A Winter Highway Drive in Alaska Inspires Resolution of Past Disasters in the News

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I wrote this poem today, February 20, 2017, after stopping at a cafe along a highway in Alaska. I told the waiter I was tired of the city.
Shortly after i left the cafe, I began writing this poem about things that had been troubling me lately, memories of plane crashes, the recent sinking of an 800 foot freighter in a hurricane, a crab fishing boat in Alaska. I finished the poem as I arrived in the next town. And further along the highway, I made peace with at least a few of these painful memories, summarized at the end.


I said to myself, as I drove down the road,
all is not well, with my soul, as they sing, high and low;
I'm relying on pills for my peace, not the stillness of a quiet, restful creek;
Gettin' chills from the peeps, while my heart gently weeps.


I couldn't understand why captains sail into hurricanes,
after bein' asleep; it's drivin; me mad, and makin' me sad,
why crews don't take command and save the ship
before perishing into the deep.


And why would a woman make a game out of trying to drive me insane!
who do I blame for mistakes on a plane;
why a nation gave an order to shoot down an airliner over their border;
Korean Air, with over 300 people onboard,
what have we done, he must have said--"O LORD!"


Who owns the sea?! Why do we play games with to be, or not to be?!
What they don't understand, what they can't even see:
The whole worlds onboard--the Titanic's asleep!
Flight 261 was out of control, until the last altar call was made for one and for all.


Ship's and planes can fail, Captains make mistakes and people will bail,
except for one who came back from the dead, to save all who sail;
who are caught in the storm and tossed by the gale.
It's not just a tale, or just savin' the whales.


Now is the time, today is the day--
to abide with the captain who cannot fail,
if we put our trust in his ways, He will clear the haze,
and pardon our sins, free us from death-- from our innermost jail.




As I drove down the cold, winter highway, the sun was out and I passed a place that reminded me of a mistake I had made driving when I was younger that endangered the lives of others on the highway, not to mention a reckless failed marriage recently that was like sailing blindly into a hurricane, and I thought, "why live in the past, obsessed with other peoples mistakes or my own? Why look for blame? Why judge others for their decisions, when I was not in control of their vessel? Focus on what I have done, or failed to do, or need to do in life, not other people, or things out of my control." Then, the Christian song, "In the eye of the storm," came on the radio with the words, "In the eye of the storm, You remain in control..." and I looked up at the sun, and it was like in the eye of a storm with storm clouds out at sea. Then, I entered a snow storm and passed a street sign with the name of my birth mother on it before passing through "Happy Valley." But, in-spite of the storm, I was happy, because I had finally put to rest a few things at least, in a world overwhelmed at times with so many tragedies. One crash in particular in Washington in the 1980's, has saddened many people for decades who witnessed the aftermath on TV, and heard of the final words of the crew discussing the air speed which was confused by ice conditions, followed by the distressed final words: "[Captain], we're going down;" "I know it."
But, the tragedy was softened by the amazing heroism of a passenger who kept giving his rescue ring to others in the icy water, before slipping into it himself, and those who dove in from shore to save passengers.

It occurred to me that these five disasters can relate to the world of today. The Titanic in the icy North Atlantic, the freighter sailing into the hurricane with a Captain who had also sailed in Alaskan waters, the airline crash in Washington D.C, in an icy snowstorm, which hasn't crashed politically yet, but, there's definitely a storm. The Alaska Air crash off the coast of California, where a major quake is ticking away, and the airliner shot down by the Russians in the 1980's, after flying out of Anchorage, Alaska, where the "Good Friday Quake," of March 27th, 1964 occurred at 9.2 Mw.

Today is the 21st, not the 20th.. Just saying..lol

I know, but it was the 20th when I wrote it and posted it, at least the time here?

I was looking up some info on these disasters and wanted to post it tonight. I was speaking in church with a friend about maritime disasters and he mentioned the ship in 1890 where the ship was discovered with no crew and no signs of piracy.

