AKclimber wrote:Are there any spots along the way that anyone can recommend for camping/hoteling?
What about best or worst fuel prices?
I know most people usually go east of the Cassiar, but that's a bit out of the way.

Smithers has a grassy campground on the field. Camping on the field is nothing to write home about, but the convenience and price are right

I found this thread googling Quesnel after landing there yesterday! So then we went to Vanderhoof but there was no fuel...so Smithers, then we skirted around Terrace and landed at Prince Rupert. It got a little weird that this point...I grabbed a five gallon can and hopped on a bus that then drive onto a ferry.
I think we will do customs in Ketchikan shortly...
Does anyone have advice for flying the coast up to ANC or Kenai? There is a small window. Maybe Sitka/Hoonah/Yakutat?
Thanks! We are in the new plane and I can sell it in Alaska or fly it back home. It will be a fairly short trip.

The outer coast is a rock pile until you get well past Cape Spencer. On a day like today you should bee line it to Gustavus and we can dump in some fuel (none for sale on the field but I have a good supply of premium no - lead for that Rotax). From here I'll show you the map. Justin 907-209-0514

wyomingiswindy, Did you fly over Plains, MT a few days ago with the spring gear on the S7?

gbflyer! I'm so glad I called you. It was a good tip calling FSS before Ketchikan. I probably would have been on Unicom and had my ticket pulled. They couldn't give following because I was too low but I heard him say 123.6 as the radio crackled. It turned into the smoothest, quickest customs check ever--but maybe because she felt guilty for making us wait a half hour in the plane for her arrival.

It could have been us in Montana. The town doesn't ring a bell but I'm on spring gear for this trip!

Glad they were hospitable down in KTN. Enjoy the scenery, hard to beat on a clear day. Hope to see you a little further up the line.

In the Smithers, Terrace area check out Burns Lake. It has two pilots rooms, lounge, fuel, snacks and drinks, airport car. Really nice place.

mtv wrote:

Highway route up east side: Red Deer, AB....last time down, I was stuck there for three days in WX. I was treated VERY well by folks at a flight school on south end of ramp. Good stop.

Have to agree about friendly folks in Red Deer. A few years ago we got weathered in as well. Got to motel and headed for restaurant to eat. About 15 to 20 local people having dinner and watching a hockey game on the only TV. The baseball world series was on a different channel at the time. One of the guys in our party got up and changed the channel to the baseball world series game and came back and set down. I thought oh sh**t we are going to have to fight our way out of here. Even tho everyone was watching the hockey game nobody said a word and went back to eating. Not sure most people in US would have acted the same

Certainly not trying to make this thread into Gregs 2016 trip to AK so I'll keep it short: Had a great visit with 2 wonderful people. Flew with them out to the coast and watched them turn right. May or may not hear from them for a bit, sucky cell service along the way.

To any one who may have the slightest idea. Fairly old Info on Fairbanks area.

Been suggested that I write an old story. :Been researching so I can get it as correct as an old memory can make of it other than the big points.

Looking for the name of a "graveled" / heavily deep with polished rock. 1-2" guess.

Came in to tired to remember much except that the lady who owned the C180
wanted to make one landing, since she needed to take to Anch. in 2 or 3 days. I had done 90+ percent of the flying so the girls could rest and be ready for some high altitude research at Fairbanks University.

My vague remembrance is that it ran somewhat perpendicular and somewhat off the northern end of FA International. Strip had trees rather tight on the left side with roller winds coming off the trees on our left. Maggie bounced pretty hard twice when I said, "Go around time." On the third bounce I said, "My Plane, pushed in the throttle, dropped flaps to 20* and barely skimmed the gravel on the 4th touch down. Did my usual hold close to the ground to develop all the speed possible.
Or "Zoom speed," to quote Me Contact. Made a low right hand pattern - not sure that was correct, While coming downwind I learned what the deep gravel was for as I watched two 182/206s come in steep and hot and, (in my opinion) smacked them flat into the deep gravel as though it was a mountain truck overrun, and were stopped before the rotors off the trees on the left. There were trees on the far end also. After I put it down and while taxing back I asked why we did not use FAI? Seems they had university people waiting for them at this field. NOW all I remember is the first letter "P" and keep wanting to say Palmer, but I know where Palmer is. I feel I know pretty well where this strip is/was Just need a NAME to chase it down.

