Era in Alaska 'Flying Wild Alaska': documentary lands in Unalakleet.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: TRANSPORATION SPECIAL SECTION

A loon flies into the engine of a flying aircraft, scattering blood and feathers and prompting a recently hired Era Alaska pilot to land immediately and check for damage. Airline workers solemnly slide a suicide victim's wood casket and rough-hewn cross into the back of a plane. Era's chief operating officer, Jim Tweto, expounds on the perils of flying around blind corners in mountains near Rainy Pass while passing over mute testimony to his words: the scattered metal skeletons of planes far below.

These stark scenes each are vivid features of "Flying Wild Alaska," a documentary series airing since January on the Discovery Channel.

The show features Unalaldeet-based Tweto; his wife, station manager Ferno Tweto; their daughters, ground crew members Ariel and Ayla, and other Era pilots throughout the state.

Tweto was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1954 and moved to Unalakleet in 1980 to start building fishing boats. Four years later, he began flying for a small airline in Unalakleet. That is how he met Ferno--her father owned that airline and she cleaned and loaded planes for the business. Ferno earned her pilot's license in 1981 and she and Tweto married in 1988 on a sand bar outside Unalakleet. One of their daughters, Ayla, lives in Anchorage while studying to be a paramedic, but returns to Unalakleet every weekend. She has her private pilot's license.

Tweto launched his own business and, in 1990, joined with Mike Hageland to form Hageland Aviation. Hageland combined with Frontier Flying Service in 2008, creating HoTH, a holding company that acquired 61-year-old Era Aviation in April 2009 and then all the common stock of Arctic Circle Air Service in October 2009. In January 2010, all HoTH carriers began doing business as Era Alaska.

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WILD IDEA

The idea for "Flying Wild Alaska" germinated two years ago while Ariel Tweto was appearing on ABC's "Wipeout." Tweto is a communications major at Chapman University in Orange County, Calif., and the only member of the family who is still working toward the goal of earning a pilot's license. She travels between California and Unalakleet to help with the airline's business.

"Someone who worked on 'Wipeout' had been up here before and was really interested in getting a show started," Ferno Tweto said. "They filmed the pilot here in Unalakleet and someone picked it up. It just seemed like it had been a dream for Ariel, that's the reason why Jim and I are in this whole thing is because...