flying through a mushroom cloud

Just flew from Barrow to Fairbanks on Alaska Airlines. A giant smoke plume was wafting up from around Hess Creek, just south of the Yukon. My GPS told me the location (don't tell the stewardess). Here's what it looked like flying through a mushroom cloud that reached 30,000 feet above the wildfire below:

Entering the plume, from the north

In the soup. People started to panic a bit when the lights went out.

After two minutes, out the other side. Don't know why the pilot didn't go around the smoke tower. Probably because he didn't need to. But don't try this in your Cessna 206. And, as of now, Fairbanks is relatively smoke free, Hope the wind doesn't blow from the north (nervous giggle).