Backcountry Pilot

[shorton offline]

It is not all fun and games flying around here, in fact sometimes it really sucks.

It took two days and three and a half hrs flight time to make the ninety mile trip to Juneau.
We started out to take two girls down to buy dresses for a wedding. We tried the east side of the canal and ran into fog and rain,, tried the west side and hit the same. I could see through it but it was moving around a lot and getting thicker/thinner all the time so after poking at this snake for a while we went home.

The next day we tried again and had only two areas of rain and fog and were able to fly at 1000 ft or higher all the way. I was due back by 5:00PM but that didn't work out either. Juneau was socked in until about 6:30 when it finally opened up and we could come home.

This type of flying is not what I call fun, there were planes going through that stuff all day both days but I find that the longer I fly and the more pilots I used to know, the wider the yellow streak on my back and the less I care who knows it.

So, where did you go and what did you do today?

Shane

[shorton offline]

I just reread that last post and man it was dreary so I thought I would talk about my previous flight for a minute.

My folks were in Skagway on a cruise ship with two other ole gals, my aunt and one of moms freinds. They only had a few hours so I flew over and picked them up, Dad and Jerry on the first flight, dad was a gentlman and told Jerry to get in the front as she had never flown in a small plane before. I left Skg and climbed fairly steep to get over Taiya ridge, then swung up into the Chilkoot valley. I continued to climb up to about 4500 ft. and showed them some mt. goats then flew over the lake where I have my business, then crossed over another ridge and dropped into the Chilkat river. We circled over Murphy flats a couple of times to lose altitude and landed in Haines.

I quickly zipped back to SKG and got mom and aunt Bev, Mom pushed bev into the back and said she wanted the best seat. I did the same route as before and when we got on the ground I asked Bev how she liked it. She said it was "shitty scarey" but beautiful.

Calm air, blue skies, wildlife and fantastic scenery, just the way I like to fly.

Shane

[Redbaron180 offline]

The weather can get packed in there pretty bad along the canal sometimes. People get stuck there for days ocationaly. At least you made it, hopeful in time for the wedding..........Ron

[Zzz]

I like the idea of this thread.

Me, I flew the Tundra over to Erin's folks house for lunch, and then I gave it a washjob and about gave myself a palsy washing the bug guts off my grill from a recent trip to Oregon.

Next....

[Superdave offline]

I went to California Pines for breakfast. MLB tried out her new Lightspeed Mach 1 thing and she likes it cuz it don't mess up her hair or squeeze her head and she can wear it with ear rings. My tailwheel is developing a wicked shimmy and I'm having trouble finding parts-anybody know where to get Scott 3400 parts? Spruce ain't got 'em.
SD

[jgerard offline]

Try alaska bushwheels. They have all the parts for the 3200 and possibly the 3400. Or get a hold of Tom at XP mods. They make the huge 5.00x5 tail wheel.

Jason

[LowAndSlow offline]

OK, I'll play....

Today was pretty mundane work, but here was July 5th:

0630, McCall to Boise in a 206 empty (fireworks on the lake at 10:30 the night before...), pick up a full load and fly them to Bruce Meadows. Deadhead back to McCall for fuel and to remove all seats. Taxi to the smoke jumper base and load up with 800 lbs of horse food, veggies and mail and run to Chamberlain, it's raining with 6 miles of vis. I find the strip, and the wind's calm, so I'm happy. Unload the airplane and fill it back up with dog food, packs, trash, and a sick USFS employee. We wait out most of the rain and launch for Big Creek. Still raining, land at Big Creek, unload the dog food, packs and mail, load more trash, and head back to McCall.
Grab a cup of coffee and some popcorn, and run one person to Boise and then fly home empty. Waiting on the ramp is another 206 with full tanks, which we immediately launch on a USFS fire recon, but the alternator fails 30 minutes into the flight. We land, have maint swap out a new one, and continue the flight for another 1.6 hours - but we didn't find any smoke.

