I am a bit delinquent in writing the post for the final leg of our trip from Ketchikan to our home airport KDVO, just north of San Francisco in Marin County with a stop in Olympia Washington on the way. We embarked on our final leg on Friday July 22nd after several days in Ketchikan and a final farewell dinner with the group.
Jim and I got up early to make sure we could grab a large breakfast, as this would be one of the longest legs of our trip at over 600 nautical miles from Ketchikan to Olympia. Weather reports were good indicating a low ceiling at Ketchikan but tops of only about 3,000 feet - so once we punched through the clouds we would have clear skies above. We had filed an IFR flight plan for 9,000 feet and to take off at around 8:30 in the morning. We knew that most of the group had filed for earlier departures of 7 to 7:30 and we thought we would take our time and avoid the rush. Little did we know that when we got to the airport, there would be a line of our planes, engines running, waiting in line on the tarmac to take off on their IFR flight plans. Plus two Alaska Airline flights about to push off from the gates.
We picked up our clearance and contacted Ketchikan radio for permission to taxi and were informed we would have a bit of a wait. We had full fuel, plenty for the flight so we started up the engine and taxied to our place in the back of the line at the top of the taxiway just short of Rwy 11. Listening to the chatter we soon learned that the spacing was 15 minutes between GA aircraft and 3-5 minutes after the commercial jets. There were three planes ahead of us.
After a long wait, and when we were next up, Ketchikan radio asked us to let one of the Alaska Airline commercial jets to take off next, and being the gracious folks that we are we let them know it wouldn't be a problem. We had now been on the ground, engine running for almost an hour. Our turn was next, but the second Alaska Flight came on the frequency and began negotiating with Ketchikan Radio to let them go ahead of us. Kudos to the controller who let Alaska know that they were going to let us go next as we had been waiting for an hour, so we taxied out in front of the 747, got our clearance to take off and were soon climbing through the clouds and on our way home.
The Alaska Airlines pilot wasn't too happy and we could hear him over the radio quizzing ATC what was up with all of these little planes gumming up the works and creating delays for Ketchikan departures.
Before long, we were cruising at 9,000 feet and on our way home. After an instrument approach into into Olympia, we parked next to the Let's Fly Alaska hangar where Dale was cooking up a post flight lunch of hamburgers and fixings. After fueling the plane and getting a bite to eat, Jim and I felt good so we decided to skip our overnight in Olympia and pushed on to home. We arrived shortly before 7 pm and brought our Alaskan Adventure to a close with a long, and thankfully uneventful, flight home.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Anhorage to Ketchikan at 500 feet
Wednesday, July 20th was the last scheduled leg for our group to fly together. The route we would be flying was the reverse of the one we took to catch up with our group five or more days ago from Canada. The difference now was that we would be flying by visual flight rules taking some scenic detours, and flying at 500 feet above ground level the whole way to be better able to see the scenery.
We had what seemed to be a leisurely start at 9 am and the weather was glorious. Clear blue skies and great VFR for most of the way. The only weather we expected would be as we got close to our destination of Ketchikan when ceilings were forecast to be about 1500 feet. The group would check the weather at our scheduled fuel stop at Yakutat (PAYA).
Today Jim and I would be the trail aircraft in a flight of nine. Soon after takeoff we were at our target altitude of 900 feet to stay below of Anchorage airspace. Within a few minutes Dale, the flight leader, announced he would have to return to the airport because his door popped open in flight. This does happen on occassion which is why we always make sure the doors are secure - and while it doesn't impact the plane it can be a frustrating distraction so the protocol is to land the plane, secure the door, and take off again. Our flight leader turned the flight over to the number 2 plane and told us to go slow along our planned flight and he would catch-up. We all slowed to about 115 knots and went on our way and within 20 minutes our flight leader caught up and took his position in the front and we were once again up to 150 knots indicated airspeed.
Our initial route took us out Turnagain Bay and over the Portage Pass into Whittier and Prince William Sound, Valdez and the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline, and then the east side of the Sound where the Exxon Valdez spill took place.
I apologize to my readers that again words will not do justice to what we saw and I look forward to posting the photos Jim took as soon as I have access to a regular computer. We flew over and around numerous glaciers and isolated bays along the coast. We even saw a huge glacier 'calving' that seemed to go on forever with a river of snow spilling into the bay. Once out of the immediate Anchorage area we started flying just over the coast (beach) at about 500 to 700 feet and continued along that way for some time. We passed a shipwreck, a lighthouse and had a constant view of majestic snow capped mountains to our left, glaciers that we could almost reach out and touch, and endless blue ocean to our right. We even took a detour to see hundreds of sea lions sunning themselves on the beach. Jim says he saw a moose but it was an uncomfirmed sighting.
