Hi guys,
I'm the new guy here, and I'll introduce myself by posting my trip report from PANK to KFMN. I purchased a Husky in AK and this June my wife and I picked her up and ferried her home. Check out our adventure here:

http://www.southwest.aero/alaska-2/

Let me know what you think!

What fun!

Gump

Nice trip Justin! Welcome to the community.

Justin, you've got some mighty nice pictures in that gallery

Welcome mate, I'm just down the road from you in Gallup. There is a bit of a backcountry pilot scene developing in this part of the state and we welcome more guys to the fold.
PM me and we'll talk.
RR

awesome!!

Great write up and flight

Fun read. Thanks for sharing.

What a fun trip. Great write up and pictures.
Look forward to the next one

There’s no village here that I saw, and it appears as if the bears have built this strip in order to attract juicy fat pilots like myself. A booby trap. I’ll keep going.

Great trip report! Have come back to it a few times now.

Care to elaborate on your over confident scenarios you reference in your last paragraph?

Akt

Awesome! Trip reports like this are becoming my new addiction and further fuels my anticipation for taking our turn at making the trip.

Welcome to the group! Hope to see you at a fly-in or two!

Grassstrippilot wrote:Awesome! Trip reports like this are becoming my new addiction and further fuels my anticipation for taking our turn at making the trip.

Welcome to the group! Hope to see you at a fly-in or two!

X2

Reading all the Alaska trip reports over the last couple months really makes a man want to create his own.

aktahoe1 wrote:Great trip report! Have come back to it a few times now.

Care to elaborate on your over confident scenarios you reference in your last paragraph?

Akt

I would venture a guess that he has the over confidence that this (at the time 100 hr pilot) had in a few of those same passes.. those passes are scattered with planes and pilots who pushed the weather for no good reason. I too thought I could do it as I was 22 and flying and invincible. They say the big man looks out for fools and idiots, and I fell right into both those categories. I was a fool for thinking I could push the weather and an idiot for actually doing so. I guess he had other plans for me as I did not scatter myself across a rock wall in the early years of flying up here like so many of the other people I know and grew up with.

Loved the report and writing style, it made my morning reading the trip report and it brought back memories as I closed my eyes and envisioned my flights through the exact same areas.... closing my eyes gave me about the same visibility I had when I was in the plane at the time..

denalipilot wrote:

There’s no village here that I saw, and it appears as if the bears have built this strip in order to attract juicy fat pilots like myself. A booby trap. I’ll keep going.

This made me LMAO the first time I read it... Hehehe

I kinda like to think of myself as a juicy fat pilot

Thanks for the compliments fellas, it's nice to know that people enjoy these entries because it's more work than you'd think. I really did it for myself, as a way to preserve my thoughts and details as my terrible long term memory lets go.

aktahoe1 wrote:Great trip report! Have come back to it a few times now.

Care to elaborate on your over confident scenarios you reference in your last paragraph?

Akt

Yes! I'm a big fan of the Risk Vs. Reward analysis.

The first part of the leg from Gulkana to whitehorse comes to mind, as does a few miles south of Quesnal (the weather west or Ptarmigan pass was just as risky, but no passenger). I was really counting on the weather not getting much worse, and the ice to be light and manageable. Ceilings were VERY low (that's all I'll say) and terrain, weather, and routing was researched but unfamiliar. The fact that it worked out is just as much a testament to luck as to skill and sound decision making. If we're honest, it's hard to accumulate 1500 hours without getting in one or two of these situations, but I should be past that stage of my flying career. When I'm in these situations, I like to imagine how the accident report would read, and if it would sound as ridiculous and avoidable as the thousands I've read. In short.....I knew better.

Hang on, had a look at those pictures and seem to recognise alot of them!

Any chance you also have a red austflight strut brace drifter with flaps tvat you converted to a 912 and keep a little lotus next to it?

If the answer is yes to the above questions, do you happen to remember a bloke called ausadvance from the recreational flying forums?

Great trip report. Thanks for the honest assessments of pushing weather. Pushing weather in Alaska CAN and often has been a limiting experience......

Sorry to hear Dan has sold his faithful Husky.....he worked the hell out of that airplane, and it earned it's keep, I reckon. If you are in touch with him, tell him I said hello. In any case, I'm delighted to hear that the airplane has a new and enthusiastic owner, who will doubtless care for her well.

Your comment that the Husky is a well built airplane is an understatement. While many in the Super Cub community look down on the Husky, it is and can be a hard working and tough little airplane. Dan's working that airplane is a testament to that notion.

Enjoy the airplane and thanks for the trip report.

Oh, and by the way, with an airplane with the range of the Husky, an alternate to those western Alaska passes through the Alaska Range when the weather's going down out west is Windy Pass. Pick up a copy of "Winging It" by Jack Jefford......he figured that out and became a legend among legends in the Alaska bush pilot world way back when.....a fun read in any case.

MTV

Great report, thanks for sharing! I'd love to fly in Alaska one day. Maybe the answer is buying a plane in Alaska as you did!
Greetz from a fellow paraglider...

DrifterDriver wrote:Hang on, had a look at those pictures and seem to recognise alot of them!

Any chance you also have a red austflight strut brace drifter with flaps tvat you converted to a 912 and keep a little lotus next to it?

If the answer is yes to the above questions, do you happen to remember a bloke called ausadvance from the recreational flying forums?

Hey, small world! I still regret selling the drifter, what an airplane...wish I could keep em all. It's got a good home now in Florida, seems like it flies often.

Sorry to hear Dan has sold his faithful Husky.....he worked the hell out of that airplane, and it earned it's keep, I reckon. If you are in touch with him, tell him I said hello. In any case, I'm delighted to hear that the airplane has a new and enthusiastic owner, who will doubtless care for her well.

Yes, everywhere I went in AK, someone recognized 711HY...Guess you don't put 6k hours on an airplane without becoming a familiar site. I've been going through the airplane quite a lot since I brought her home and haven't found anything I don't like.



Thanks everyone for the flattering comments. I can't wait to get back to AK.