12 hour duty day, 6.8 hours of flying. It's hard work, but I love it.

Hope to see some of you at JC next weekend.

John

[Qqq offline]

No flying for the last few days, been on a motorcycle tour around Oregon and Washington. Stopped in at the EAA airshow in Arlington WA... boring.

Did a lot of flying in the Oregon Desert the weeks before. Here are links to a few pics.

The Deschutes River near Sherars Bridge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/QDM/joe.jpg

Sunset flight from Alkali Lake State (OR).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/QDM/brian.jpg

The surface of Alkali Lake in the early morning.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/ ... ection.jpg

Flying along the Abert Rim near Abert Lake.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/QDM/harv.jpg

Q

[Yellowbelly offline]

Fly? Today??

I don't want to talk about it.

I'm still a groundling, working on the last little bits to get the Yellowbelly back in the air. Good progress yesterday, just need to bleed the brakes and do a little fabric patch (I said I didn't want to talk about it, OK?). The rest of the necessary materials should be here this week, unless they declare ANOTHER national holiday.

Could be flying this weekend, but I've been out of the saddle too long to make JC my first fly-away destination. I want to keep my nickname.

I will have to settle for one of those "Zaneless" fly in breakfasts later on. Hope everyone has a great time at JC. Be safe.

YB

[CAVU offline]

Warning: Long Post

My wife, 4 year old son and I just got back from spending a week at Seeley Lake in Montana. We took off Friday, June 30 from San Carlos and stopped at Truckee for the night and topped off the tanks in the 206 (80 gallons). We got an early start the next morning and flew nonstop to Missoula at 11.5.

The flight was beautiful and smooth. Knowing that we’d be out of radar coverage for the better part of 100 miles through the Blackrock Desert, I filed a VFR flight plan. I usually don’t bother with flight plans unless we’re going someplace where flight following is unlikely to be available. I kept the radios tuned to the nearest center frequency, but turned down the volume so we could enjoy the relative quiet and just gawk out the window.

When we got close to Idaho, I tuned in 122.9 to listen to the traffic in the backcountry. We had great views of McCall and the South Fork of the Salmon, flew right over Mackay Bar, then past Shearer and Moose Creek on the Selway. The Bitterroots were beautiful out the windows to the east. It was bittersweet flying over the Salmon River and Selway country without landing, but the destination was beckoning. We landed at MSO after 3:35—not bad for a fixed gear bug-smasher! I dropped off my wife to pick up the rental car, then flew with my son the brief 10 minute hop over to Seeley Lake.

Tuesday, we flew down to Ennis for the 4th of July rodeo. We landed at Sportsman’s field at Ennis and walked over to the rodeo grounds. It was a great show and lots of fun. Afterward, we walked into town. The sidewalks had pretty much rolled up and there wasn’t much open, but it was nice to get a flavor of the town. Definitely trout heaven. The weather cooperated nicely for this day trip—there were some scattered thunderstorms around, but we flew pretty much direct over several mountain ranges from Seeley to Ennis and back again.

On Wednesday, we did an aerial tour of the Bob Marshall Wilderness—Seeley to Meadow Creek to Benchmark, then over to Ronan for cheap gas ($3.50/gallon), then back to Seeley up the Jocko River. The scenery was fantastic. We saw a number of former airstrips on the South Fork of the Flathead and at other locations inside the Wilderness. In particular, we flew over a ranger station in the middle of the Bob that looks like it has a nice airstrip. I remember reading that this strip still sees some “administrative use.” Must be a sweet assignment.