After about 3 hours we landed at Yakutat and formed a conga line to refuel at the one self service pump and grab a quick bite at the hunting lodge (with the sign Food Booze Shelter) and to check the weather at Ketchikan. No cell phone coverage here so we again used the wireless at this rustic lodge and our iPads/iPhones to check aviation weather sites. Soon we were set with both our planes and bodies refueled and we took off for the second leg for the day. After take off one of the RV's (planes) in the group announced trouble - his oil filter hatch had opened in flight - not a big deal but flying with it open would not let his engine cool properly (aircraft have baffles and other structures around the carefully engineered engined compartment to optimize airflow and enfine cooling). He immediately headed back to the airport with another RV pilot for support. So we again slowed down to about 105 knots to give them time to fix the problem and catch back up.
It was clear on this flight I was going to get a lot of practice with slow flight. We cruised down the coast and in about 40 minutes, travelling full throttle at 185 knots, the two aircraft caught up. A little duct tape to keep the oil cover closed solved the problem until he could get a replacement screw which popped out.
We travelled along the coast and detoured towards Juneau and Glacier Bay for more sightseeing. Once we were in southeast Alaska south of Juneau it is like a loose aggregation of islands. We were navigating a route around, between and over. Soon, we saw whale tales splashing in the waters below, and although we weren't quick enough to get a picture, we had half a dozen or more whale sightings. Before long, we saw the big white whale, a cruise ship off in the distance. We flew by with some of us rocking our wings and getting waves from the passengers (as best we could tell).
When we got withing 20 minutes of Ketchikan the weather started to deteriorate with ceilings of 1000 to 1500 feet in places but visibility remained good. We tightened up the formation to make sure we could keep sight of the plane in front of us should visibility be reduced, but we expected 5 miles visibility to the airport. Within 10 miles of the airport clouds were obscuring the mountain tops on the islands around us and we saw a wall of white down to the water ahead of us, higher ceilings and great unlimited visibility to the left. We proceeded knowing we had a generous escape route to the left if conditions worsened.
Our direction would have us changing our course to the left after we passed the island to our left to enter into the bay where the airport was located (sea level elevation). As we approached the wall of white ahead a light rain began to fall and visibility was reduced for about 30 seconds (it seemed longer) but as we changed our heading left for the airport conditions 'improved' to marginal VFR for the last 3 miles to the airport which was clearly in sight ahead of us. We landed in a good formation and soon had our planes secured, bags unpacked, and fuel orders placed. The day had been long with over 6 hours of flying but it remains one of the most memorable legs of the trip. We now had a day off in Ketchikan to sleep in and walk around the town before our Friday departure back towards home.
We had what seemed to be a leisurely start at 9 am and the weather was glorious. Clear blue skies and great VFR for most of the way. The only weather we expected would be as we got close to our destination of Ketchikan when ceilings were forecast to be about 1500 feet. The group would check the weather at our scheduled fuel stop at Yakutat (PAYA).
Today Jim and I would be the trail aircraft in a flight of nine. Soon after takeoff we were at our target altitude of 900 feet to stay below of Anchorage airspace. Within a few minutes Dale, the flight leader, announced he would have to return to the airport because his door popped open in flight. This does happen on occassion which is why we always make sure the doors are secure - and while it doesn't impact the plane it can be a frustrating distraction so the protocol is to land the plane, secure the door, and take off again. Our flight leader turned the flight over to the number 2 plane and told us to go slow along our planned flight and he would catch-up. We all slowed to about 115 knots and went on our way and within 20 minutes our flight leader caught up and took his position in the front and we were once again up to 150 knots indicated airspeed.
Our initial route took us out Turnagain Bay and over the Portage Pass into Whittier and Prince William Sound, Valdez and the terminus of the Alaska Pipeline, and then the east side of the Sound where the Exxon Valdez spill took place.
