Talkeetna Mountains

[crbnunit]

Well, technically it was yesterday but I did fly today as well!

My original thought was to fly up the Matinuska River valley to the Chickaloon River and follow that to the headwaters, through the pass and on to the Susitna River drainage and back around via Talkeetna.

Started up the Matinuska valley and was getting the snot beat out of me. 120mph indicated with a ground speed of about 70. I got just about to the turn and decided to save it for a better day.

Turned around and headed up Hatcher's pass instead. Smooth as glass. Up Archangel to Reed Lakes and over the pass to Bomber Glacier. Just a little aluminum showing out of the snow.


(Not my photo)

So I screw around here for a bit and realize I am still within easy striking distance of my original goal and fly over the peaks to get to the Chickaloon River drainage.





And into the Chickaloon drainage,




Looks like there are some pretty good landing possibilities here. I need to investigate again in the summer!

The headwaters of the Chickaloon and the pass.





Finally figured out how to use the Microsoft Snipping Tool!

[Mountain Doctor]

So beautiful but unforgiving territory! You Alaskans have cajones!

[crbnunit]

I tried to set the plane on fire today. I was taking off of a gravel bar on the Knik today when I smelled something electrical burning. No way to abort the takeoff with the room I had left so I flipped off the master and landed back on the strip post haste! It looks like the power supply for the strobes melted down! Scared the crap out of me!!!

[Mountain Doctor]

Beautifully managed.

[MAU MAU]

Great pictures of beautiful Alaska!

Thanks for posting and keep them coming!

[Seaplane Maule]

I tried to set the plane on fire today. I was taking off of a gravel bar on the Knik today when I smelled something electrical burning. No way to abort the takeoff with the room I had left so I flipped off the master and landed back on the strip post haste! It looks like the power supply for the strobes melted down! Scared the crap out of me!!!
_________________
Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal !

Was it a Whelan unit? Any possibity of fire or was it contained in the box? Please let us know what you found. Thanks!

[crbnunit]

I haven't had time to go back out and properly diagnose the problem. All I know for sure is the strobes no longer work and the smell did not return with the strobe switch in the off position. Everything else works fine. So it is likely either the power supply or the wiring for that circuit under the panel. I'll definitely pass along findings with photos if interesting or scary!

[akloon]

There are a couple good strips in the Chickaloon drainage, the raft guys use them to put tours in and float back to the Mat. Up past the pass and into the Talkeetna there are two good size strips near Yellowjacket creek. Also, if you go over to the northeast across Glass creek pass, there are several old mining strips as you go down Caribou creek.
I haven't been into all of those, but I walked most of them doing a wilderness trek from Eureka to Talkeetna.
Dave

[crbnunit]

Eureka to Talkeetna! That is quite the walk! Thanks for the beta. I'll be spending some time up that way this summer!

[crbnunit]

OK, so finally got back out to diagnose the burnt smell in the plane. It was as I suspected, the power supply for the strobes melted down.







Looks like a transistor went full on Chernobyl. This thing stinks like only burnt electronics can. It is literally making my eyes water sitting on the desk whit the cover reinstalled! Scared the living snot out of me! Going down in flames is not one of my most cherished aspirations!

Now I need to find out why this happened instead of popping a breaker.

[BatMaule]

Yikes! Yet another argument for LEDs.

Where were/are your power supplies located? When I still had the Grimes, they were mounted all the way outboard in the fiberglass wing tip.

[crbnunit]

Mine is under the left seat! It is a single unit powering three strobes.

[BatMaule]

Sounds like it almost powered a 4th!!!

[andy]

Those high voltage strobe power supplies in the wing tips worry me, too. They can arc and burn without ever tripping a breaker due to the voltage involved. I'd like to replace all of the exterior lights on my Maule with LED lights. I did that a while ago with the landing light and haven't ever regretted it. Glad everything worked out ok for you.