Flying To Alaska

This is a sketch of our trip in the family Luscombe 8E from Seattle to Alaska in late July 2002. Our intent was "get to Alaska, then fish". My wife has relatives in the Kenai Peninsula and we planned to stop to see them if convenient. Otherwise Denali and Southeastern Alaska were also of interest.

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This article:

1. Chronicles what we did -- without sounding like a home movie
2. Provides useful information for others who have an interest in such a trip.

The trip suffered badly from no planning. I had been traveling for weeks on business, and there was simply no opportunity to research fishing destinations. We paid for this in Alaska; the locals had no advice, I had no plan, so not a lot of fishing happened. But let's be very clear on one thing: this was a long cross country that was a blast, and it covered some really remote territory. Preparation was important, mostly in terms of investing in maps. However this trip is one that many, many pilots have made. It is not an "adventure" in the same sense it was decades ago. And our moving map software from www.anywheremap.com made staying within one-tenth of a mile of course centerline very easy (as long as terrain permitted).

Phones
Before departing, I agonized over whether to purchase a satellite phone. In the end I decided against it. I Never regretted this decision, but then again we never had problems. Cellular service is spotty, and in Whitehorse there is a strong signal but the local service rejected my Sprint phone (other pilots with ATT service reported the same results). In general the cellular phone was useful near urban areas of a few thousand people or more, however wireless coverage ain't what you're used to. I discovered upon my return that a VP at the office had spent nine days frantically trying to reach me. I'm undecided as to whether or not a satellite phone would have been a Good Thing...

Day 1: Seattle - Smithers, BC

Leg One: KAWO/CYXX
My fifteen-year-old son and I got a late start due to a low marine layer in Western Washington. Canadian customs requires two hours advance notice, so I called two and one half hours prior to estimated arrival (allowing one hour to the airport, one hour to pour all our gear into the plane, and thirty-six minutes enroute. We took longer to get under way than expected, which turned packing the plane into a panic job. Yikes! What a pile of stuff.

We departed our home field of Arlington, WA (AWO) for the brief flight up to Abbotsford, BC (CYXX). It took a while to clear customs (officer had lost his official stamp), but after doing the paperwork, we visited Canadian FSS for a briefing north to Williams Lake. This was the first Canadian FSS visit: while flight plans are mandatory in Canada for any flight in excess of 25 NM, we were impressed with how friendly and cooperative they were.

Canada is very cooperative when it comes to pilots and aircraft as long as you are not carrying weapons. Therein lies a rub: Alaska law requires that you carry a survival rifle, and the Canadians have very strict regulations. You can carry a rifle, but never a handgun. There is a loophole in Alaska's law: no rifle is required between the border and your first destination (as opposed to first stop). So we chose the farthest point inside Alaska, and skipped the entire issue. See the Canadian website for more info by clicking here.

Nav Canada is a user-fee system. Shortly after we arrived home, an invoice arrived in the amount of $15.52 CDN. This is a quarterly fee for foreign-registered aircraft less than 2.0 metric tons. (It's $48.75 plus tax for aircraft weighing 2.0 - 3.0 metric tons.) See www.navcanada.ca for more information on how the system works.

Specific survival equipment requirements are available by clicking here. Be prepared to tell the FSS briefer what equipment you have on board.

Leg Two: CYXX/YCW
Since lunch time was near, we chose to stop at Chilliwack (a 20 minute flight) for food and their famous pie. There is quite a bit of restricted airspace between Abbotsford and Chilliwack. The best way to get there is depart Abbotsford to the northeast, then follow the Fraser River to Chilliwack. Be alert -- air traffic is heavy and compressed into a narrow corridor over the river.

As usual the pie in Chilliwack was incredible. And the fuel was expensive; word was that Abbotsford is much cheaper. And be careful landing here; by convention, Canadians cross mid-field then turn downwind to land. My traditional pattern entry made for some interesting conflicts, since everyone else was doing things the "proper" way.