I apologize to my readers that again words will not do justice to what we saw and I look forward to posting the photos Jim took as soon as I have access to a regular computer. We flew over and around numerous glaciers and isolated bays along the coast. We even saw a huge glacier 'calving' that seemed to go on forever with a river of snow spilling into the bay. Once out of the immediate Anchorage area we started flying just over the coast (beach) at about 500 to 700 feet and continued along that way for some time. We passed a shipwreck, a lighthouse and had a constant view of majestic snow capped mountains to our left, glaciers that we could almost reach out and touch, and endless blue ocean to our right. We even took a detour to see hundreds of sea lions sunning themselves on the beach. Jim says he saw a moose but it was an uncomfirmed sighting.
After about 3 hours we landed at Yakutat and formed a conga line to refuel at the one self service pump and grab a quick bite at the hunting lodge (with the sign Food Booze Shelter) and to check the weather at Ketchikan. No cell phone coverage here so we again used the wireless at this rustic lodge and our iPads/iPhones to check aviation weather sites. Soon we were set with both our planes and bodies refueled and we took off for the second leg for the day. After take off one of the RV's (planes) in the group announced trouble - his oil filter hatch had opened in flight - not a big deal but flying with it open would not let his engine cool properly (aircraft have baffles and other structures around the carefully engineered engined compartment to optimize airflow and enfine cooling). He immediately headed back to the airport with another RV pilot for support. So we again slowed down to about 105 knots to give them time to fix the problem and catch back up.
It was clear on this flight I was going to get a lot of practice with slow flight. We cruised down the coast and in about 40 minutes, travelling full throttle at 185 knots, the two aircraft caught up. A little duct tape to keep the oil cover closed solved the problem until he could get a replacement screw which popped out.
When we got withing 20 minutes of Ketchikan the weather started to deteriorate with ceilings of 1000 to 1500 feet in places but visibility remained good. We tightened up the formation to make sure we could keep sight of the plane in front of us should visibility be reduced, but we expected 5 miles visibility to the airport. Within 10 miles of the airport clouds were obscuring the mountain tops on the islands around us and we saw a wall of white down to the water ahead of us, higher ceilings and great unlimited visibility to the left. We proceeded knowing we had a generous escape route to the left if conditions worsened.
Our direction would have us changing our course to the left after we passed the island to our left to enter into the bay where the airport was located (sea level elevation). As we approached the wall of white ahead a light rain began to fall and visibility was reduced for about 30 seconds (it seemed longer) but as we changed our heading left for the airport conditions 'improved' to marginal VFR for the last 3 miles to the airport which was clearly in sight ahead of us. We landed in a good formation and soon had our planes secured, bags unpacked, and fuel orders placed. The day had been long with over 6 hours of flying but it remains one of the most memorable legs of the trip. We now had a day off in Ketchikan to sleep in and walk around the town before our Friday departure back towards home.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Glacier Flight
On our first day in Anchorage, Saturday, the plan was to do an extended flight around the glaciers of the Kenai Peninsula, stop in Homer and have dinner then fly back 'home.' Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so the flight was cancelled. To make up for the loss, the flight leader offered to have a brief glacier flight with those planes that wanted to go at 8:00 am this morning. Four 'crews' rolled out of their beds to be at the airfield in time to make the flight, we were one of the four.
Clouds were still 'layered' in the morning with ceilings anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. As the day heats up the clouds tend to dissipate. We took off and headed over the Harding Icefield in our typical formation flight. LIke yesterday's blog, I can't do justice describing the experience, and we will have to rely on Jim's photos. We flew along the valleys, beautiful terrain on either side, layers of wispy clouds above and below us, over these giant frozen rivers. It was difficult to comprehend their size as we flew up the valleys although a remember thinking how unusual it was for us to be flying at 180 miles an hour and it seemed like we were standing still - the planes ahead mere speaks against the backdrop of these enourmous glaciers. Off to our left on the return home we saw Mt. Redoubt.
The flight was too short.
On landing, we taxied back to get fuel and had to go through a construction area at the airport full of cranes, barricades and other equipment. Jim and I reviewed the flight as we taxied and took our attention off the construction 'stuff' around the plane, and before we knew it the right wingtip brushed up against a folding highway barricade with a blinking light on top - we saw bits of glass and debris spray out on the ground - the strobe and nav light on the wingtip had broken off. Crap. We were not going to get stuck in another Alasak town waiting for a part. Although the plane was perfectly safe to fly, we are required to have a functioning strobe light for flight (kind of like headlights on car) which increases the visibility of our plane to others.
