Visitors and Exciting Plane Rides

Jan has been here on Midway with an Oceanic Society tour since a week ago Monday. Her flight out to the island was uneventful and she had a very nice time seeing the islands and joining me in my work. Monday at 9 p.m. she left to return home. About an hour out from Midway there was a loud clunk and the right engine flamed out. The plane lost quite a bit of altitude and leveled out at a much lower level. At that point the pilot came on and said they had lost power in the right engine and would be returning to Midway. They got turned around and returned to Midway by about 11 p.m. They were not sure how long the group would need to stay before another plane was found to fly out and return the group to Honolulu. Finally yesterday a deal was made for a private Gulfstream III to come out to Midway and return 11 of the group to Honolulu. Since Jan had a flight arranged for Friday she left here about 2 a.m. Thursday morning to return home. Three of the people from the tour are still here and will probably be here until the original plane has a new engine installed. Possibly they will leave as early as Sunday but maybe much later next week. It was a scary evening for Jan, and the rest of us, and a reminder of exactly how remote we are from the rest of the world here on Midway Atoll.