Thanks for any help
Chris C

Excellent info! Thanks for posting. I wonder if a data base of this knowledge could be made in kind of a Wikipedia style...where anyone could modify it. That way it could be a "living" database and be updated as needed.

Grassstrippilot wrote:Excellent info! Thanks for posting. I wonder if a data base of this knowledge could be made in kind of a Wikipedia style...where anyone could modify it. That way it could be a "living" database and be updated as needed.

If you've ever used Mediawiki, the software that powers Wikipedia, and then you think about the complaints with "difficulty" in posting photos here, you'd realize the need for a controlled and moderated content management system.

Admittedly I haven't. But there has to be a solution. Reading endless threads to take notes is a laborious process...although entertaining. I've been gleaming all the gems I can for my personal use and putting it in a document. Anyone is welcome to it as well as if you'd like to post it on the site. It's nothing special...just a collection of posts with who posted them that I can reference for when we do our trip next year.


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Does Shortfield cover Canada? Answered my own question. I see it does. It would be good to have it there, but a database for a big picture, planning idea perspective would be good too.

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Grassstrippilot wrote:Does Shortfield cover Canada? Answered my own question. I see it does. It would be good to have it there, but a database for a big picture, planning idea perspective would be good too.

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What works best is having people who are willing to curate their findings from the forum(even if it's links to specific forum threads) write an actual encyclopedia style entry, then be trained to edit our knowledge base. But totally open access? Even to registered users? It would be really messy.

Yeah I can see that. Content control is important to validity. I'd be happy to help but feel somewhat unqualified until I've at least experienced it at least once.

wannabe wrote:To any one who may have the slightest idea. Fairly old Info on Fairbanks area.

Been suggested that I write an old story. :Been researching so I can get it as correct as an old memory can make of it other than the big points.

Looking for the name of a "graveled" / heavily deep with polished rock. 1-2" guess.

Came in to tired to remember much except that the lady who owned the C180
wanted to make one landing, since she needed to take to Anch. in 2 or 3 days. I had done 90+ percent of the flying so the girls could rest and be ready for some high altitude research at Fairbanks University.

My vague remembrance is that it ran somewhat perpendicular and somewhat off the northern end of FA International. Strip had trees rather tight on the left side with roller winds coming off the trees on our left. Maggie bounced pretty hard twice when I said, "Go around time." On the third bounce I said, "My Plane, pushed in the throttle, dropped flaps to 20* and barely skimmed the gravel on the 4th touch down. Did my usual hold close to the ground to develop all the speed possible.
Or "Zoom speed," to quote Me Contact. Made a low right hand pattern - not sure that was correct, While coming downwind I learned what the deep gravel was for as I watched two 182/206s come in steep and hot and, (in my opinion) smacked them flat into the deep gravel as though it was a mountain truck overrun, and were stopped before the rotors off the trees on the left. There were trees on the far end also. After I put it down and while taxing back I asked why we did not use FAI? Seems they had university people waiting for them at this field. NOW all I remember is the first letter "P" and keep wanting to say Palmer, but I know where Palmer is. I feel I know pretty well where this strip is/was Just need a NAME to chase it down.

Thanks for any help
Chris C

Not real close to Fairbanks, but certainly closer than Palmer, graveled and treed could be the strip at Paxson?

Take care, Rob

Chris C
If you are talking about a strip in Fairbanks a long time ago, there used to be one called Phillips Field that was about where you indicated. It is no longer there. Now there is a highway that goes through that area.
Charles

Yup, Phillips. Or, was it called Metro? Too long ago for the memory banks.

Gump


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Gump,
There is a Metro field but it is to the south of FAI and is still there. The only other one I know about that is on the north side is the Chena Marina strip, which is still there, but that one starts with a C and not a P that Chris was looking for.
Charles