After an hour on the ground, we lifted off for Williams Lake.

Leg Three: CYCW/CYWL (Chilliwack - Williams Lake)
The Fraser River valley was iffy near Hope thanks to marine weather pushed up against the mountains, but clear once we rounded the corner with mountain turbulence and "lennies". At Hope we opened our flight plan on 126.7 (the national Canadian FSS frequency). We flew as high as 13.5K in order to stay above worst of the turbulence. Wasn't hard to get up there, given all the lift! Regular +/- 1K wave made things interesting.

This route took us over Lillooet, located 100-300 feet above the Fraser River, and surrounded by the Fraser Plateau. Lava flows underlie much of the plateau and are visible as rimrock escarpments along mountains overlooking the valley. Weather tends to be quite warm in the summer, with cool-to-cold evenings.

Williams Lake is a nice airport. FSS right on the field, as is self-serve 100LL fuel. We heard a Connair DC-6 call final on the way in; they were flying firefighting missions. As we wrapped up refueling (Chilliwack was cheap by comparison!) and talking to FSS, the DC-6 was rolling on takeoff. Nothing like the growl of four huge radials chewing the air. The plane ate all 6000 feet of runway, then climbed at under 500 feet per minute; not a career for the faint-hearted.

The town of Williams Lake is primarily a timber town, although tourism (especially hunting and fishing), and some cattle ranching are important as well. However the airport is ten miles from town, so transportation is an issue. You can camp at the airport, but plan on bringing your own food.

Leg Four CYWL/CYXS (Williams Lake - Prince George)
This was a short one-hour flight, into a fairly major regional airport. We arrived around 6:30, just as the first FBO closed. He offered the flying club for accommodations. (In other words, the kid was still there but didn't want to pump "just a few litres of fuel", as he put it.) The flying club is a trailer with bunk beds, and a fridge stiocked with beer, or so we were told. Sounded good, but it was only 7 PM, and lots of daylight remained.

Leg Five CYXS/CYYD (Prince George - Smithers)
We found fuel at the competition, then continued on to Smithers. This route took us over Vanderhoof, an area that I had fished in a few years previously. But we were in a hurry to get to Alaska, and it was late. We burned thru one tank in 1.5 hours at a high power setting, turns out that left tank is approx 12.5 gal (this is the one that went dry), right one is 13.8 gal. Arrived 9:45 PM (still light on July 26). Could have camped, chose a hotel in town due to 40% precip probability. Turned out that mosquitoes were awful in any case.

Smithers has great cellular service.

Day 2 Smithers - Whitehorse

Leg 1: CYYD/CYDL (Smithers - Dease Lake)
Wow, 3.1 hours, and almost no airports along the way, weather was "OK" but made us nervous about lack of options. At one point we went thru a narrow pass with showers and no room to turn around. But the worst was the pass immediately south of Dease Lake, due to a rain shower. I put it on the deck and followed the road (could see a bright spot up ahead). Dease was cold and windy.

Dease Lake is the along the Cassiar Highway (completed in the sixties), with gold mining and timber as its two main industries. However mining activity is low to nonexistent, due mostly to high transportation costs which affect both the mine facilities and ore transportation. The area is cool in the summer (average July temperature is only fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit), but surprisingly wet. At 2.42 inches of rain in July, Dease Lake is twice as wet as surrounding communities, and also twice as wet as January. In other words, weather might be an issue...

If you decide to use Dease Lake as a stopover, the Northway Motor Inn can be contacted at 250.771.5341. Camping is permitted at the airport right next to the FBO, and the FBO has clean bathrooms. There is no cellular service in Dease Lake.

Leg Two: CYDL/CYXY (Dease Lake - Whitehorse)
Desired next stop would be Watson Lake, but it was forecast to go IFR about the time that we arrived. Instead we filed for Whitehorse, way out at end of the Luscombe's fuel range, with two and one-half hours of roadless wilderness in the middle. This area is known as Stikine Plateau, and characterized by subarctic trees such as spruce. However the higher elevations are a treeless muskeg.

