What a great resource to have on the site. Very well organized and presented! I'm sure everyone who reads it will walk away with something useful.

Rich

Great write-up of the trip, Cory - it brought back a flood of memories.

I would mention that in Canada, and Alaska for that matter, it pays to call ahead and make sure that 1. Fuel is available 2. If fuel is available, is someone there to get that fuel into your plane? What was the airport we stopped at on our way down the Cassier route that reported they had fuel, but we couldn't find it? Eventually somebody stumbled out of the woods and asked if we needed fuel, directed us to a private hangar on the north end and filled our planes. It was Sunday and usually nobody was home on Sundays - we got lucky. Later, when we stopped at Penticton to set up our border crossing back into the US, their pump wasn't working. No notam, and a guy was coming to work on the pump "today, maybe". Fortunately it was a short hop across the border to plentiful fuel at Dorothy Scott.

Excellent write up, thanks for putting it together!

Thanks Allen! And very good points. I remember having to track the fuel guy down. I believe it was Smithers. I remember stumbling into the back of a hangar to find the bathroom!

Great memories. Can’t wait for the next one!


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amacbean wrote:Great write-up of the trip, Cory - it brought back a flood of memories.

I would mention that in Canada, and Alaska for that matter, it pays to call ahead and make sure that 1. Fuel is available 2. If fuel is available, is someone there to get that fuel into your plane? What was the airport we stopped at on our way down the Cassier route that reported they had fuel, but we couldn't find it? Eventually somebody stumbled out of the woods and asked if we needed fuel, directed us to a private hangar on the north end and filled our planes. It was Sunday and usually nobody was home on Sundays - we got lucky. Later, when we stopped at Penticton to set up our border crossing back into the US, their pump wasn't working. No notam, and a guy was coming to work on the pump "today, maybe". Fortunately it was a short hop across the border to plentiful fuel at Dorothy Scott.

Good point. Maybe we can add that as a note to the "Flying through Canada" section.

Edit: I added a blurb.

Brilliant job by Cory (but of course!) and many thanks to Zane for hosting what has to be the closest thing to “one-stop shopping” for such information. I did glean from the text that FAA Basic Med not OK for Canada. Thought I was done with AME’s (I don’t know how many have retired or passes away in my 40+ flying years) but his would be the best reason to find one and get a Third Class medical again!

@troy hamon, I corrected the coordinates. I still list them as decimal degrees though. I figure it's more convenient for copying to GPS. Does anyone actually prefer DD MM SS for being able to find on a paper chart?

I made a more modern version of the Trench map. This can be found in the table of Trench airstrips under 6 Legs to Alaska > Leg 3 Option 2.

Looks great! Nice work Zane.


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Zane, I think most people that use GPS much would agree that decimal degrees is a better and more convenient standard. The other formats seem mostly like holdovers from the paper era.

Zane,

Thanks for putting this together. I am planning a trip to Alaska in 2020. This is so well put together and helpful.



Josh

Foreflight links added for the Trench airstrips.

Please test and let me know if they don't load the waypoints in FF. I didn't set it up to load a route, although perhaps a batch of waypoints would be better than onesy-twosy?

Can anyone tell me if I make a foreflight protocol URL to a KML file of waypoints, will it batch load them all in FF?

I'm not a FF user so it's hard to test.

Perfect timing,

I'm beginning to plan my trip from CO to Beetles, AK.

Gonna be a heck of a trip and I can use all the knowledge and tips I can get. Definitely will be planning on stopping at as many BCPers spots can I can along the way.

Curious if any members here have ever changed routes mid-way.

Looking at the sectional, there seems to be a route from mid way up the Trench over to the Cassiar route. It looks like a path from just north of Ft. Ware, flying west, north of Mt. Balourdet following the Finlay River, north of Spiked Peak to a pass (~4000'), to Chukachida Lake, then the Stikine River, then Dease Lake.

Anybody ever flown this route?

Very good idea to research historical and predictable weather for the plethora of micro and macro climates on any trip.

There are many weather recording stations (maritime and landbased) that should be analyzed for historical information ie. Juneau:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneau,_Alaska


Many pilots seem to have very little interest in weather, that’s probably why there are so many “close calls” and accidents. Especially in Alaska. I found the disregard for weather, by local (and visiting) pilots, common on my trips.

Weather is paramount in Alaska. Maybe have separate AK WX wiki for pilots of various operations and aircraft types? My preflight(s) to Alaska includes historical weather for as many areas as possible. This includes maritime weather (sailing directions, buoys, global trends) which is very significant too.

The AK aviation weather cameras are really addicting! Great addition to safety. But, internet is required.

If you're in Western Canada or Alaska, and would like to have your location and username added to a map of supporting BCP members (to any degree) let me know.

-location
-airport info
-contact info if you want it public, else just username
-what resources you can provide (hangar, tools, car, a place to stay, or just a hug)

8GCBC wrote:Very good idea to research historical and predictable weather for the plethora of micro and macro climates on any trip.

We already included a section for "Managing weather." What exactly would you add to that?

Zzz wrote:If you're in Western Canada or Alaska, and would like to have your location and username added to a map of supporting BCP members (to any degree) let me know.

-location
-airport info
-contact info if you want it public, else just username
-what resources you can provide (hangar, tools, car, a place to stay, or just a hug)

I'm in. Squamish, BC. CYSE (2400'x75' asphalt), Just list my username b/c if I'm not available by message I'm probably not available. Tools, transportation, possibly accommodation depending on the household occupancy level.

8GCBC wrote:
The AK aviation weather cameras are really addicting! Great addition to safety. But, internet is required.

Canada has weather cams too...

http://www.metcam.navcanada.ca/lb/index.jsp?lang=e

Yeah the link I used, and the one that should be in the article, shows all the Alaska and Canada webcams on one map, which is very convenient.


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Grassstrippilot wrote:Yeah the link I used, and the one that should be in the article, shows all the Alaska and Canada webcams on one map, which is very convenient.


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I see it now! Yes, I guess I missed that the link was for both... nice!