears are quick changes in wind direction,
388
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,517
creating hazardous flying conditions.
389
00:18:05,517 --> 00:18:08,561
[Deep-Voiced Man On Radio] I'm just gonna stay down.
390
00:18:08,561 --> 00:18:11,311
(exciting music)
391
00:18:20,620 --> 00:18:22,030
The state of Alaska is home
392
00:18:22,030 --> 00:18:24,010
to 39 different mountain ranges,
393
00:18:24,010 --> 00:18:26,400
with gigantic peaks and deep valleys
394
00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,470
that can trap pilots with rapidly changing conditions.
395
00:18:29,470 --> 00:18:31,350
Flying in Alaska has been compared
396
00:18:31,350 --> 00:18:33,540
to flying inside a glass of milk.
397
00:18:33,540 --> 00:18:35,760
This can lead to a catastrophic condition
398
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,080
known as controlled flight into terrain,
399
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,640
which means a fully functioning aircraft
400
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,070
has crashed into the ground, or the side of a mountain,
401
00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:47,900
due to the lack of visibility or situational awareness.
402
00:18:47,900 --> 00:18:50,180
Unwavering commitment is required
403
00:18:50,180 --> 00:18:54,500
in this dangerous business, as every day pilots in Alaska
404
00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:57,240
are faced with life and death scenarios.
405
00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,160
These are dangers that veteran pilot,
406
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,930
Bob Stanford, knows all too well.
407
00:19:01,930 --> 00:19:02,983
Anton Larson.
408
00:19:04,508 --> 00:19:06,400
It happened June 30 of 1995,
409
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,560
one of the few dates I can remember.
410
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,053
We flew out to a village and picked up a group of people.
411
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,660
They were all close friends, who all knew each other.
412
00:19:20,660 --> 00:19:23,603
There was a line of nine of us, and I was in the lead.
413
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,620
I flew around a place called Yunuzinky Narrows,
414
00:19:28,620 --> 00:19:29,823
which is all over water.
415
00:19:33,180 --> 00:19:38,180
I had this gut feeling to hang around and wait for Chris.
416
00:19:39,230 --> 00:19:42,190
Everything in my life, my natural life,
417
00:19:42,190 --> 00:19:44,583
told me this is not what I should do.
418
00:19:48,860 --> 00:19:51,443
I flew down to the basin, landed in the channel.
419
00:19:53,660 --> 00:19:58,050
Chris got into the pass but he tried to turn around
420
00:19:58,050 --> 00:20:00,150
at the very narrowest portion of the pass.
421
00:20:06,050 --> 00:20:07,900
About 10 minutes later I heard these,
422
00:20:09,853 --> 00:20:12,110
all these sirens headed back out there,
423
00:20:12,110 --> 00:20:15,653
just going by me, and I knew right there.
424
00:20:18,660 --> 00:20:21,163
You see crosses on the side of the hill.
425
00:20:22,460 --> 00:20:23,913
I see their faces.
426
00:20:30,910 --> 00:20:33,663
It'd change him as a pilot, it'd change him as a person.
427
00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:36,980
You know, it affected me, it still does.
428
00:20:48,729 --> 00:20:51,320
(exciting music)
429
00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,440
Kodiak Island is the second largest island
430
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,560
in the United States, and lies 50 kilometers south
431
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,470
of the Alaskan mainland, nicknamed The Rock.
432
00:21:00,470 --> 00:21:03,270
Kodiak's extreme weather and rugged mountain peaks
433
00:21:03,270 --> 00:21:07,680
make it a challenging, even deadly, location for aviators.
434
00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:09,700
Kodiak is a tough place to fly,
435
00:21:09,700 --> 00:21:13,430
because of, you know, challenging terrain,
436
00:21:13,430 --> 00:21:16,330
and even more so is the challenging weather conditions.
437
00:21:16,330 --> 00:21:17,960
Within a period of 15 minutes,
438
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,380
you can go from sunshine to nearly zero zero and fog.
439
00:21:22,380 --> 00:21:23,980
A quickly changing weather pattern
440
00:21:23,980 --> 00:21:27,693
is to blame for one of the worst days in this pilot's life.
441
00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:32,890
July 13, 1989, I was going on down to a fish camp
442
00:21:32,890 --> 00:21:36,080
near Moser Bay to pick up some folks, and bring them back,
443
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,010
into Kodiak, and on the way back,
444
00:21:38,010 --> 00:21:40,380
as I was going along Sharatin Mountain,
445
00:21:40,380 --> 00:21:42,520
as soon as I got to the top of the pass,
446
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:43,860
I was in the clouds.
447
00:21:43,860 --> 00:21:46,013
And now I don't know how low I'm getting.
448
00:21:46,900 --> 00:21:48,760
To me, the thing that's most frightening,
449
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,260
is when I can't see where I'm going.
450
00:21:51,260 --> 00:21:53,400
But within a minute or two I saw
451
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,440
a patch of grass off to my left,
452
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,530
and I realized then that I was closer to the mountain
453
00:21:58,530 --> 00:22:01,170
than I thought I was, I was scared to death.
454
00:22:01,170 --> 00:22:04,063
So I just cut the power, started pumping flaps.