We powered back to 2275 RPM to conserve fuel (had a quartering 20kt headwind), and wound up eeking 2.15 hours out of the right tank before it went dry. Guess our range was better than expected. At Whitehorse we learned that west of Whitehorse was IFR, so we checked in for the night. Local FBO had rooms for $38 single, $48 double (Canadian) with a nice pilots' lounge.

Day 3 (Still in Whitehorse)
Not going anywhere today. A low pressure system to the northeast of Whitehorse is moving west, not east. I took the opportunity to change the engine's break-in oil to Aeroshell 15W50 at the local shop. These guys really understood Luscombes, and knew all about my Lycoming conversion. We had a very detailed conversation about the finer points of mine, with some great advice on tweaks. Also discovered a crack in the nosebowl. Turns out that starter ring gear was occasionally striking it (yuk). Did not fix it though, because the situation was not a threat to airworthiness and it looked like the solution invoved hoisting the engine in order to re-align it. Also noticed that heat muffs are vibrating themselves into oblivion.

Whitehorse is a sizeable city, especially for this part of the world. The airport sits on a bluff right above the city proper, however by road it's at least six miles. Fortunately, city bus service is only $1.25 CDN (doesn't run on Sundays, watch out for the middle of the day when buses are hard to find.) The city per-se is not particularly interesting, but has some excellent restaurants at low prices. We made friends with fellow pilots (also stuck), and had a great dinner out in town at one of these; I had an excellent Indonesian selection -- not exactly what you'd expect in the Yukon.

Talk about late sunsets... Here it was early August, and at 11:30 PM it was still light enough to read a book outdoors. And that was under a heavy cloud cover.

Day 4 Whitehorse - Seward

Leg One: CYXY/PORT (Whitehorse - Northway)
Weather looks quite good, with just a few clouds enroute. Filed for Northway Alaska, where they actually accept ADCUST (advise customs) on the flight plan. This was the first leg where we followed the Alaska Highway. Kind of nice to have a road nearby, although some of the adventure was gone because of it.

Arrived in Northway under spectacular blue skies, with visibility in excess of 300 miles! There isn't much there! The FBO was a tavern, and customs greeted us out front. The lady was friendly and cleared us within a few minutes. One of the questions was whether or not Patrick (age fifteen) was along with the consent of his mother. A little hesitation from Patrick in answering elicited some deeper questions, but that was fine with me. We fueled the plane with $1.92 MoGas(!), then ourselves with breakfast.

Leg Two: PORT/PMRI
After filing with FSS right there on the field, it was off to Anchorage and Merrill Field. Others would be advised to head for Fairbanks if Mt. McKinley is in their plans. We had to make a hard climb to 9,500 feet in order to clear the mountain range ahead, and were dodging all sorts of clouds on the way into Anchorage. Anchorage has lots of air traffic, and a very messy airspace punctuated by restricted areas. Accordingly, I let approach know that I was clueless and received a very warm guided tour all the way to Merrill. Since most of the checkpoints were along the lines of "Jefferson High School", this turned out to be a wise admission.

Merrill Field in Anchorage is like any other large, busy airport. Except that it's small due to it's downtown location, and aircraft are crammed in everywhere. First person to greet me as I hopped out of the plane was Chip Kell, a fellow Luscombe List member! But I knew this wasn't the place for me or my polished airplane: especially after the lady behind the FBO counter complimented me on my "pretty chrome airplane". Rest of her advice followed true to her first observation: "Which chart is Mount McKinley on?". Answer was "I don't know where it is". Oh boy...

Leg Three: PMRI/PSXQ
So right away it was off to see the mountain. It's not visible very often, and with 300-mile visibility we were not going to waste any time. At 12,000 feet we were right up alongside it; there is no way that words can express the sheer size and majesty of the sight. there are lots of tourist flights around the mountain, and some of them land on the glaciers. There's a formal system of designated frequencies to call out your positon, and was it ever busy! This photo was taken right up alongside the mountain, at 12,000 feet. The mountain rises to over 19,000 feet, so we had no hope of going higher in a Luscombe (especially without oxygen).

