The Citabria Deserves Some Praise

HATS OFF TO N293AC

Changing Spark Plugs at Anchorage

The Old Bird has been doing incredibly well.  It made it to Anchorage without giving any trouble, even though it has never been in rain and outside in the weather like this before.  I changed the oil in Bethel, and installed another set of cleaned and gapped spark plugs I brought with me in Anchorage, but other than that I have done nothing.  Let’s hope she does so well on the return trip.  - ROGER

Excitement In Bethel Alaska

TACO BELL AND BETHEL, AK

Bethel is not a large city by any stretch of the imagination, but may be about the third largest in Alaska after Anchorage and Fairbanks.  I don’t know the size but am guessing maybe 10 or 15 thousand.  They got their first Subway some time ago, and somehow a rumor got started about Taco Bell opening up in Bethel – and that is all it was a rumor.  Bethel was all excited about being a “’two’ fast food town”.  We were told it made national news in case you remember, so the day we were in Bethel Taco Bell decided to fly in a food van and drop it in town with a helicopter and give free Tacos to everyone there.  I’m sure they wanted some good PR exposure too.  Travis flew some of the executives out from Anchorage for the occasion.  We saw the helicopter fly the truck in and there were lines formed for hours before to each get a free taco – it appeared the whole town was there.  It was fun to watch, but we weren’t interested in standing in line for hours to get a free taco.  What excitement for a town in the tundra.  ROGER

PILOTS ONLY ALLOWED HERE

Here is a typical Alaska Bush Plane for sale - Any Takers?

July 3 – For Pilot’s Only – all Others Can Leave the Room Now.

FUN FLYING SO FAR: Today is the first day I did not fly in the last 17 days.  We had incredible weather – only a few hours for the entire time while waiting for the weather to pass or improve.  That is hard to believe with the normal weather patterns in Alaska and northern Canada.  Of course good weather in Alaska over the tundra is 200 feet ceilings with good visibility underneath, although the 91 guys go with one mile, and the 135 guys only need 500 and 2 (if they decide to be legal).  However one can get caught with weather that keeps them from flying the passes for days at a time, so we were fortunate.  We had weather delays planned for, but since we did not need to use any we could do more things – and I still didn’t do everything I would have liked to.  All my flying was VFR except for one leg I filed IFR from Winnipeg to Saskatoon on the way up.  We flew all through the north of Canada (not directly to Anchorage from Whitehorse) and cleared customs at Fairbanks.  Most small planes clear at Northway.  I was shocked when the customs officer came out and said the last I saw you was when you flew from Winnipeg to Saskatoon.  He was watching Flight Aware and followed me, however I filed VFR flight plans for every leg and he had no idea where I had gone in between.  He took me by surprise when he told me that.  In the past 17 days I flew over 89 hours – if I had done that many hours in the GV I would have gone around the world over two times – but not with the Citabria.  I had the time of my life, however and loved the trip – and I still have the return to look forward to. 

FSS STILL ALIVE AND WELL IN ALASKA: I did not realize until I got up here that Lockheed Martin is not in Alaska, but FSS is alive and well here.  They were not happy when I used Duats to file a few times, I found out, because they like to do the filing over the radio or phone they told me “to keep our numbers up”.  They informed me if I used Duats they will go the way of the lower 48 and they don’t want that.  Aviation in Alaska is a whole different ball game, and some things were pretty impressive.  The weather here changes every minute and is so localized with the mountains etc.  On occasion I was getting tossed around from winds blowing down a valley (which is often the case) at 45 knots or more and extremely rough, and not believing the AWOS at the next cove that was only 4 miles away which said there winds were calm.  This was all happening while I was at 600 feet AGL.  Sure enough I get around the ridge and landed with no wind at all.  Localized rain and clouds were the same way.  They have done an incredible job of installing hundreds of web cams all over the state – including very remote locations.  Take a look at the FAA web site sometime to have a look at them.  In addition to all the FAA have there are many other private ones also installed, and the pilots here use them regularly.  One can get a view in numerous directions at each location depending on approach paths etc, and there is always a clear image next to it to compare with the altitudes and distances of the mountains for comparison.  They are located in passes and at many airstrips.  They also have many RCO locations to communicate with FSS, and many weather reporting stations.   FSS is extremely helpful at remote locations and one time Travis even had them make a phone call to get updated weather at the remote airstrip he was going to.  One can radio them through the RCO’s and ask them to look at the web cams (I did that went I went through some of the passes) and they give a very good report based on the web cams and how it looks at that moment. 