The next couple of days were pretty stormy. I had hoped to get out for some trout fishing, and finally took my shot on Friday morning. There were still lots of clouds around from the previous night’s storms, but it looked like the storm had blown itself out at Seeley, and I thought that I might be able to land at Meadow Creek, Spotted Bear or Schafer. I flew up the Seeley-Swan valley to the north and crossed the Swans at Holland Lake. I was able to drop down into the South Fork of the Flathead drainage, but was rewarded with some brutal turbulence. The windsocks at Meadow Creek and Spotted Bear confirmed that this was not a day to close to the ground. I overflew Spotted Bear, pulled a 180 to start home and put the “balls to the wall” at Vy (80 knots). With just me in the plane, I was pretty light, so I grew concerned when the VSI indicated that I was going down at 500 fpm at Vy. Uh oh. I was reminded of my mountain flying instructor’s words about keeping out of the canyons when the wind was blowing.

I was only 1500’ agl at Spotted Bear, so I figured that I had less than a minute to either fly out of the downdraft or get myself turned around for an involuntary (aka “precautionary”) landing. Right when I was about ready to head for the runway, I flew out of the downdraft, got a welcome kick in the butt and had the VSI over 2000 fpm up. I did a couple of circles, angling for a large hole between clouds, and went up to 13.5 to get on top. Once on top, I pointed the nose for home (Seeley Lake) and returned to land in clear skies and a light breeze. So that’s as close as I came to harming trout last week.

The next day, Saturday, we reluctantly bid farewell to our cabin at Seeley Lake and began the trip home. Our goal for the day was Boise, since it would provide us with an early start across the desert on Sunday. But Boise was in the mid-‘90s and we were no hurry to broil ourselves with an afternoon arrival. I flew the hop from Seeley over the Missoula, collected wife and child and then flew down the Bitterroot valley to McCall. On the way, a lonesome soul at the West Fork Lodge called us up on 122.9 and encouraged us to stop by. It looks like a nice place and, from his account, has plenty of services and amenities.

I was impressed by how much of the West Fork had not been burned back in 2000. The pictures I’d seen made it look like the entire drainage had been crisped, but there was plenty of green timber and the streams looked nice.

McCall was in the 80’s, which was better than the ‘90s but still hot. The kind folks at McCall Air loaned us a car to drive into town for a few hours. We found some shade and quiet up in Ponderosa State Park and spent an hour or two up at the lake. What a gorgeous place.

We started our last leg for the day to Boise around 8 p.m. We flew low down Long Valley and got a good look at the new developments around Cascade and Tamarack. Western Aviation at Boise gave us great service and sold us gas at $1.00 off the regular weekday price (net $4.25). Apparently, they drop the price on 100ll on the weekends. That was a welcome surprise.

Yesterday morning, we took off from Boise for home. We didn’t get such an early start, so we had some turbulence of the Blackrock and then again over the Sierra. The 10 knot headwind at 10.5 didn’t add to the joy of the end of our vacation. We landed in San Carlos after 3:45 minutes and 50 gallons. Now I’m sitting at my desk writing this over lunch. I can still close my eyes and see the snow-flecked peaks of the Swan Range and the long curve of the Chinese Wall stretching off into the distance. Those memories, and a couple hundred digital pictures will have to keep me going until I can get back.

Blue Skies,

CAVU

[mtbowhunter offline]

CAVU,

The Seeley-Swan is truly a beautiful valley to fly up. I was just through there in early June when the Swans were still draped in snow above 8000 ft. Man what a pretty flight. How come you didn't through a line in the Clearwater below Seeley? I've caught some decent trout in there.

Joe in MT.

[dflyer offline]

I went up to the Way ranch, on the way did some power off stalls and slow flight. Got up there and did a full stop and drained the coffee. Next stop was wickenburg, coffee and fuel and then home. Of course a couple of t&g's at the closed Forepaugh, all in all a very nice way to spend a Sunday morning.
The weather clear and WARM,

[CAVU offline]

How come you didn't through a line in the Clearwater below Seeley? I've caught some decent trout in there.

Hi Joe,

I'll have to try the Clearwater. It's so close, I should have ducked out for an hour. The truth is I just didn't know about it. Is there decent public access?