From Denali, we flew straight south to Soldotna, on the Kenai Peninsula, because word was that the salmon were running. Plan was to camp at the airport, and check out the action. Several snags in the plan: this is a municipal airport of significance (large and busy), which meant that camping is not an option. And as things turned out we missed the salmon run by several days, and the relatives were not at home when we called.

Leg Four: PSXQ/PSWD
After some discussion, we departed towards Seward, checking out some dirt strips along the way. Despite some spectacular scenery, we passed on these due to apparent lack of facilities and potable water. Around 8PM we landed in Seward. Airport camping here was also "no go" for the same reasons. However someone offered us a ride into town, where there are plenty of tent sites for $8 per night. As things turned out, this would be home for three nights.

Day 5: Seward - Seward
The next day we decided to go back to Soldotna, because Patrick was desperate to fish, and our relative is a fishing guide. So we packed up, took a taxi to the airport, and flew to Soldotna. This time we were able to contact the relatives, only to learn that the only hot fishing was in Seward! So back in the plane, and back to Seward, then via taxi back to the campground. Along the way we went up to 10,000 feet and flew over the Harding Icefield, which at 2,000 square miles is one of the largest on earth.

Day 6: Fishing In Seward
OK, we bit the bullet and did the charter boat thing. This was a real budget buster, costing $174 each plus tax, plus a $50 tip, plus roughly another $140 to ship the fish home. However the action was thick, with five salmon landed by an ecstatic Patrick (one shown here with the guide).

A tip about fishing here: sending the fish home involves one of several local firms who vacuum-pack and/or smoke it, then use Fedex to deliver your catch to you. This is an extremely expensive process, however the local residents use Glacier Fresh Seafoods, at a fraction of the cost, staffed by super-friendly people. You will save 40-50% with these people. Of course, you might have a fast plane with room for a cooler. In that case they will freeze it for you, and send you on your way the following morning.

Day 7: Seward - Sitka

Leg One: PSWD/PVDZ
The charter really shot our budget; time to head south and hope for fishing along the way. After a morning at the laundromat (yuk), it was taxi time again. This camping by taxi turned a few heads at the campground. You can book the taxi by calling (907) 224-5555. They arrive within a few minutes (your cellular call is routed directly to the cab via radio). Cellular service in Seward appears to be ATT Digital, with analog for customers of competing services.

First leg to Valdez was our first serious over-water stretch, so out came the life preservers. Valdez has the feds nervous in a post-911 world. You have to contact FSS prior to entering the airspace, and there's a no-fly zone within a mile of the terminal. However no radar coverage exists in the area, so pilots are on the honor system. That made me nervous, given that there are likely trigger-happy types posted at the terminal.

Valdez has an excellent restaurant at the airport; be certain to try their BBQ and homemade potato salad if you pass thru. Teenage rating system was "thumbs up" for the burger, too.

Leg Two: PVDZ/PYAK
Next leg was Valdez-Yukutat, Alaska. This is ordinarily three hours along the coast, with no options. Since weather was still CAVU, we opted for over the top with no options. The first position report was a full two hours into the flight, although I was able to work center via radio (radar did not cover this area below 18,000 feet).

Yakutat is surreal. It's an abandoned Air Force base, with decrepit buildings and a ramp littered with oil drums and other junk. But the two runways are brand new, and Alaska Air has two flights per day in here. Given that it's three hours by Luscombe to the nearest house, I was a bit baffled. (Turns out that there are plenty of fishing lodges in the area, including one on the ramp: discussed in a moment.)

The fuel pump was bizarre. Check out the photos for a look: the outlet that goes into your tank is a 1-1/4 inch galvanized pipe nipple, complete with threads on the end! It was also the fastest pump ever: one gallon every two seconds or so.

