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.