In my not so long career flying the freighter version of Cathay Pacific’s 747, I’ve had the opportunity to carry around some very interesting cargo. Most of the time, we don’t know much about what we are carrying, as it is in huge containers on the main deck. We always know about the dangerous goods and hazardous materials that are on board and where they are located, but beyond that, if the loadmaster doesn’t tell us or we can’t see it, it’s hard to know what we are carrying. Sometimes I think that we may not want to know. All we really care about is the weight of the cargo and if there are hazardous materials we need to be made aware of. The loading agents make sure the weight is evenly distributed so our center of gravity, or C.G. is proper for safe flying.

Cathay has carried relief materials for poor nations from charitable organizations, they’ve carried olympic horses for the olympic games that were held in Hong Kong, I’ve personally carried five Lexus SUV’s, and tonight, as we fly from Toronto to Anchorage, we are carrying something special bound for Shanghai: an Imax screen and projector. The 50 foot (600 inch) screen is rolled up in a huge crate, over 50 feet long, and it is sitting on two smaller crates, that hold the special projector. All the ground crew were excited as they loaded it and got their pictures made with the large boxes. The nose of the aircraft was raised so that the long box holding the screen could be loaded.

I’m proud that the theater in Shanghai trusts us with their special, and no doubt, expensive cargo. Many people in Shanghai will be grateful for the package to arrive, because there aren’t many experiences that can match that of an exciting movie in an Imax theater. I remember as a kid, we would head over to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and Industry and watch movies at the OmniMax. The Omni theater is an Imax sized screen that is curved, so that the view emerses the viewer as you truly are surrounded! It’s like sitting inside the bottom of an egg shell and the shell is the screen. Imax theaters are flat screens, while Omnimax are curved. Either way, the experience is breathtaking, especially when watching a movie fit for that type of screen, like a Nasa flick of a Shuttle launch, or Super Speedway showing Indy car racing.

On the fourth day of this trip, as I headed back to Anchorage from Hong Kong, we were able to fly the newest 747 in Cathay’s fleet, B-LIF, an extended range freighter. It’s an amazing peice of machinery and it was an amazing flight. The weather this July, in the North Pacific, was absolutely beautiful today. Normally, we cross the entire Northern Pacific and never see the water because of all the low clouds and rain or snow. Today, however, was much different — clear as a bell. Way out on the Alutian Islands, sits Earickson Airforce base, on little old Shemya Island. The runway there is almost as long as the island itself. We use that as an emergency place to land in case we have a fire or major mechanical problem. Today, as we passed nearby, we could see the runway and the small buildings there. The island is only about 5 square miles, and 99% of the time, the weather there is terrible: freezing cold, blowing rain, howling winds up to 50 m.p.h., with visibilities less than a mile with fog, and the like. It’s often not availble as an alternate landing site because the weather is just too poor. But today, it was clear skies and calm winds. I almost wanted to take her in there, just to see what it was like there on the 10 nice days it has a year. My captain said that there are guys who’ve been here 20 years and never have actually seen the island.

A few miles from Shemya, is the Attu Island. There is no airfield there but it is much larger and has towering mountains and beautiful grass and trees that line the slopes. Even in July, there was snow about half way down the mountain slopes. There was even a nice looking valley that lead to a peaceful beach shore and I’m sure today would have been the day to visit. I wonder about who first found these remote places out in the tryrannical North Pacific. Were they lost and just happy to find land and decided to stay? Were they marooned there and forced to stay? Why would anyone live in these remote places. No Home Depot, no neighbors (or if there are, you’d better hope you like them!), no real contact with the outside world, and dare I say: no internet? I know they don’t have any Imax theaters, for sure.

After thinking about all that, I’m glad to be up here in my safe, warm, 747 that is smoothly taking me toward civilization at 9 miles a minute. I’ll visit one of those islands if I absolutely have to, but otherwise, no thanks, I’ll just keep trucking on to Anchorage thank you very much.