The Yakutat Lodge is located next to the pump. From the ramp it appears to be one step up from a double-wide, with a sign over the door (which had plywood for a window) saying: "Yakutat Lodge: Food, Lodging, Booze". Seemed a bit strange, but my son and I went in. Remember the Star Wars bar scene? I think they shot it here; drunken fishermen everywhere. And they meant it about the booze: this was as hard-drinking a lot as I've ever met. Especially at 3:00 in the afternoon... Had to wonder what FSS thought about me when I filed with all that racket in the background.

Never checked the cellular service here, but can't imagine there is any.

Leg Three: PYAK/PSIT
We blasted out of Yukutat as quickly as possible, because Sitka was almost three hours away, and it was getting late. Just south of the airport was a nice sand beach that went on for miles. Flying along at 2500 feet, we enjoyed the scenery. Just to the left was a dirt strip next to a river; with more time it would have warranted investigation for fishing potential. Along the way were fresh-water inlets full of small icebergs from glaciers, and salt-water inlets that had fishing boats anchored for the evening. The area will be a "must stop" on the next trip; in fact it might be the destination.

As the coast proceeds south, the flat beach vanishes and is replaced by rugged coast. Abeam Juneau the coast became mostly open water with no options for landing whatsoever. What started as a 2500 foot cruise was now at 7500 feet in anticipation of mountains ahead, and to improve the menu of options in case of trouble.

Sitka's airport is unique: obviously built up in the water. You wouldn't want to lose the fan off either end of this one... Sitka is quite busy: we saw a fair bit of twin turbine, Lear, and Alaska 737 traffic (the Lear driver slowed his taxi in to admire our Luscombe, then called us on the radio to compliment the polish job). Pay attention and call Sitka Radio about twenty miles out: there are hunks of high-speed aluminum that need to know where you are.

Another municipal airport, so no opportunity to camp. Hotels were also hard to find (it was 9 PM on a friday night in a tourist town), but we did locate a room in an older downtown hotel: the Sitka Hotel. Turned out to be a great option; within walking distance of all the tourist stuff. Rooms were not wonderful, but passable. The shower was exposed to the room per-se, so no privacy if in a party of two. This strange arrangement was the outcome of retrofitting a seventy-year-old building.

The FBO (Alaska Aero Services) is very gracious and will give you a ride into town (be certain to tip the driver). Better news is that they will also pick you up; we had a ride within ten minutes of calling on a busy Saturday morning. The local cabs had a two-hour backlog, so this was quite a coup. By the way, they recommended the local Super 8 motel, but it was full.

Cellular service in Sitka is good, although I had problems with an analog signal in my hotel room.

Day 8: Sitka - Port Hardy

Leg One: PSIT/CYPR
We got a late start, finally departing around noon. First leg was into Prince Rupert, and once again there was a lot of water under the wing. Thanks to a one-hour time change, we called Prince Rupert radio for a 4:10 landing. FSS advised us that the fuel operation shut at 4 PM, but generously offered to ask them to wait (they did!). The Prince Rupert airport is on an island, very isolated from town. No one from customs made it out to see us, so we cleared via phone, with lots of imploring questions about our intentions.

If you do want to go into town, there's a ferry ride in your future. Given how quickly the help bailed out of our life after refueling, ferry service must be infrequent; we literally had the airport terminal to ourselves after they left. This is true at many Canadian airports: GA pilots are given equal standing with airline pilots, and each airport offers you the combination to the gate. Hint: the locks are often worn out. Before trying the gate, make certain the knob is turned completely counter-clockwise. Also, the first two digits often need to be pressed at the same time.

Leg Two: CYPR/CYZT
Weather ahead was not looking good, but after over thirty minutes of helpful briefing we decided to go for it. Bella Coola was two hours ahead, and could be an option. I was nervous nonetheless since there were no airports before Bella Bella (within a few minutes of Bella Coola). Upon takeoff it became apparent that our briefer was well-known and well-liked; almost every pilot addressed him by name.