CAPSTONE PROJECT:  Alaska is well ahead with the ADS-B OUT as well, and many aircraft have it installed.  They get weather and traffic, but it was quite impressive to see the ADS-B in operation like is. 

AIRPLANE HEAVEN:  It still amazes me how many aircraft there are in Alaska (the highest percentage of pilots in the world – and that doesn’t include those who fly and never got a pilot’s license J).  One seems them all over the place at remote villages and lakes.  The only connection many villages have is the airplane of course.  In Anchorage there are about 5 VERY busy airports and one Airforce Base all within about a 5 mile radius, including the International Airport.  There are planes flying all the time right over the city – these airports are located right in the city.  And there are hundreds (probably thousands) of small aircraft at Lake Hood, and Merrill Field.  Taildraggers are the norm here – a tricycle looks more out of place.  In fact the large Alaska bush tires are seen everywhere, some places that is all that you see. 

AIRSPACE MAZE:  It takes a while to fly in and out of Anchorage.  Most flights are VFR and that is how the controllers like it so it doesn’t get all bottled up.  There are very specific procedures, routes, and altitudes to make it all work with the busy airspace.  For instance there are “tunnels” for the military aircraft to fly through, and then descend to the airports, while VFR traffic to other fields is above or below that.  If you take a look at the AFD Alaska Supplement you can see how confusing it all is – but it works I guess.  They know when somebody new comes in.  I explained I was unfamiliar with all the landmarks and they were understanding and helpful the first time, but I was flying in extremely turbulent winds and was supposed to hold 1200 feet and when I showed about 1260 on my altimeter they informed me they showed me at 1300 and that was too high!  I think they were playing with the amateur a bit, but they are very strict.  ROGER

Anchorage and Denali Park

July 2 – 7 (Anchorage)

Ok, so we’re sort of bunching a whole week together since we’re sitting in one place all the time.  Well, almost.  Friday and Saturday we took a road trip to Denali National Park – formerly known as Mt. McKinley National Park.  Travis & Alana wanted to do one last thing with their friends Katie & Dustin, so we got to get in on that trip too.  We stayed with them when we visited last January and Katie visited us at PA so we knew them somewhat before.  Dustin is in Fairbanks for a couple of months, so we all drove up in Katie’s car and met him at the park.  He had taken the train from Fairbanks.  It was about a four and a half hour trip, and soon after we got there we got on a bus for the ride into the park.  They don’t let individual automobiles go in anymore, only buses, which is a good thing cause a LOT of people go through the park.  It was a six hour bus ride from the entrance to where we turned around and went back.  A lot of it was on really windy mountain roads with hairpin turns and huge drop offs, and the buses had to take turns waiting for an oncoming bus a lot of places.  We could see the mountain (Denali) on our drive up to the park, but in the park there were clouds covering the top so we didn’t get a good view then.  We saw six grizzly bears, several caribou, and several dall sheep up high on a mountain, and lots of gorgeous scenery of course.   Our first bus driver was a great guide and gave us lots of facts about the animals and the mountain that we wouldn’t have known otherwise.  At the end, we got off the bus and took a hike, and then got on another bus to go back. 

We camped just outside the park, along a river.  It was a beautiful setting, and fun to camp again.  Saturday was pretty cloudy and cool, and by about noon it started raining.  It cleared off long enough for Katie and Dustin to set up their tent at another campground since they were staying another night, and for us to have lunch, then it rained again.  We left about 6:15 pm to head back to Anchorage and got here after  11.  Travis had driven up to Wasilla (yes, Palin’s hometown – oh shucks, she wasn’t there!) early in the morning to meet friends of his that had been in Maun, Botswana when he was there and are from Alaska and have just moved back, so we had to pick up his vehicle on the way back through. 

Other than that trip, we’ve been hanging around Anchorage helping where we can.  Thursday was Travis’ last day of work and Roger got to go with him on flights three days, which he was thrilled about.  I got to go along once too, so that was special.  His last day they had a BBQ for him and he brought some carrot cake home from the party.  He was pretty sad to be leaving, and they were sorry to see him go.  A couple evenings Roger & I walked downtown and did some souvenir shopping and on July 3 there were fireworks that started at midnight.  Roger went, I didn’t!  It is just not dark enough before then – and isn’t really dark then either, but they still had them.   It was pretty cloudy which made it more like dusk – their big fireworks displays are always at New Year’s when it is plenty dark J.  A lot of the stores downtown are open until midnight in the summer, and it’s amazing how many people are shopping really late.  At home I’d never think of going places so late, but here it’s nothing.  The earliest I’ve gotten to bed here was maybe 10:45, and many times later than that. JOLENE

We Finally Make it To Anchorage!

