A major snowstorm disrupts Christmas travel in Anchorage; bush pilots aid an Arctic village after a fire; ice jeopardizes an airborne science mission; Customs agents combat a surge in illegal holiday food imports.

The Flight Before Christmas

Shivering Timbers

Mountain Sheep, Pizza Pie

An orphaned bear cub flies to a new home, bush pilots bring life-saving medical machinery to a remote village, record snowfall threatens to close down Anchorage Airport for Thanksgiving, and the US Army prepares for airborne war.

Flight of the Grizzly

A breakdown on the Fairbanks runway threatens a heavy-weight military jet's urgent mission; a rookie flight instructor faces a make-or-break flight; an ice-tour pilot races against Alaskan weather; a bush airline flies a 400-mile pizza delivery.

A Coast Guard chopper pilot battles winds in a mission that will decide her flying career, a mountain construction project gets an express aerial delivery of materials in Alaska-style, and two bald eagles hitch a first-class rid.

A trainee chopper pilot tackles a mid-air engine shutdown. Bush pilots face a high-altitude test on an aerial grocery run. The US Army in Alaska launch their biggest helicopter deployment ever, and an Arctic-sports phenom flies.

Flight to Glory

Scientists fly to save Anchorage from avalanche destruction. Border agents stop a potential insect invasion at Anchorage International. A bush pilot flies explosive cargo for a village festival, and the Coast Guard race to repair a rescue helicopter.

Avalanche Warning

A DC-6  flies into fuel-freezing weather to deliver vital medicine. A rookie Coast Guard rescue swimmer faces his final helicopter test. An engine fault could ruin the flightseeing season, and a blizzard threatens to close two international airports.

The Big Chill

Two pilots try to build a new bush plane from 70-year-old designs. The Army gets its big guns airborne to protect America's north. Hurricane-force winds threaten Anchorage International, and NASA scientists blast off from Alaska's own Cape Canaveral.

Sunspot

A pilot races to fly food to a homesteader. Entrepreneurs reviving a 1940's airframe land on ice to prove it can be the future of bush flying. Trainee plane mechanics face a crucial test, and an airport night guardian calls time on a 30-year career.

Runway Meltdown

The Coast Guard flies a twelve-ton fuel truck to keep a remote base operational. An athlete flies to a dangerous airport for a glacier race. Fairbanks crews fight an avian invasion, and after a decade in a museum, a Grumman Goose takes to the skies.

Flight of the Goose

A chronicle of the daily challenges of the airport staff who manage to keep the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) open, freight flowing, and passengers flying, all despite weather that regularly dips to -38 Fahrenheit and wind speeds that typically exceed 100 mph.

The Flight Before Christmas

Seasons7

Season 5 Episodes10

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