I remember from my previous calls down at Prince George that there was a Cirrus Service Center in Anchorage - the only one in Alaska (yeah!). I gave them a call and discovered they had stopped being service center an no longer carried the parts (#@%*). They referred us to a shop on Merrill Field where we were located. We found out these lights are a bit more common and with the help of a great parts guy and A&P mechanic we had made the repair and were set to go again.
Jim and I then headed back to the hotel and some hangar talk with some of the other pilots. Tomorrow we would begin our final leg as a group, Anchorage to Ketchikan. Two of the pilots on the trip, a father and son, soon joined the group. They had stayed in Talkeetna for a couple of days, the Dad getting a Bush Plane endorsement, and son getting a float plane rating. Hmmmm, and idea for the next trip.......
Clouds were still 'layered' in the morning with ceilings anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. As the day heats up the clouds tend to dissipate. We took off and headed over the Harding Icefield in our typical formation flight. LIke yesterday's blog, I can't do justice describing the experience, and we will have to rely on Jim's photos. We flew along the valleys, beautiful terrain on either side, layers of wispy clouds above and below us, over these giant frozen rivers. It was difficult to comprehend their size as we flew up the valleys although a remember thinking how unusual it was for us to be flying at 180 miles an hour and it seemed like we were standing still - the planes ahead mere speaks against the backdrop of these enourmous glaciers. Off to our left on the return home we saw Mt. Redoubt.
The flight was too short.
On landing, we taxied back to get fuel and had to go through a construction area at the airport full of cranes, barricades and other equipment. Jim and I reviewed the flight as we taxied and took our attention off the construction 'stuff' around the plane, and before we knew it the right wingtip brushed up against a folding highway barricade with a blinking light on top - we saw bits of glass and debris spray out on the ground - the strobe and nav light on the wingtip had broken off. Crap. We were not going to get stuck in another Alasak town waiting for a part. Although the plane was perfectly safe to fly, we are required to have a functioning strobe light for flight (kind of like headlights on car) which increases the visibility of our plane to others.
I remember from my previous calls down at Prince George that there was a Cirrus Service Center in Anchorage - the only one in Alaska (yeah!). I gave them a call and discovered they had stopped being service center an no longer carried the parts (#@%*). They referred us to a shop on Merrill Field where we were located. We found out these lights are a bit more common and with the help of a great parts guy and A&P mechanic we had made the repair and were set to go again.
Jim and I then headed back to the hotel and some hangar talk with some of the other pilots. Tomorrow we would begin our final leg as a group, Anchorage to Ketchikan. Two of the pilots on the trip, a father and son, soon joined the group. They had stayed in Talkeetna for a couple of days, the Dad getting a Bush Plane endorsement, and son getting a float plane rating. Hmmmm, and idea for the next trip.......
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Vacation Day - Whittier Glacier Cruise
Sunday was a day of 'rest' with no flying adventures. Our day was largely a five hour cruise from Whittier, AK to view many of the glaciers in the Prince William Sound - which you may remember as the site of the Exxon Valdez oils spill. Jim and I took and early start so we could stop somewhere along the 90 minute drive out to Whittier to have breakfast. Part of the drive was through the 2.5 mile Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, the only way to get into Whittier by car outside of the Marine Alaska Highway Ferry. The tunnel is one lane only, and is shared by both directions of traffic as well as the train. Getting through the tunnel by car in a given direction was only for a 15 minute period once every hour. http://www.dot.state.ak.us/creg/whittiertunnel/
On the way we stopped at Gerdwood, a place Jim was familiar with from a previous visit to Alaska, and had breakfast at 'the bakery.' Whittier is one of the largest cold water ports in the U.S. and was a major hub during WWII as well as the cold war (military base) and still moves over 1/3rd of the shipping of goods and products into Alaska. That, plus the beautiful mountains and glaciers is pretty much all that's there. You don't want to miss the last tunnel out. By way of example, one of the locals was wearing a bright orange hoodie with the words on the back that said 'Prisoner of Whittier.'
The weather was beautiful the day we were there, which is not always a common occurrence. Rains is common, often blowing sideways. I can't do justice in describing the glaciers and wildlife we saw on the cruise, and we had a chance to take some great photos - but I will have to wait until my return to be able to post them to the blog (using only an iPad to blog does have its limitations - in case you were wondering I do have a keyboard which makes a world of difference).
Until the pictures then.......
