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9 out of 10 pilots that loose engine power make a safe landing either at an airport, in a field, or on a road.
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The AlCan highway to Alaska is very sparsely populated, therefore you can just pull over and camp anywhere along the road except on the rare straight sections. These sections were prominantly posted as emergency airstrips. Sometimes the small planes would land and refill their tanks from jerry cans carried inside the plane.
I remember pulling into a gas station that was a log cabin with a gas pump. Six or seven kids burst out the door and swarmed all over my van like a hoard of munchkins. The oldest (about 12 yo) pumped the gas and the youngest (about 5 or 6 yo) cleaned the headlights and taillights because that was all she could reach.
They told me Dad was moose hunting and they hoped he'd get another one because there was only two in the freezer and they wouldn't make it through the winter with that. I never saw mom but she was probably watching from somewhere.
