Seward daily gateway., 1930-03-10
PILOT DORBANDT
 MAKES FIRST HOP, INFERIOR, SEWARD

Down like a giant hawk came the roaring Travelair plane of Pilot Frank Dorbandt, at dusk last evening, to land just above the shore line near the radio station, on the glare-ice; a pip of a landing considering handi- caps. And three figures laboriously crawled over the cockpit, of the three-place job, Boris Magid Pilot Dorbandt and Mechanician Alonzo Cope.
 To Dorbandt goes the distinc- tion of being the first pilot to come here direct from Fairbanks the actual flying time being four hours.
 It marked the end of a race with Death the Grim Reaper win aingk by wide margin. MT. Maoid is one of the foremost and best known business men Ot Deerlng and Kotzebue, where he and his brother Sam have been engaged in the trading and light craze business for many years, Last week he received a tele- gram from Mrs Sam Magid, who, with her husband had been so- iourning at Miami, Florida, to come at once, that Sam was dy- ing. Boris was at Deering at the time. he dispatched word to Tel Ter for plane to come and take him to Fairbanks but four days were lost owing to delay in com munication, and bad flying wea- ther. In the meantime he had re- ceiyed another message informing him of the death of his beloved brother. Upon his arrival at Fair banks. while awaiting the depart ure of the next train which was .oo 14te to make connections here with the steamer Northwestern, he met Dorbandt who had just returned from the lower river country.
 Dorbandt. upon learning from Boris of his sorrow and anxiety to get to the states as quickly as possible, offered to fly his friend to Seward and make connections with the s. s. Northwestern: and if they missed the ship here, con- true on to Valdez or C9rdoya. The offer was accepted and upon being told bv wire that the liner would awa3 at Seward theIr ar-ival they toak-off, atmos- ehrric raparts alonq the railroad belt were given them through courtesy of the Alaska Railroad
 The first difficulty was faced in the stormy Broad Pass region where spark plugs became fouled, the engine getting hot and finally .conklng" out which left no alter native but to land. Dorbandt came down in the soft snow at a flying speed of about 40 miles an hour. He found the seat of the trouble but in the meantime the engine had become cold and try as he might he could not start up Having landed facing the freezing wind, there was but one thing to do which was to turn the plane around, cover the moter with it's canvas hood and warm it up with torch.
 This was a tremendous task for Boris and Frank but in three hours and a half it was accom- plshed but only at the cost of wrenched muscles and dozens of falls in the snow. So many times did they tumble that each time they gave a shove on the tail and in this way finally worked JIG plane about. Practically ex- hausted they clambered aboard, Dorbandt taking off beautifully.
 Arriving at Anchorage, Cope, gassed them up and came to Sew ard with them. Leaving Anchor age Dorbandt headed up Turna- gain Arm then climbed up and over the mountains coming down at Sunrise, landing here 55 min utes after takingoff from An chorage. Magid hopped into Bill Patterson's taxi and in few minutes was safe aboard the awaiting steamer which imne- lately cast off it's lines and steam