On the way we stopped at Gerdwood, a place Jim was familiar with from a previous visit to Alaska, and had breakfast at 'the bakery.' Whittier is one of the largest cold water ports in the U.S. and was a major hub during WWII as well as the cold war (military base) and still moves over 1/3rd of the shipping of goods and products into Alaska. That, plus the beautiful mountains and glaciers is pretty much all that's there. You don't want to miss the last tunnel out. By way of example, one of the locals was wearing a bright orange hoodie with the words on the back that said 'Prisoner of Whittier.'
The weather was beautiful the day we were there, which is not always a common occurrence. Rains is common, often blowing sideways. I can't do justice in describing the glaciers and wildlife we saw on the cruise, and we had a chance to take some great photos - but I will have to wait until my return to be able to post them to the blog (using only an iPad to blog does have its limitations - in case you were wondering I do have a keyboard which makes a world of difference).
Until the pictures then.......
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Food Shelter Booze
The airport in Ketchikan is located on an island and you have to take a ferry into town. Given our tight schedule, I stayed in the FBO (flight based operations) on the airport to plan the next leg of the trip and get updated weather briefs from the Alaska briefers. Jim went to the airline terminal next door to grab us something to eat during our very brief turnaround. We didn't have a chance to go into town and would be back to Ketchikan in a few days. The weather continued to hold and we filed IFR at 6,000 feet to Yakutat, Alaska which is about half way between Ketchikan and Achorage. Part of our leg was between the various islands of the inside passage north of Ketchikan, then northwest towards Sitka before turning north again and flying up the coast.
You can follow our route for all three legs on flight aware, track private flights. Our tail number is N310TN and the link is http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N310TN/history/20110716/1900Z/CYXS/PAKT .
The views along the inside passage where fantastic, lush, green forests and blue water - looking virtually untouched and pristine.
As we turned north we again soon got into IMC (instrument meterological conditions) and were flying in the clouds with occassional holes where we could see the beautiful Alaskan coast on our right, and the endless ocean on our left. After two hours we landed in Yakutat (PAYA) with its 7,500 foot runway. No tower on the airport but Juneau Radio, which normally does the weather briefings, provides traffic advisories and manages traffic at the airport even though they are miles away. Alaska is probably one of the few places left where this happens.
We landed without incident on the 7,000+ foot runway and taxied over to get fuel, take a break and plan our next leg. After fueling, we walked over to the 'rustic' lodge on the airport (there isn't much else around this very remote location) to get a cold drink and plan our next leg. The sign over the lodge in big letters was 'Food Shelter Booze.' It is a hunting and fishing lodge - walking inside it definitely had the lumberjack feel. The few folks in the lodge sitting at the wooden bar having their evening shots just gave us a sideways look when we walked in which was the extent of their acknowledgement. No cell service but the lodge proprieter let us use their land line to call for a briefing and file a flight plan for our last leg.
Again the weather held, so we planned for a take-off in 45 minutes, stretched our legs, re-arranged the plane and jumped back in to make the last leg to Anchorage and cell phone coverage. Despite the long runway of 7,500 feet (our home airport is only about 3,200 feet) there is no parallel taxiway, so we back taxied on the runway itself for takeoff. We taxied back the whole length so we could use the footage markers every 1000 feet to check the performance of the plane at full gross weight and see how many feet it actually took for take-off. Less than 1,000 feet, gotta love this plane.
We were in solid IMC for most of the flight back to Anchorage at our cruise altitude of 6,000 feet but when we got past Cordova we had to climb to 10,000 feet for the rising terrain and getting over the mountains surrounding Anchorage. We climbed out of the clouds and again we were in beautiful clear skies above the cloud layer with unlimited visibility. Majestic mountain peaks jutting up through the clouds to the right. The weather broke up more as we approached Anchorage and we had spectacular views of the surrounding glacier fields. After clearing the mountains we had a rapid descent into the Anchorage bowl, with a very understanding controller who knew we were unfamiliar with the area. Jim quickly picked out Merrill field from the half-dozen airports all confined in a very small area. We arrived after 10pm Alaska time (11 pm Pacific) with the sun still shining brightly well over the horizon - it doesn't even count as night flight.
We quickly secured the plane and got a pickup at the airfield to our hotel where we met some of group in the hotel bar to say hello and swap stories. A great end to a long day.
You can follow our route for all three legs on flight aware, track private flights. Our tail number is N310TN and the link is http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N310TN/history/20110716/1900Z/CYXS/PAKT .
The views along the inside passage where fantastic, lush, green forests and blue water - looking virtually untouched and pristine.