The flight was relatively uneventful, although we flew through quite a bit of rain as Port Hardy approached. On final, Port Hardy radio asked for assistance looking for a canoe with three missing boys. They only had one life jacket between them, which made things sound dire. We entered a standard search and rescue search pattern (I used to be involved in Civil Air Patrol search and rescue), but a few minutes later FSS called to say the boys were OK. Whew!

Port Hardy's fuel closed at 8 PM, and it was 8:10 when we landed. This time our luck ran out, but given the black skies to the south that was OK. We opted to camp, and witnessed an incredible rainbow, followed by an incredible deluge.

Day 8: Port Hardy
Weather was still bad to our south, just three hours from home. So we sat and polished the plane, then polished the plane and sat. Boring. Still looked like rain, and our clothes and tent were wet from the previous night. We checked into a hotel.

Port Hardy, near the north tip of Vancouver Island, was named for Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy who, as captain of the H.M.S. Victory, held the dying Lord Nelson in his arms at the end of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Judging from most of the passengers on those Grumman Geese, the majority of commercial airline passengers passing thru Port Hardy are headed for outlying fishing lodges accessible only by air. After the passengers left for the day, entire planeloads of supplies headed out to these same destinations. The gas boy claimed that each flight (20-40 minutes one way) went for $1,800 CDN to whomever hired it; no wonder fly-in fishing is so spendy.

Pacific Coastal Airways has a hub in port Hardy. They also have four Grumman Goose aircraft. With only fifty of these magnificent machines in the world, this made Pasco the largest fleet operator of Goose aircraft. Pilots told me that these planes are a handful to fly, due to narrow gear and the huge engines mounted way up on the wings. There is an enthusiast's Web site about these aircraft at goosecentral.homestead.com/.

Day 9: Port Hardy - Arlington, WA

Leg One - CYZT/KFHR
Still rotten weather around Campbell River, but we decided to take a peek. It's not legal to fly VFR on top in Canada, so we flew above broken clouds until it looked like the layer was going to be solid, then ducked down to 900 feet and flew over the water. Moving map software sure is nice in this situation. Man, was it busy down there. Even twin turbine traffic was flying under the weather.

After Campbell River, ceilings lifted to 8,000 feet or so, and we landed at Friday Harbor Washington within two minutes of ETA. Customs was a snap, then we walked into town for lunch.

Leg Two: KFHR/KAWO
Another thirty minutes of flying, and we were home. Total logged time: 39.7 hours. Total fish: 5. Worth every gallon of fuel...

Appendix
The following links are useful if you are interested in flying to Alaska from the lower 48:

• www.alaska.faa.gov/flytoak/FLTTIPS1.HTM
  Flight Tips for Pilots in Alaska, by the Federal Aviation Administration, Alaskan Region. Quite old, but still useful.
• aero.nrcan.gc.ca/english/ats_product_e.html
  The Canadian agency that publishes charts. You can't purchase them here, however. Note that Canadian Charts are good for a long time (essentially forever), but you need a current Canadian Flight Supplement. Don't leave home without the book!
• www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/menu.htm
  Transport Canada's home page for aviation. Some useful info.
• worldaerodata.com/
  There are plenty of sites with data on US airports, but Canadian ones are not so easy to find. This site is useful, but simple.
• home.gci.net/~mbaston/trench.html
  If the Trench route is of use to you (if you are able to comfortably fly 400+ miles nonstop), then this is a useful site.
• www.alaska.faa.gov/fai/airports2.htm#CtrlGulf
  Photos of many Alaskan airports courtesy of the FAA.
• www.Alaska.com
  This site is the mother lode of Alaskan info. The locals use it for their resource.
• www.inalaska.com
  Not as obvious a url, but better than Alaska.com for information on hunting and fishing. (We're talking 20-20 hindsight here...)