Flying to Alaska | a 7 Image Story

Flying to Alaska | a 7 Image Story   Why fly to Alaska from the lower 48.  Why not?  After 10 years service, my company offered a sabbatical; an extra 8 weeks vacation taken at one time.  Time to recharge the batteries.  What better way to recharge than to fly; perhaps, a flying adventure.  My criteria was simple; fly somewhere unusual, see something new, and make the trip a bit difficult, at least, for a flat land flyer like me.  To be clear, it’s all about the flying; flying first, sightseeing second.  So, I chose Alaska; America’s last frontier.  My flying to Alaska summer adventure occurred during the last part of the film era.  In the future, it’s my intention is to write a daily Alaska Flying Log with much more detail for the pilot.

Planning for this Alaska trip began almost a year before the trip.  It started by reading The Don Sheldon Story “Wager with the Wind” by James Greiner which gave me a better feel for the challenges of flying in Alaska.  Then, it continued by reading the Alaska Airmen’s Association Logbook by Don Bowers cover to cover while underlining important parts.  Planning a first trip to Alaska without the AAA Logbook would be much more difficult.  The MilePost and the AOPA Airport Directory become very handy when a change in plan becomes necessary.  Of course, the US and Canadian VFR charts are necessary as well as the Airport Facility Directory along with the Canada Flight Supplement and the Alaska Supplement.  Much has changed since my Alaska trip.  If the trip were being planned today, more sources of information would likely be required, probably available online, and downloadable to an iPad.

Preparation  Flying to, from, and In Alaska is not for the faint of heart, flat land pilot.  The trip absolutely requires extensive planning and preparation. Extra time is needed when flying VFR over the roads.   Weather can change quickly.  Good stick and rudder skills are required; especially cross wind landings.  Mountain flying skills are a plus.  Before leaving, I flew several training flights to hone my cross wind skills.

Airplane & Equipment  For this trip, I flew a Piper Cherokee 235 with a fixed pitch propeller.  It cruises at 133 knots and burns about 12 gallons per hour.  The panel included King radios, an Apollo Loran, and a simple 2 axis autopilot.  Nope, no GPS; the trip occurred before GPS became common.  The plane and the pilot were IFR certified and current, but my intention was to fly the entire trip VFR.  I Followed Roads once into Canada; specifically the Alaska Highway to Alaska then state highways and roads once in Alaska.  To fly through the north country, emergency gear is required including a large emergency backpack, basic camping gear, and a rifle, required by Alaska, at the time.  When clearing US customs in Alaska, they actually checked for survival equipment and a firearm.  The airplane required a little extra preparation.  Obviously, all the maintenance was up to date.  Although not used, I also carried tire tubes and a couple of air cans for the tires as well as extra tools and oil.

My camera gear included three cameras; Minolta XG-9 SLR, Nikon Zoom Touch 500 35mm point & shoot, and Minolta IX-Date VE TIS2000 compact point & shoot.  The Minolta XG-9 SLR had a flash and several lenses: Minolta 50mm f1.7,  Minolta 135mm f2.8 , and Vivitar75-300mm f4.5-5.6 zoom.  And, of course, tons of film!

Route of Flight   My planned route of flight was basically to fly the Alaska Highway VFR through Canada to Alaska, then after reaching Alaska, to fly the highways VFR.  Thus, numerous flight plans were required for different routes in order to fly where the weather was good.  The trip required extensive research and planning since I made no reservations of any kind until after landing for the last time of the day.   This trip worked for me, but will not likely work for others.  Everyone should do their own research, planning, and preparation to meet the challenges of flying to Alaska.  My final flight path:

Flying Trip: Major Highlights

1. Flying the Alaska Highway with nowhere for an emergency landing except the road below.  Mountain flying meant flying the valleys while keeping your finger on road on the sectional chart so you don’t fly into a canyon you can not fly out of.  Also, the road provides the only place to land in event of engine problems.
2. Flying over the mountain lakes just east of Whitehorse.
3. Morning takeoff from TOK with only half the runway, about 1500ft, available.
4. Flying from Gulkana AK to Merrill Airport in Anchorage was the most beautiful flying in my life.  This flight leg followed the Glenn Highway in the valley below as well as the Matanuska River.  The height of the valley floor varied but was mostly less than 3000 MSL.  Flying at VFR at 4500 or higher gave me plenty of altitude.  The glacial mountains on both sides of this valley were over 8000 MSL with some over 11,000 MSL.
5. Flying over part of the Knik glacier as the glacier very quickly rises below.
6. Landing at Mount McKinley Airport; now called Denali Airport.  It took flying close to mountains and compensating for heavy downdrafts at the runway threshold.
7. Takeoff at Mount McKinley, a one way runway, then clearing hills southwest by a hundred feet or so.
8. Before taking off from Fairbanks, ATIS said visibility was 100 miles.  Actually after airborne heading into the Brooks Range, visibility must have been 200-300 miles; clearest day I have ever seen.
9. Landing at Coldfoot was particularly interesting with changing right/left crosswinds on final and again on rollout.
10. Flying through the Brooks Range onto the North Slope and landing at Anaktuvuk Pass with large gravel runway.
11. Flying 100 miles northwest of Fairbanks; seeing Mount McKinley after sunset.

Flying Reflections  Most of my flying days were mostly sunny or partly cloudy with occasional scattered showers.  Rain and thunderstorms delayed me twice; once at Denali and once in Minnesota coming back.  Mountain flying meant flying the valleys while keeping your finger on the sectional chart.  By flying the valleys over roads, I did not need to fly very high the entire trip.  A few legs were very bumpy.  And, the weather can change very fast in the mountains.  Clearly, this trip was the most beautiful flying I’ve ever done.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Flying to Alaska.

Click any image below for a slide show!

Disclaimer  This post, which depicts my flying trip to Alaska and back, is for information only.   This information may not be appropriate for your purposes.  Please see our disclaimer page.