455
00:22:04,970 --> 00:22:06,120
I'm gonna cut my losses here,
456
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,343
and make sure that touch down under control.
457
00:22:09,220 --> 00:22:12,020
You know, this should be survivable.
458
00:22:12,020 --> 00:22:13,030
And so that's what I did.
459
00:22:13,030 --> 00:22:15,130
I set it down on the side of the mountain,
460
00:22:15,990 --> 00:22:19,710
and we slid along for just 40 or 50 feet,
461
00:22:19,710 --> 00:22:22,713
and then the plane slid sideways down the mountain,
462
00:22:23,950 --> 00:22:25,453
and then we hit a gully.
463
00:22:26,870 --> 00:22:29,110
Both the front seats ripped out of the floor.
464
00:22:29,110 --> 00:22:30,710
Course, I was knocked unconscious.
465
00:22:30,710 --> 00:22:33,130
So when I came to, about that time,
466
00:22:33,130 --> 00:22:37,740
the male passenger said, Dave, it's on fire.
467
00:22:37,740 --> 00:22:39,710
I reach down, you know, between my legs,
468
00:22:39,710 --> 00:22:40,730
grab the fire extinguisher,
469
00:22:40,730 --> 00:22:43,660
handed it to him, and he put the fire out.
470
00:22:43,660 --> 00:22:48,310
I broke both ankles, I had my head split open.
471
00:22:48,310 --> 00:22:50,290
I knew that 10 minutes getting help
472
00:22:50,290 --> 00:22:53,050
might be the difference in surviving or not surviving.
473
00:22:53,050 --> 00:22:56,210
They managed to lift us off the mountain that evening.
474
00:22:56,210 --> 00:22:57,940
When you start getting too comfortable
475
00:22:57,940 --> 00:23:00,170
with where you are in aviation,
476
00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:02,200
then you should start getting these little voice
477
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:05,380
in your head saying, think about what you're doing.
478
00:23:05,380 --> 00:23:08,732
You know, what could go wrong here?
479
00:23:08,732 --> 00:23:11,482
(dramatic music)
480
00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:14,180
The perils of taking to the sky
481
00:23:14,180 --> 00:23:17,743
can shake the nerves of even the most experienced pilots.
482
00:23:22,730 --> 00:23:25,820
Because of Alaska's massive size and remoteness,
483
00:23:25,820 --> 00:23:28,820
forest fires are commonly fought from the air.
484
00:23:28,820 --> 00:23:33,020
There are over 500 wildfires a year in Alaska,
485
00:23:33,020 --> 00:23:35,960
and they are often inaccessible to crews on the ground.
486
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,650
To fight these infernos, crews take to the sky.
487
00:23:39,650 --> 00:23:41,090
There's no roads in Alaska.
488
00:23:41,090 --> 00:23:43,740
There's just no way to get to these locations.
489
00:23:43,740 --> 00:23:46,000
So there is actually a very close tie
490
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,720
between Alaskan aviation and firefighting.
491
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,750
So many of the state's firefighters
492
00:23:51,750 --> 00:23:54,890
are pilots that battle these infernos from above,
493
00:23:54,890 --> 00:23:58,220
mixing two of the most dangerous jobs in the world
494
00:23:58,220 --> 00:24:00,300
can be a recipe for disaster.
495
00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:02,900
99 percent of all of the wild land fires
496
00:24:02,900 --> 00:24:04,140
are fought with aircraft,
497
00:24:04,140 --> 00:24:08,590
and about half of the firefighter deaths on the memorial
498
00:24:08,590 --> 00:24:11,680
are pilots that were engaged in firefighting.
499
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,970
One that sticks out in my mind,
500
00:24:13,970 --> 00:24:17,210
large DC-3 firefighting aircraft was taking off,
501
00:24:17,210 --> 00:24:21,390
and on takeoff, either an engine failed,
502
00:24:21,390 --> 00:24:24,580
or they were overloaded, and for whatever reason,
503
00:24:24,580 --> 00:24:27,243
it then nose-dived down and crashed.
504
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,260
There was 27 people on board the aircraft.
505
00:24:33,260 --> 00:24:35,310
Four people died in the incident.
506
00:24:35,310 --> 00:24:38,730
It was a number of years ago, and safety,
507
00:24:38,730 --> 00:24:41,950
and investigations, and finding out what went wrong,
508
00:24:41,950 --> 00:24:45,160
was just not at the level that it is now.
509
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,250
So we will never know to this day what could have happened,
510
00:24:49,250 --> 00:24:52,780
and maybe that's the big tragedy of it all,
511
00:24:52,780 --> 00:24:55,720
because we aren't able to then make changes
512
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,201
so that it never happens again.
513
00:24:58,201 --> 00:25:00,951
(dramatic music)
514
00:25:15,291 --> 00:25:18,170
Danger is no stranger to Alaska.
515
00:25:18,170 --> 00:25:20,430
From flights in small aircraft,
516
00:25:20,430 --> 00:25:23,470
to frigid weather, to the aggressive bears,
517
00:25:23,470 --> 00:25:27,150
injury and even death is not uncommon,
518
00:25:27,150 --> 00:25:31,533
and tragedy is an everyday stanza in this song of life.
40665
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