rgschmi
Around The Moon
The subject of flying to Alaska came up again at BACFest this year and I’ll admit I’m interested in another trip, so I thought I’d put together some thoughts. Here goes:
Mid-June is a great time to go – almost 24 hours of daylight and if you get north of the Arctic Circle, you can see the Midnight Sun!
Plan on three weeks for the trip. We’d could meet in Cut Bank, Montana and fly the Alaska Highway to Tok or possibly Eagle, Alaska. It can take three to five days to get there from Montana, depending on weather, sightseeing, etc. The Alaska Highway is almost always in sight and offers a good emergency landing strip. You can land on roads legally in Alaska, but only in an emergency in Canada. Cut Bank to Fairbanks is about 1800NM following the Alaska Highway.
Daytime VFR only! Daytime only is no problem in the Spring. No instrument flying for a couple of reasons: The MEAs are high because of navaid separation and mountains. Icing potential is high in the clouds year round. The highest elevation on the whole trip from Canada to Alaska is 4400 feet, 3500 if you take a short detour.
We would camp whenever possible, to keep the cost down. There is good to great camping at most airports.
I’d like to keep the cost down to around $2500 per person, two people per airplane. Plan on around 50 hours of flying round trip from Montana, depending on where we go in Alaska.
Food is an issue. On our last trip we didn’t want to carry stove fuel in the airplane and restaurants can be expensive and are not always conveniently located near the airport. We brought and ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Suggestions?
You must have survival equipment on board. Canada and Alaska have different requirements and you must satisfy both. For example you must carry 10,000 calories of food per person, an axe with a 24” handle, flares, gill net, snare line, signaling mirror, ‘conspicuity panel (orange tarp)’, etc.
Weight is also an issue. With survival equipment and rations, gear, cameras, clothes, etc., you will be at gross weight if you carry full fuel, which you really want to do. Our airplanes burn roughly 10 gallons per hour at roughly 120 knots. That’s one pound of fuel per minute and two nautical miles per minute. Each extra pound of fuel you can carry gives you an additional two miles of range. Maybe that’s a good excuse to lose a few pounds before the trip!
The journey is as important as the destination. If you need to get to Alaska on a schedule, there are faster and much cheaper ways to get there.
I want to keep the group small, maybe four to eight people at most. We would fly in groups of two airplanes and separate the groups by 15 to 30 minutes. Flying as a ‘flight’ is too restrictive. You spend too much time trying to keep in position when there is way too much to see outside. We tried it on the last trip and gave up. Flying in groups of two gives you a ‘buddy’ in case of a problem yet you only have one other airplane to keep track of.
We may want to separate once in Alaska. There is much to see and do and to get a group consensus may be difficult. We still want groups of two airplanes for safety.
No firearms or alcohol. Alaska no longer requires you to carry a firearm in the airplane. Many of the native Villages ban alcohol – you can get your airplane confiscated if you bring it in. Besides, you don’t need the extra weight!
Join the Alaska Airmen’s Association and get their Logbook. It contains a detailed description of most of the popular routes in and to Alaska. My 2001 copy has 314 pages, including airport diagrams, frequencies, survival equipment requirements, side trips, and more.
Canada has a special Alaska Highway chart if you want a preview of the Canadian leg of the trip.
I can't fully commit to the trip yet, but let's see if there is any interest and take it from there. Let me know!!!
Mid-June is a great time to go – almost 24 hours of daylight and if you get north of the Arctic Circle, you can see the Midnight Sun!
Plan on three weeks for the trip. We’d could meet in Cut Bank, Montana and fly the Alaska Highway to Tok or possibly Eagle, Alaska. It can take three to five days to get there from Montana, depending on weather, sightseeing, etc. The Alaska Highway is almost always in sight and offers a good emergency landing strip. You can land on roads legally in Alaska, but only in an emergency in Canada. Cut Bank to Fairbanks is about 1800NM following the Alaska Highway.
Daytime VFR only! Daytime only is no problem in the Spring. No instrument flying for a couple of reasons: The MEAs are high because of navaid separation and mountains. Icing potential is high in the clouds year round. The highest elevation on the whole trip from Canada to Alaska is 4400 feet, 3500 if you take a short detour.
We would camp whenever possible, to keep the cost down. There is good to great camping at most airports.
I’d like to keep the cost down to around $2500 per person, two people per airplane. Plan on around 50 hours of flying round trip from Montana, depending on where we go in Alaska.
Food is an issue. On our last trip we didn’t want to carry stove fuel in the airplane and restaurants can be expensive and are not always conveniently located near the airport. We brought and ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Suggestions?
You must have survival equipment on board. Canada and Alaska have different requirements and you must satisfy both. For example you must carry 10,000 calories of food per person, an axe with a 24” handle, flares, gill net, snare line, signaling mirror, ‘conspicuity panel (orange tarp)’, etc.
Weight is also an issue. With survival equipment and rations, gear, cameras, clothes, etc., you will be at gross weight if you carry full fuel, which you really want to do. Our airplanes burn roughly 10 gallons per hour at roughly 120 knots. That’s one pound of fuel per minute and two nautical miles per minute. Each extra pound of fuel you can carry gives you an additional two miles of range. Maybe that’s a good excuse to lose a few pounds before the trip!
The journey is as important as the destination. If you need to get to Alaska on a schedule, there are faster and much cheaper ways to get there.
I want to keep the group small, maybe four to eight people at most. We would fly in groups of two airplanes and separate the groups by 15 to 30 minutes. Flying as a ‘flight’ is too restrictive. You spend too much time trying to keep in position when there is way too much to see outside. We tried it on the last trip and gave up. Flying in groups of two gives you a ‘buddy’ in case of a problem yet you only have one other airplane to keep track of.
We may want to separate once in Alaska. There is much to see and do and to get a group consensus may be difficult. We still want groups of two airplanes for safety.
No firearms or alcohol. Alaska no longer requires you to carry a firearm in the airplane. Many of the native Villages ban alcohol – you can get your airplane confiscated if you bring it in. Besides, you don’t need the extra weight!
Join the Alaska Airmen’s Association and get their Logbook. It contains a detailed description of most of the popular routes in and to Alaska. My 2001 copy has 314 pages, including airport diagrams, frequencies, survival equipment requirements, side trips, and more.
Canada has a special Alaska Highway chart if you want a preview of the Canadian leg of the trip.
I can't fully commit to the trip yet, but let's see if there is any interest and take it from there. Let me know!!!
