NARRATOR: Mere feet from the face
of an imposing mountain peak, Morgan
is adrift without power--
NARRATOR: --attempting one of the most dangerous emergency
maneuvers in a pilot's arsenal.
NARRATOR: The box canyon turn is a sharp, 180 degree
about face that can mean the difference
between life and death.
NARRATOR: But to turn on a dime, the pilot
cuts the engine mid-flight--
NARRATOR: --putting the plane at the mercy of the winter winds
and the pilot's skill.
MORGAN: Oh, it's amazing, actually, how well that worked
and how tight of a turn we made.
You could be in a pretty narrow spot,
and if you commit to this turn, you could get out of there.
NARRATOR: In an extreme emergency at this altitude,
the only option may be to touch down on a mountain ridge--
NARRATOR: --the only flat surface for miles around.
But landing here is a last resort,
because the conditions are impossible to judge
from the air.
MORGAN: The ski could strike an obscure rock
and, obviously, you could slide off the edge.
MORGAN: You're already-- got a little adrenalin
going, just landing in general.
When you're landing on a ridge, that's a whole different game.
MORGAN: There was a little bit of a cross wind coming over,
and then the skis just started to drift
to the right and we we're starting
to slide off the other side.
NARRATOR: It's a hard lesson in what it takes
to become an expert pilot in the most extreme flying
conditions on Earth.
MORGAN: You know, it could have been pretty bad.
Luckily, Arctic took the airplane,
got us off the ground.
It was pretty humbling, you know.
That's why you have an instructor in the plane,
to help recover when you do make a mistake.
NARRATOR: But close call or not, Morgan
can't quit until he's made the mountain landing on his own.
MORGAN: After that flawed landing there,
I'm a little nervous.
That's what I'm here for, so I'm going
to try to suck it up and line up in a better direction,
and try to figure out what the wind's
doing to land into the wind.
[ski hitting mountain]
MORGAN: The bridge landing was pretty tricky,
but it's good to have done it now in case
I absolutely have to sometime.
NARRATOR: It'll take years for Morgan to master every skill,
but for now, he's ready to fly solo.
MORGAN: We put a lot of time and money and effort
into getting the necessary skills to fly out here.
I still have a lot to learn, but now I
am ready to give it a shot.
It's going to be pretty exciting.