As we turned north we again soon got into IMC (instrument meterological conditions) and were flying in the clouds with occassional holes where we could see the beautiful Alaskan coast on our right, and the endless ocean on our left. After two hours we landed in Yakutat (PAYA) with its 7,500 foot runway. No tower on the airport but Juneau Radio, which normally does the weather briefings, provides traffic advisories and manages traffic at the airport even though they are miles away. Alaska is probably one of the few places left where this happens.
We landed without incident on the 7,000+ foot runway and taxied over to get fuel, take a break and plan our next leg. After fueling, we walked over to the 'rustic' lodge on the airport (there isn't much else around this very remote location) to get a cold drink and plan our next leg. The sign over the lodge in big letters was 'Food Shelter Booze.' It is a hunting and fishing lodge - walking inside it definitely had the lumberjack feel. The few folks in the lodge sitting at the wooden bar having their evening shots just gave us a sideways look when we walked in which was the extent of their acknowledgement. No cell service but the lodge proprieter let us use their land line to call for a briefing and file a flight plan for our last leg.
Again the weather held, so we planned for a take-off in 45 minutes, stretched our legs, re-arranged the plane and jumped back in to make the last leg to Anchorage and cell phone coverage. Despite the long runway of 7,500 feet (our home airport is only about 3,200 feet) there is no parallel taxiway, so we back taxied on the runway itself for takeoff. We taxied back the whole length so we could use the footage markers every 1000 feet to check the performance of the plane at full gross weight and see how many feet it actually took for take-off. Less than 1,000 feet, gotta love this plane.
We were in solid IMC for most of the flight back to Anchorage at our cruise altitude of 6,000 feet but when we got past Cordova we had to climb to 10,000 feet for the rising terrain and getting over the mountains surrounding Anchorage. We climbed out of the clouds and again we were in beautiful clear skies above the cloud layer with unlimited visibility. Majestic mountain peaks jutting up through the clouds to the right. The weather broke up more as we approached Anchorage and we had spectacular views of the surrounding glacier fields. After clearing the mountains we had a rapid descent into the Anchorage bowl, with a very understanding controller who knew we were unfamiliar with the area. Jim quickly picked out Merrill field from the half-dozen airports all confined in a very small area. We arrived after 10pm Alaska time (11 pm Pacific) with the sun still shining brightly well over the horizon - it doesn't even count as night flight.
We quickly secured the plane and got a pickup at the airfield to our hotel where we met some of group in the hotel bar to say hello and swap stories. A great end to a long day.
Trek to Alaska
After a day of dejection with a poor long range weather forecast, Jim and I woke early again on Saturday to figure out our next steps. Had the weather cleared enough for us to take a stab at flying north to catch up to our group? Or, looking for a gap in weather south and escaping back to home.
The weather looked remarkably better around Prince George, but if we elected to push on we had over 1,000 nautical miles to go to get to Anchorage Alaska. After detailed briefings with Kamloops, BC flight services, and Juneau flight services (since our first leg crosses the Canada US border around Prince Rupert/Ketchikan) it looked like an IFR flight might be doable. The Kamloops briefers were outstanding, and with their help discovered a narrow corridor of good predicted weather around noon just north of Prince George and direct to Ketchikan.
I filed our border crossing papers on line (eAPIS) which is a real pain in the butt, and we set a target time of noon to depart. We committed to push on. We checked out, went to the airport, and I finished one more briefing and filed a flight plan. Now, Prince George airport is not very busy, despite the fact that it has a mile and 1/2 runway. It serves more as a logistics hub. So when I called the tower to get my IFR clearance I was a little vexed why he read it back rapid fire making it very difficult to understand. That didn't allay any of the anxiety I already had with 1000 miles in front of us dodging weather along the way. He slowed down after I asked him for repeated clarifications. At noon, we were wheels up!
We hit solid instrument conditions at about 5,000 feet and our cruising altitude was 10,000. Then ATC rerouted us further south of our intended plan which raised a few more concerns we might be pushed into some of the remnants of nasty weather. As always, the concern was ice. We soon broke out of the clouds and at 10,000 feet we were in clear skies with a cotton layer of clouds below punctuated by rows of alto cumulous (small thunder clouds) all of which were below us. We could see clear skies to the horizon. Beautiful weather!
There were patches in the cloud layer below so we could see the beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers below us through the holes in the clouds. Free at last.
