Partner for Flight to Alaska

[gdflys]

Andy, I'm curious about which route south you're planning to take. I'm hoping to be flying a soon to be mine M5 down the Alcan Highway and then East to CT. Should be happening within the next two weeks.

[Andy Young]

Gdflys,

I use lots of different routes, usually depending on where the weather dictates. There are almost endless variations, but I most often use the Cassiar route or some combination of that and the coast. One quick example would be: Anchorage-Yakutat-Petersburg-Burns Lake-100 Mile House-Nelson-Spokane.
If the coast is bad, then another possibility is: Anchorage-McCarthy-Whitehorse-Dease Lake-Burns Lake-etc.

I've also done the coast all the way between Anchorage and Bellingham, Washington. That route is beautiful, and has the advantage of allowing you to skip the whole customs thing, as a 235-equipped Maule, at least the ones with aux tanks, can make it non-stop between Ketchikan and Bellingham. Sometimes hard to get the weather for that though.

Like I say, the permutations are endless, especially as I don't bother with following roads most of the time, unless the weather makes that the best route to get through. I'm more into GPS direct.

I only flew the Alaska Highway route once, and I wasn't that fond of it. The prairie section east of the rockies is a huge chunk of it, and not very interesting country.

If you'd like to pull out a map and go over some possibilities and ask some questions, we can arrange a phone call. Happy to share what I know.

Where are you picking up your M-5?

[crbnunit]

What pass are you using out of McCarthy?

Sorry I missed seeing you a few weeks ago. We will make it happen!

[Andy Young]

Skolai Pass, which drops you into the White River, which in turn brings you into the valley that the highway runs in near Kluane Lake. Saves going all the way up to Northway, then back down.

[gdflys]

I'm planning to do the Alcan as I need to get farther East anyway. Grabbed all the charts when I looked at the plane last week. It's a 235 with aux tanks at Lake Hood.

[Andy Young]

Makes sense, given where you're going.

[Andy Young]

Just a bump to see if anyone is interested last-minute. I plan on leaving Anchorage on Monday. If you'd like to join me, give me a call at 720-320-8265.

Andy

[jsperin]

Andy, would love to do that flight with you again but am not going to be available. Anyone interested I would highly recommend the flight with Andy, you will learn a lot about flying up in Alaska.

[Andy Young]

Here we go again, folks

I'm planning to leave Colorado around April 9th to head to Alaska. Looking for someone to join me on the trip. If you have always wanted to do this trip but haven't for whatever reason, here is an opportunity to do it with a pilot who has done it more than 20 times, over all the various routes. You don't have to do the planning, provide the plane, or even deal with the return trip.

Here's what I offer:
*The adventure of the trip, of course
*Instruction on how it's all done, including customs and border crossing, Canadian and Alaskan weather, route planning, terrain considerations, differences in Canadian operations/communications/chart reading etc., and whatever else you want to know about how this is done. You can choose to do all of this as I coach, or you can leave it all to me, or anything in between.
*You can do as much of the enroute flying as you like, from the right seat. I will do the take-offs and landings, although if we are both feeling comfortable, we might re-visit that along the way.

What I ask from you in exchange:
*You pay half the fuel.
*You pay a fee of $650.
*You provide your own transportation home from Alaska. I'll drop you in Anchorage, where the airline options are plentiful and reasonably priced.

If you're thinking of doing this trip in your own plane someday, this is an excellent way to get familiar with it without all the first-time stress and inevitable mistakes/learning curve.

Note that this is not FLIGHT instruction per se; it is instruction in the logistics of planning and executing an aviation trip to Alaska.

If you're interested, drop me a PM, or even better, give me a call at 720-320-8256.