A ship in the tundra several miles from water????

Time for an oil change!

Heading up Lake Clark Pass - a real highlight for me!

Prepping for Anchorage's very complicated VFR procedures.

The beginning of the pass - still plenty of room to turn around if required.

About 1/2 way through the pass.

Looking ahead and getting WX Cam reports from FSS.

Plenty of room.

The Ipad was invaluable for navigating the passes.

Nearing the other side near Anchorage - terrain is opening up.

Acres and Acres of single engine aircraft at Merrill Field.

The Citabria will feel at home here!

July 1 (Anchorage)

We slept in a bit this morning, had breakfast, and then Lance & Toni took us on a tour of Bethel, showing us the sights (not that there are many!)  We stopped at a couple of stores, and were very surprised how well stocked they were – fresh fruit and everything.  Very pricey, but still, available.  It was a dreary, sort of rainy day with low clouds.  After eating a bit of a late lunch (we took them out to a place called Shogun), we packed up our stuff and they took us to the airport to take off.  Travis was coming in on a flight later and hoped to have a bit of time, but in the end he didn’t have much time so we took off before he arrived.  He wanted to say goodbye to his friends there, but we wanted to get going because it looked like the passes may be open (one never knows) into Anchorage and we didn’t want to get stuck out there for a week or two, which can happen.  The first couple of hours flying the ceilings were very low and we were scudding along only a couple hundred feet above the ground trying to find openings to keep going.  The entire area is tundra at sea level, so there is nothing to hit, but it seems a bit scary to me.  We finally landed at a place called Platinum (have since read they mine platinum there, hence the name).  Roger had a bit of an emergency with his bowels (!) and so needed to land, but he would have landed there anyway cause the weather seemed to be closing in more.  But, another plane landed and the pilot, who happened to be a woman, had come from where we were going, so told us all about how it was where she had  just come through.  She said it soon opened up and looked pretty good, so we took off again, and it was just as she had said.  As we left another aircraft landed – they fly in those conditions regularly.  (A 200 foot ceiling with good visibility underneath is often the weather there, and to an Alaskan Pilot those are great conditions to fly in – Roger).  When we left Platinum the weather was very low so we had to follow the beach for a while until it cleared up, but the visibility was always great.  We landed at a few more strips on the way (just touch and goes) and then flew into Dillingham on the south coast and got fuel.  We then went into Iliamna to fuel again before we headed through the mountain pass to Anchorage.  Roger wanted to have full tanks before he left so he had options if he had to turn around (like the last time).  We had to go through one mountain pass, which of course was absolutely beautiful.  There was a river and sand bars all the way through that we could have landed on if we would have needed to.  And then a hop, skip and a jump, and we were in Anchorage!  Yeah!!  Travis & Alana picked us up from the airport.  We hadn’t seen them since their wedding a year ago, so it’s great to be here. 

I feel a sense of relief that we have made it this far, and that I actually really enjoyed it, in spite of moments of fear.  The first couple of days on the trip I really wasn’t sure that I could keep going and did not enjoy it all that much, mostly because I was afraid of being in a single engine airplane and feeling like something could/would happen.  But as time went on, I relaxed and it turned out to be a great adventure.  One that only Roger & I share, which has been special too.  Never have we been on a trip this long, just the two of us. 

I’m writing like the adventure is over!  It is NOT!  We have to come home yet.  J  But first, we are spending almost two weeks here in Anchorage with Alana & Travis.  Roger wants to do some side trips yet from here, but we’ll see if we have time.  JOLENE

Tundra Flying and Many Memories of When I Used to Fly Here

June 30 (Bethel)

After a night of not real good sleep (well for me, Roger said he slept well!) we got up and packed up our stuff and took off again.  We did some more village hopping to see places where Roger used to fly into 29 years ago (wow, was it really that long ago?)  The main one I wanted to see was St. Mary’s where he was based out of, and where I had also spent a month that summer.  Roger had come up for three months to work at Herman’s Air, and I came up for one of those months and stayed in an apartment in the village of St. Mary’s.  Roger loved it there and since it was pretty well light 24 hours a day, they were very busy flying and I didn’t really see that much of him.  I was bored to death there in the village with nothing to do!  Only mosquitoes for company!  J  We just flew into the airstrip and didn’t go into the village cause it was about 7 miles away, but we flew over it and saw where we had lived the month I came up.  When I wasn’t there Roger slept in the hangar and washed out of a small Maxwell coffee can for his showers.  That’s all he had to use and had no running water.  He loved it though.   Roger also talked to some guys at the airport – not that much changed.  The village is also about the same size, just a few hundred people.  On the way to Bethel we flew into about 11 different villages Roger used to fly into on a regular basis.  He wanted to go out to the west along the coast to some of the other villages, but decided not to since there is so much to do yet, and so little time left J.