Here are a few bits of info mostly from Wikipedia. I found that some basic facts can help a lot in resolving long-standing mysteries. All I could remember from the Air Florida crash was the last words of the pilots, but, i found that it was much more involved than that. The crash of Air Florida, Flt. 90 was on Jan. 13th, 1982 in Washington D.C. Summary tonight, but, it appears that many levels of authority were responsible, not just one pilot or co-pilot, both who were very skilled, and one who was a former fighter pilot in the military. From the transcripts, it looks to me like the co-pilot did try to apply full-power but it was too late. It also involved company competition--trying to keep a schedule in a heavy snowstorm, tower concerned about an approaching airliner, ground icing procedural issues, and being blind-sided by a heavy snowstorm. The co-pilot, a former fighter jet pilot, was actually flying, but, the pilot was also making decisions.

There is one quote that caught my eye:
The Boeing 737 was deiced with a mixture of heated water and monopropylene glycol by American Airlines, under a ground service agreement with Air Florida. That agreement specified that covers for the pitots/static ports and engine inlets had to be used, but the American Airlines employees did not comply with those rules. Two different operators — who chose widely different mixture percentages — deiced the left and right sides of the plane. Subsequent testing of the deicing truck showed that "the mixture dispensed differed substantially from the mixture selected" (18% actual vs. 30% selected). The inaccurate mixture was the result of the replacement of the standard Trump nozzle, "…which is specially modified and calibrated, with a non-modified, commercially available nozzle." The operator had no means to determine if the proportioning valves were operating properly because no "mix monitor" was installed on the nozzle.[4]:57–58

"The inaccurate mixture was the result of the replacement of the standard Trump nozzle," ...which is specially modified and calibrated, with a non-modified, commercially available nozzle."




The Russian shooting down of the Korean Flight 007 occurred the following year in 1983;

The sinking of the 790-foot "El Faro," was during the hurricane Joachin, which was just short of a Category V hurricane, and occurred about October 1st, 2015.

I enjoyed your poem and the about the Titanic and Air Florida disasters. It was a good read and well written.

Thank-you for your kind words. I forgot to say I was driving to a town on the ocean. No more disasters tonight. Might write some more tomorrow.

I actually found a happy story about the sea! Not everyone is obsessed with maritime disasters--
This is very nicely said-- It is from a post left at the song "I hope you dance," sung by Lee Ann Womack:

"I HOPE YOU DANCE..."
Here's a happy story about the sea, posted by "Phaedrus:"
I would be very grateful if this song speaks to the souls of others as it speaks to me.
"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean..."
Well... that will always be true for me. I lived with my parents on a 36-foot sailboat when I was 7-12, and there were many times when there was nothing on the horizon for 360 degrees- in day, and in the middle of the night. If you want to feel small in relation to God or the world, you should spend a calm new moon night alone on the deep seas. It will quite literally change you as a person.

Being surrounding by nothing but the night sea is virtually the same thing as traveling to outer space. Nothing but pitch black below you. Nothing but stars in their brightest fullest majesty above you. There is no cathedral in the world that can make you feel more in the presence of God. Strangely, utter solitude and isolation makes you feel like you are most at home.

You look up and see an indescribable wonder of simplicity and complexity existing effortlessly together. And then you look over at your Dad, silently keeping watch and a hand on the tiller, and you know that you are home. At home with family among nothing but the stars. If you believe in God, you will never find a better place to feel His presence. I assure you.
--Posted by Phaedrus,

Just a final summary:
Flight 261 was an Alaska Air flight on Jan 31st, 2000 that lost control over the Pacific Ocean off the Coast of California due to a broken flight stabilizer. The movie "Flight," with Danzel Washington was loosely based on this. (Wikipedia).

The aircraft did level out, although inverted, for 9 minutes before the crash during which a pastor's wife led the people in a final prayer:

Alaska Airlines Flight 261--"An Alaska Airlines pilot, involved in the investigation of the horrific crash of Alaska Flight 261, has listened to the cockpit voice recorder from the downed plane and he reported that for the last 9 minutes of the flight, the wife of the pastor from Monroe, WA, can be heard sharing the Gospel with the passengers over the plane’s intercom system. Just before the final dive into the Pacific Ocean, she can be heard leading the sinner’s prayer for salvation.The pilot also reported that the flight data recorder from the plane indicates that there is no good explanation for how the plane was able to stay in the air for those final 9 minutes. But it did stay in the air until the pastor’s wife had a chance to share the Gospel with the very attentive passengers and presumably lead many to salvation in Christ.So, in the midst of this tragedy, nearly 90 people had an extraordinary opportunity to get right with their Maker just prior to meeting Him."
(from Snopes (dot) com)Regarding the Air Florida flight 90 and the sinking of the "El Faro" freighter in Hurricane Joaquin, which had escalated to almost a Category 5 storm, these two tragedies represented in my mind, all similar airplane crashes and maritime disasters. The Lord revealed to me that these were failures of stewardship. He seemed to especially be emphasizing stewardship of companies putting economics over safety; Stewardship and responsibility was shared equally by all involved.
While those at the helm of a vessel share final actions regarding that vessel, those at the helm of companies or ground authorities, seem to me to have a higher authority, although equal accountability, for actions that are not purely mechanical in nature. Most pilots or ship's captains would not choose to risk safety under dangerous conditions for schedules or economics.
In this world of perfect imperfection, using very rough math, there have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-150 billion safe take-offs and landings worldwide over the last three decades.
That's a pretty amazing record...!

Here is some more information on the "El Faro," from a Jacksonville news site:

[FONT=&quot]The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday released a transcript of the audio recorded during the ship’s final 26 hours. The sound was picked up by microphones on the ship’s navigation bridge and captured by a voyage data recorder eventually retrieved from the ocean floor. The audio is a tool for federal investigators, but also depicts colorful, painful and heart-wrenching scenes of the final hours of 33 people and their doomed ship.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Microphones caught crew members questioning the route, concerns about the condition of the 40-year-old ship, indicated speaking up at safety meetings was not appreciated, inconsistent weather reports, the rapidly deteriorating weather, the ship being knocked off course, and the chaos and desperation that ensued as Davidson and his crew struggled to save the ship and themselves. There is even an unnerving reference to The Perfect Storm, a book and movie about a 1991 storm that sank a fishing vessel and killed all six crewmembers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The El Faro went down Oct. 1, 2015, near the Bahamas, on its route between Jacksonville and San Juan. Many of the 33 crew members lived in Northeast Florida. Investigators with the NTSB and U.S. Coast Guard are investigating the disaster, one of the deadliest in decades involving an American vessel.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]‘First wall of water’[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Soon after the transcription begins about 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 30, Chief Mate Steven Shultz mentions the “first wall of water” and says he expects more.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This doesn’t look bad,” Shultz said as the crew discussed the latest weather data transmitted to the ship and the forecast direction of the storm that would become Hurricane Joaquin.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Davidson talked early on Sept. 30 about how with one of the programs the distance and weather were not always accurate. Throughout, including in the last hours, he expressed frustration at receiving different positions for the storm from different equipment and weather monitoring systems.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“We’re gettin’ conflicting reports as to where the center of the storm is,” he said.


A final note:
Regardless of opinions about the movie, the re-release of the movie, "LEFT BEHIND," was on October 3rd, 2014, one year previously, which is viewed as a possible scenario of what could happen during the "rapture," or the simultaneous rescue by God of all true and saved Christians in the last days before the final tribulation.

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you have spoken about tomorrow, this is where we are commanded to 'look' to,
'for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof'...

Thank-you,
Having dealt with depression much of my life, I think, like many people stuck in the mud in this way (and I will look up the verse about being lifted out of the mud by God-- I think it's "You have lifted me out of the mire, O LORD," I often get caught up by the negative things in the news, and forget the overwhelming positive things that are happening in the world each day-- Billions of good things too. I think with these types of disasters, the world is left without much closure, and this poem helped, and I hope it helps other people as well. Especially here in Alaska, air and sea disasters can stay with people for many years. Even Sen. Ted Stevens died in an airplane crash, and so did his first wife. Another thing someone pointed out was that the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on GOOD FRIDAY, in the same area where the epicenter for the GOOD FRIDAY 9.2 Mw Quake of 1964, was located. Here we go, more disasters-- OK, how about, "Some of the best fishing in the world can be found on the Kenai Peninsula and surrounding oceans, and amazing views of glaciers, whales, and dolphins, birds-- on the many sightseeing cruises here; It's worth the trip! MILLION DOLLAR VIEWS for a couple hundred bucks... HALIBUT the size of a WHALE! SALMON so thick in the river, you can hop across the water and not get wet... you get the idea--