The flight was largely uneventful. But because we are in rugged terrain in sparsely populated areas, the ATC stations that you are in communication with throughout the flight have gaps in both radar and communications coverage unless you are flying up with the airliners. When flying IFR/IMC we are in constant contact with ATC and they have us (we hope) in radar coverage so they can track us and see exactly where we are at all times. ATC will hand you off from center to center as you progress along on you trip. It took a little getting used to when the controller whould say something like "radar coverage lost, in 50 miles contact me on frequencey 132.2, and if you can't reach me just keep trying every 10 minutes or so." That took a bit of getting used too, but we discovered it would be pretty standard for the rest of our trip. I certainly had to brush the cob webs off of 'lost comm' procedures.
When we hit the coast we had a bit more weather at our altitude andwe hit some clouds and began to quickly collect some clear ice on the wings. We were just skimming along the tops of the clouds, so we requested higher from the controller as we knew this would get us out of the clouds in short order. We were given a new altitude of 13,000 feet, on top of the clouds again in clear skies, life was good.
The descent into Ketchikan was uneventful, the clouds broke up and we saw tremendous vistas of the inside passage from the air at 13,000 feet. Photographs can't do it justice. Our landing was uneventful. We had to stay in our plane until customs officers came to check the plane and our papers for entry in the US, which only took a few minutes. Ther first, and hardest leg of our our trek to Alaska was complete.
More later, you can check out our track on our spot website but using the link in the first blog entry.
The weather looked remarkably better around Prince George, but if we elected to push on we had over 1,000 nautical miles to go to get to Anchorage Alaska. After detailed briefings with Kamloops, BC flight services, and Juneau flight services (since our first leg crosses the Canada US border around Prince Rupert/Ketchikan) it looked like an IFR flight might be doable. The Kamloops briefers were outstanding, and with their help discovered a narrow corridor of good predicted weather around noon just north of Prince George and direct to Ketchikan.
I filed our border crossing papers on line (eAPIS) which is a real pain in the butt, and we set a target time of noon to depart. We committed to push on. We checked out, went to the airport, and I finished one more briefing and filed a flight plan. Now, Prince George airport is not very busy, despite the fact that it has a mile and 1/2 runway. It serves more as a logistics hub. So when I called the tower to get my IFR clearance I was a little vexed why he read it back rapid fire making it very difficult to understand. That didn't allay any of the anxiety I already had with 1000 miles in front of us dodging weather along the way. He slowed down after I asked him for repeated clarifications. At noon, we were wheels up!
We hit solid instrument conditions at about 5,000 feet and our cruising altitude was 10,000. Then ATC rerouted us further south of our intended plan which raised a few more concerns we might be pushed into some of the remnants of nasty weather. As always, the concern was ice. We soon broke out of the clouds and at 10,000 feet we were in clear skies with a cotton layer of clouds below punctuated by rows of alto cumulous (small thunder clouds) all of which were below us. We could see clear skies to the horizon. Beautiful weather!
There were patches in the cloud layer below so we could see the beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers below us through the holes in the clouds. Free at last.
The flight was largely uneventful. But because we are in rugged terrain in sparsely populated areas, the ATC stations that you are in communication with throughout the flight have gaps in both radar and communications coverage unless you are flying up with the airliners. When flying IFR/IMC we are in constant contact with ATC and they have us (we hope) in radar coverage so they can track us and see exactly where we are at all times. ATC will hand you off from center to center as you progress along on you trip. It took a little getting used to when the controller whould say something like "radar coverage lost, in 50 miles contact me on frequencey 132.2, and if you can't reach me just keep trying every 10 minutes or so." That took a bit of getting used too, but we discovered it would be pretty standard for the rest of our trip. I certainly had to brush the cob webs off of 'lost comm' procedures.
When we hit the coast we had a bit more weather at our altitude andwe hit some clouds and began to quickly collect some clear ice on the wings. We were just skimming along the tops of the clouds, so we requested higher from the controller as we knew this would get us out of the clouds in short order. We were given a new altitude of 13,000 feet, on top of the clouds again in clear skies, life was good.
The descent into Ketchikan was uneventful, the clouds broke up and we saw tremendous vistas of the inside passage from the air at 13,000 feet. Photographs can't do it justice. Our landing was uneventful. We had to stay in our plane until customs officers came to check the plane and our papers for entry in the US, which only took a few minutes. Ther first, and hardest leg of our our trek to Alaska was complete.