We ended up in Bethel, which is the biggest village in the area.  Roger needed to change the oil in the plane and we needed fuel, so he did that at Ryan Air, where Travis used to work before he got married last summer.  Travis had been working two weeks on, living in Bethel, and then two weeks off, living in Anchorage with the Ryan Air job.   After they got married he changed jobs so he could be home every night in Anchorage.  Travis arranged for us to stay with Lance & Toni, friends of his from Ryan Air, so that is where we are now for the night.  Everyone but me has gone out to do some shooting with guns – some friend of theirs wanted to go, so Roger went along.  I opted to stay here at the house.  It was sort of rainy and I enjoyed a bit of time by myself.  They came back about 9:30 pm, and we sat down to eat supper about 10:15 and stayed up till after 11:30 talking.  I was tired by then!!  JOLENE

Nothing Like Left Over Pizza for Breakfast.

Jolene Packing - Everything Has It's Place

Oil Buckets Have Many Uses

Locked Brakes on the Fish Truck,  They Drove it Two Miles to Town Like This.

The Airport At St. Mary's Where I Used to Work.

The Village of St. Mary's

Arriving in Bethel, AK

A Busy Day of Flying - We walked into Nome and Unalalkeet, and slept at Emmonack.

June 29 (Emmonack)

Well, it all worked out this morning, thankfully!  I woke up at 7 – Roger had been awake earlier but was kind enough not to wake me!  We loaded up all the luggage into the plane, and he took off for a private strip about a 10 minute flight away, leaving me behind to pick up later.  He wanted to go when it was pretty cool so the aircraft would perform better.  He got off ok, and within a half hour was back again to pick me up and off we went with no problem.  If he wouldn’t have gotten back for whatever reason, we had a plan with Travis that if he didn’t hear from us by 8 pm tonight, he (or someone) was supposed to come looking for us, since we had no communication to file a flight plan.  This place at the hot springs had no phone or any way to connect with anyone of course, so we wanted a back-up plan in case something would have gone wrong.  Then we flew back to where he had dropped the luggage.  Since it was a private airstrip the guy there wasn’t entirely happy about him landing there, but after Roger explained he was very nice.  Roger had an interesting chat with the fellow.  He was actually working an old dilapidated gold dredge that has been digging away since the gold rush according to him.  The only time it was shut down was during WWII.  As usual there is an airplane sitting there which they use to get in and out of.  On the way to Nome we say many small gold digging operations – the closer we got the more we saw.  Apparently since the price of gold has gotten so high there are more and more people heading to the hills to dig or pan for gold.  We then flew on to Nome, AK where we fueled and walked over a mile into town and ate lunch at ‘Airport Pizza’, and had some wonderful burgers.  We got internet there so did some flight planning and computer stuff, returning phone messages, etc.   It is amazing there the internet is accessible at many of these villages, but no phone service.  Then back to the plane, and we took off for a couple of different strips that Roger had flown into when he lived up here in 1983 for a summer and flew out of St. Mary’s.  Basically we just did ‘touch & go’ stops (not coming to a full stop on the run-way, but touching and then going up again).  He just wanted to see the villages, and it seemed to him that they were smaller than he remembered – at least some of them.  The biggest building in the village is always the school, which the government has provided for them.

We ended up at the village of Emmonack and decided to stop there and camp for the night.  We set up our little tent in the grass behind the airplane and crawled in.  The tent is a 2 person tent, but if you know how big that is, it really isn’t supposed to fit two adults – not six feet adults anyway.  It’s a tight fit, but has done the trick.  There was no running water at the hangar, and the toilet was a bucket with a plastic bag in it and a wooden toilet seat on top.  They have an incinerator thing there they burn it in every day – at least that’s what the sign said.  There was a bit of a breeze blowing, so the mosquitoes weren’t too bad, thankfully.  JOLENE

The Hot Spring Spa

Serpentine Hot Springs Next To Landing Strip.

Not Much Extra Room For Landing

Many Old Ruins From the Gold Rush Days

Anybody Want to Come Here and Look For Gold.  Equipment is Waiting.

An Old Gold Dredge Still Being Used.

Landing at The Gold Mining Camp

Walking In To Nome

An Old Gold Dredge Ruin Right In Nome.

Landing At Nome

An Old Airstrip I Used to Land On, With a New School Built On It.

The Mighty Yukon River Flowing Through the Tundra

Miles and Miles of Tundra.

Camping for The Night.