As it was, the family had me hopping the whole time (whose vacation is this anyway???). We did get a couple nice hikes in, but a hiking without fishing is like taxiing around the airport without taking off. I have to console myself that this kind of evened things out after some unexpectedly good fishing I had last month.

The Seeley Swan is really incredible. We got some neat pictures of a lake still mostly frozen on July 6, high up in the Swans. I'll see if I can shink and post it. Really incredible country.

Terry

[Zzz]

Lance,

You ought to take me up when you get the itch to go. I'm always interested in flying in other 170's, especially ones with the big engine. See you at JC?

Z

[pittspilot28 offline]

I flew into N53 east stroudsburg in the poconos mountains PA!!! hahah not too exciting but flying a PC12 in there was a sight to see....2987X30ft that 30 ft gives us 9 feet on each side for clearence....now dont sqwak at me for that but its different for me since I normally fly from a controlled 7Kft runway near boston hahahah

[soaringhiggy offline]

Twin Falls to Caldwell for lunch, then to La Grande, back to Twin Falls, Friday
Twin Falls around south hills to Salt Lake back to Twin Falls, Saturday
Twin Falls to Driggs Id, back to Twin Falls, Sunday.

All in all it was a good weekend of flying.

I wish that they were all this good.

[shorton offline]

Thanks guys, this is just what I had in mind for this thread. It's nice to hear all the place names in Idaho that I am familiar with. I have fished the clearwater around Orofino, lots of steelhead and trout, I have fished the Salmon all over it. All the places in the back country of Idaho I have hunted most of.

Keep up with this line as it is fun.

[steve offline]

Dug the Super Cub out this evening and checked out some of my fields here in the corn and soybean desert of Illinois. Flew over to K96 and fueled up. Temps were in the high 80's and very humid, but with the windows open is was pleasant, there was little wind and no bumps. My altitude here is about 730 ASL and the nearest thing to a mountain is over 300 nautical miles to the south-east. The biggest challenge landing this evening was if I could keep it on 70 feet of grass (between two soybean fields) 3300 feet long. The landing was successful (with a couple of feet to spare) and I had a great time. Plan on taking the spam can to our cabin in Ontario next Wednesday for a week of Walleye fishing, I will report when we get back home. steve

[mustang offline]

The Hundred hour inspection was due on the Beaver so I got up early at Spout Lake, B.C. and tossed the dog in the back seat on a stinky blanket and blasted off for Kamloops. There was a big line of dark clouds and rain about half way down but I went around most of it and through a thin spot just past Green Lake and all was OK. My groundspeed was down to 75 knots though, even though I was indicating 95 Kts.

It was taking a long time so I had time to figure out how the old Garmin 150XL GPS worked, somewhat, and then I tried the autopilot. I put it in heading mode with altitude hold engaged, but it was pretty wobbly. I think the floats have something to do with that. I figured that I could fly it better myself so I hit the disengage button and carried on.

I was running 1750 RPM and 27 inches so I leaned it out to peak and then added 75 degrees for the sake of the supercharger and all. That brought the fuel flow down to a mere 22 gallons per hour. Oh my! Glad I wasn't buying the fuel!

This Beaver gets into a tail-low condition in cruise so I pumped down a couple of clicks of flap and retrimmed to a more level attitude. That beaver wing just needs more camber, or the wing needs more incidence.

I flew East up the Lake at Kamloops and checked out the river for driftwood. There was no traffic in the zone so I did a tight circuit over the airport at 500 feet and plopped it down in the river into wind and into the current. We stopped in about 300 feet and chugged into a backwater where the ramp was located and beached the beast. The dolly arrived and loaded the bird to trundle across the airport to the maintenance hangar.

All in all, a pretty decent flight, and all before 08:00. That was my fun time.

Cheers, Pete

[onceAndFutr_alaskaflyer offline]

Flying?!? What's that?
Anybody got any spare Cessna 170 door hinges laying around?

OR a 170 elevator assembly?