More later, you can check out our track on our spot website but using the link in the first blog entry.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Grounded
The weather isn't cooperating. I was up at 5:30 AM talking with weather briefers in Alaska and Canada as well as studying available weather charts on the computer. We continued to be surrounded by unstable weather, with low visiblity and low ceilings along portions of just about every direction out of Prince George. North and 'the Trench' was quickly eliminated as an option as ceilings were down to 1,500 feet on portions of the route. Coastal weather in Alaska was marginal VFR but fine for IFR flight, the only problem was flying west of Prince George to Prince Rupert where we have to fly at higher altitudes to avoid terrain and were icing becomes a problem, before we can turn north and fly at lower altitudes.
Jim and I headed to the airport to pick up a couple of charts we didn't have and finish weather briefing there hoping for two options: VFR flight to Prince Rupert (so we could fly low) where we could land and then fly IFR safely up the coast of Alaska, or that freezing levels would improve so we could fly IFR all the way.
Conditions didn't change by the time we got to the airport, and once we got the extra VFR charts we were able to look at the VFR route from Prince George, to Smithers, Terrace and then Prince Rupert. Briefed again with a Canadian flight service station who was familiar with the area and used to work Prince Rupert. He quickly advised that weather was good VFR to Terrace, but very iffy from there to the final leg to Prince Rupert flying in the canyons of the Skeena River. Icing levels didn't change so IFR options remained the same. We also took a look at flying further southwest to get to the coast to then fly up IFR at lower altitudes, but VFR conditions in that direction where even worse. On top of all that, today looks to be the best weather for the next 7 days.
I talked to the flight leader this morning as well and they were flying out of Whitehorse but conditions weren't great. And in talking with the Alaska briefer, weather there is not going to be any great shakes either in the coming week.
Crunch time. Jim and I talked over our options. We could make the IFR flight and probably be ok, but would have to be prepared to turn around if we encountered icing. Or, we could take small hops over as far as Terrace to see if the weather cleared tomorrow. It didn't take us long to decide to stay put. Even with a succesful flight we are just pushing further into crappy conditions in Alaska and NW Canada and could very well end up stuck again further up the coast. Advancing only as far as Terrace doesn't buy us much distance. Time to bail out.
We've lost almost half of the trip with downtime in Prince George, our first leg into the trip. Time to think about getting home and cutting the trip short. The unseasonable weather just isn't working out. So, if the weather cooperates tomorrow, we will fly IFR to the Bellingham or another US port of entry and then push on to home.
More downtime. Off to see the last installment of the Harry Potter movie.
Jim and I headed to the airport to pick up a couple of charts we didn't have and finish weather briefing there hoping for two options: VFR flight to Prince Rupert (so we could fly low) where we could land and then fly IFR safely up the coast of Alaska, or that freezing levels would improve so we could fly IFR all the way.
Conditions didn't change by the time we got to the airport, and once we got the extra VFR charts we were able to look at the VFR route from Prince George, to Smithers, Terrace and then Prince Rupert. Briefed again with a Canadian flight service station who was familiar with the area and used to work Prince Rupert. He quickly advised that weather was good VFR to Terrace, but very iffy from there to the final leg to Prince Rupert flying in the canyons of the Skeena River. Icing levels didn't change so IFR options remained the same. We also took a look at flying further southwest to get to the coast to then fly up IFR at lower altitudes, but VFR conditions in that direction where even worse. On top of all that, today looks to be the best weather for the next 7 days.
I talked to the flight leader this morning as well and they were flying out of Whitehorse but conditions weren't great. And in talking with the Alaska briefer, weather there is not going to be any great shakes either in the coming week.
Crunch time. Jim and I talked over our options. We could make the IFR flight and probably be ok, but would have to be prepared to turn around if we encountered icing. Or, we could take small hops over as far as Terrace to see if the weather cleared tomorrow. It didn't take us long to decide to stay put. Even with a succesful flight we are just pushing further into crappy conditions in Alaska and NW Canada and could very well end up stuck again further up the coast. Advancing only as far as Terrace doesn't buy us much distance. Time to bail out.
We've lost almost half of the trip with downtime in Prince George, our first leg into the trip. Time to think about getting home and cutting the trip short. The unseasonable weather just isn't working out. So, if the weather cooperates tomorrow, we will fly IFR to the Bellingham or another US port of entry and then push on to home.
More downtime. Off to see the last installment of the Harry Potter movie.
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