Northway and Skagway will NOT clear aircraft even with 2+ days notice. Only option is Ketchikan, Juneau, Fairbanks, Anchorage.

I talked to custom’s agents at both locations, and asked each, “With 2 days advance notice, what time of day is most convenient for you to clear by private aircraft?”

“We just don’t have the staff”

I’m in Carcross CFA4. With headwinds, Juneau is an hour & 41 minutes out of my way.

I’m so fried I can’t see straight.

Bummer Ted. I talked with Paul and Vickie today at Chamberlain (U79) and they told me about the issue with customs. I guess with the weather sucky along the coast your current options aren't great. Good luck. Hope conditions improve and it doesn't hamper us on our way to the Wrangells in August.

That was pretty much the same story last summer as well. When I filed an eAPIS for clearing at Northway it was rejected and I was instructed to clear at Anchorage and granted a ‘bypass’ to land and take fuel at Tok. Apparently that’s become a common practice. Weren’t you offered that option?

One big snag with this plan, though, is if you aren’t a US citizen and are denied entry when you get to Anchorage or Fairbanks you have a problem. Especially if weather and time of day is such that returning to Canada isn’t a practical option. Sucks when that happens - even more so now than last year methinks. Ask me how I know.

My plan has been and remains to fly up the coast, visit friends in Haines, packraft the Situk out of Yakutat (friends there), camp & packraft Icy Bay, help with RAF airstrip cleanup near McCarthy (and fly around to strips there). Then head South.

Anchorage & Fairbanks are each 4++ hours out of my way. So I’m not going there.

And think how ridiculous it is to ”…allow a fuel stop at Tok.” If one had bad intent one would drop off whatever at Tok. Crazy.

And seaplanes, I’m told, can clear places using just a smartphone app, since they are considered a boat! No advance notice required!

Ted, looking forward to seeing you in McCarthy! FYI Doug Turnbull and his group had no issue clearing customs at Northway in May so this must be a recent change. No one ever said that the government had to make sense… It’s a total waste of fuel to have to fly all the way to Anchorage!

We just returned from a month up north. On our way up during the first week of June, we were lucky and were able to clear in at Northway. But it was luck. Another pilot had landed at Northway the day before, but messed something up on his paperwork, so they sent him back to spend the night in Beaver Creek. He then scheduled to clear into Northway at 9 a.m. the next day. That was just before we called Northway customs from Whitehorse. Because there was going to be an officer in Northway to handle the other plane from Beaver Creek, the officer in charge said that he could accommodate us at Northway provided that we could get there asap the next morning. I told him the best we could do was 11, and he said that was ok.

We had 40 knot headwinds and moderate+ turbulence trying to follow the highway from Whitehorse to Northway. We were going to miss our scheduled arrival time by more than 30 minutes, and the turbulence was murderous, so we turned north off the highway and cut the corner to Northway via Aishihik Lake and the Nisling River. The headwind turned into more of a crosswind, and the turbulence moderated after a few miles. We landed right on our arrival time in Northway.

The customs officer who met us at Northway was very helpful and relaxed. It was--by far--the best customs experience we had the whole trip--Canada and the U.S. But again, it was just luck. If that other pilot hadn't been put through the wringer the day before, we would have had to file for Anchorage with fuel at Tok--and the weather down the Glen highway that day really sucked.

After we cleared into the U.S. at Northway, we fueled and waited a couple of hours in Tok until Mentasta Pass opened up and things looked more passable down the highway. Even then, we hit some weather that almost stopped us at Gulkana. I would really have been sweating if we'd had to hit an arrival time for inspection in Anchorage. That may not seem like a big deal, but we had difficulty amending our EAPIS en route while returning to the U.S. from Canada, and the flight from Tok down to Anchorage is long enough that we could have gotten stuck part way at someplace with out cell or internet reception (although I just heard this morning that the Army ran fiberoptic cable the entire length of the Glen Highway some years ago--so maybe there's web access at landing spots along the way).

The customs officer who met us at Northway was extremely sympathetic. He confirmed the staffing shortage problem, and told us they know how difficult it can be for light aircraft to manage the weather and paperwork to clear into Anchorage or Fairbanks. And if you can't make it all the way, do what you have to do to stay safe and sort it out on the ground.

The coastal route was out of the question when we came through due to weather. Going forward, I will try for Northway (hoping to be lucky again) but plan on Anchorage or Fairbanks, depending on which one looks more doable weatherwise. None of this helps Ted on this trip, unfortunately. I really appreciate in FlytoAK web site. It was invaluable both as a resource and a checklist for getting us through our crossings.

Best of luck.

Ted, I am sure you know but you can come down the Taku into Juneau, it might save some miles over coming clear to Skagway and down the canal.

If you land in Haines give me a call to say hi>

Shane

Northway update: A group of three planes were able, with polite but persistent requests, to clear at Northway a few days ago. The key, apparently, was calling a couple days ahead and finding out when there would be at least three officers on duty. Then 2 ( minimum staff) can remain at the highway crossing while one is dispatched to Northway. They were initially denied, multiple times, but finally, reluctantly, an officer agreed to clear them.