Thanksgiving ‘turkey bombs’ dropped out of plane for remote Alaska residents

A woman is saving Thanksgiving in Alaska by dropping frozen turkeys over its most remote areas.
For a third consecutive year, Esther Keim is using a small plane over south-central Alaska to drop turkeys for those who can’t make it to the store.
Alaska is mostly wilderness, with only 20% of it being accessible by road. In the winter, many who live in remote areas rely on small planes or snowmobiles to travel any distance, and frozen rivers can act as makeshift roads.
Esther Keim makes sure the families see her coming before dropping a ‘Turkey Bomb’ in remote Alaska
Having grown-up on an Alaskan homestead, Ms Keim was accustomed to a family friend airdropping turkeys to her family and others nearby for the holidays.
Other times, the pilot would drop newspapers with packs of chewing-gum inside for her.
Now, making use of a small plane built by her father, Ms Keim has her own turkey dropping mission.
Having taken to the skies after finding out that a family living off the land nearby had little to make do with at Thanksgiving, she said: “They were telling me that a squirrel for dinner did not split very far between three people,” Keim recalled.
“At that moment, I thought … ‘I’m going to airdrop them a turkey.'”
She decided not to stop there. Her effort has grown by word of mouth and by social media posts. This year, she’s delivering 32 frozen turkeys to people living year-round in cabins where there are no roads.
All but two had been delivered by Tuesday, with delivery plans for the last two birds thwarted by Alaska’s unpredictable weather.
Ms Keim makes 30 to 40 turkey deliveries yearly, flying as far as 100 miles (161 kilometers) from her base north of Anchorage toward Denali’s foothills.
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Sometimes she enlists the help of a “turkey dropper” to ride along and toss the birds out. Other times, she’s the one dropping turkeys while her friend Heidi Hastings pilots her own plane.
She contacts families on social media to let them know of impending deliveries, and then they buzz the house so the homeowners will come outside.
It can be especially difficult to find the turkey if there’s deep snow. A turkey was once missing for five days before it was found, but the only casualty so far has been a lost ham, Keim said.
Keim prefers to drop the turkey on a frozen lake if possible so it’s easy to locate.
“As far as precision and hitting our target, I am definitely not the best aim,” she joked. “I’ve gotten better, but I have never hit a house, a building, person or dog.”
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