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Pilot Eric Vogel grips the yoke with his sweaty hands and stares out the windshield of his small plane.

He can't see a thing. He's flying through a cloud bank so thick and dark he can barely see the lights on his wingtips.

It's October 19th, 1984, just after 8 p.m.

Eric is flying nine passengers from Edmonton, Alberta, to the northern Canadian town of High Prairie, an hour's flight away.

He left 40 minutes ago, so it should almost be time to start his descent.

Up north in remote areas, he has to rely on a

navigation technique called Dead Reckoning that involves doing complex math to estimate the plane's track.

A compass-like instrument called an automatic direction finder, or ADF, helps him locate radio

ground transmitters known as beacons to chart his position along

the way. Right now, he has his ADF tuned to a beacon near the town of Swan Hills, about two-thirds

of the way. Once he passes it, a needle will swing around, and then he'll home in on the high

prairie beacon. But Eric is stiff with worry.

The tiny airport in High Prairie has no control tower to help guide him in, so the only way

for him to land there is to try for a visual approach. But it won't be easy. The most recent

weather report said the cloud ceiling is only 900 feet above the

ground. Technically, it's against the rules for him to conduct a visual approach under a thousand

foot ceiling. But he's just 24 and under pressure from his boss to get to his destinations, even if it

means pushing the weather. Moments later, the needle of his ADF swings around.

He takes a deep breath, pushes the yoke forward, and starts descending.

Then radios High Prairie for an update on the cloud cover.

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