Here are the corrections with the right articles and prepositions:
The photographer for the national magazine was assigned to take pictures of the great forest fire. He was told that a small plane would be waiting at the airstrip to fly him over the fire. The photographer arrived at the location just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, the airplane was sitting there. He jumped into the plane with his equipment and shouted, 'Let's go!' The tense man sitting in the pilot's seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.
'Fly over the north side of the fire', said the photographer, 'and make several low passes.'
'Why?' asked the nervous