In all transparency, I'm not flying to Alaska any time soon, at least until the Bearhawk is done. What I am doing is working on a knowledge base article about it.

I'm working on a graphic that shows the 4 main routes: Coast, Cassiar hwy, the Trench, and the AlCan.

Anyone have these stored with the chain of airport identifiers? It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to get me points I can turn into a line for the graphic.

Ideally, a response would look like:

Code: Select all

Coast: CYXX CYPR PAMM PAGS... all the way to PANC or elsewhere
AlCan: KOMK CYKA CYWL CYXS CYXJ...

Thanks!

Sorry, I realize this assumes a lower 48 origin of the Pacific Northwest.

Feel free to chime in with routes from points east of BC, my Canadian friends.

Sent you a pm

I like the Cassiar the best. The AlCan is OK but the Cassiar is the most beautiful route of the two. I've not done the Trench but that's going to happen next year. As for the Coast I'm sure it's just as beautiful but I'm not IFR rated and I don't like swimming in cold water. As for the people and places on ether route I can say they are wonderful. Never had a problem and all were very helpful. While researching the Trench I've had many people that have gone that route say the trip is spectacular but be careful of the remote native villages.

I’m flying the Alcan next month. The range on my Sedan makes it a little tight on the Cassiar route. Still haven’t finalized my exact route from Carson City to B.C., more than likely flying up the east side of the Cascades.

From the Southeastern part of the lower 48 I've done:

Make my way to Montana and then either Great Falls KGTF, Cutbank KCTB, Havre KHVR, or Lewistown KLWT. Any of these make a good starting point for the border crossing into Lethbridge CYQL.

CYQL CYQF CYQU CYYE CYQH CYXY PAOR PFTO

Lethbridge, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Fort Nelson, Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Northway, Tok

That's basically the Alcan from the Southeast.

Caveat: I heard that last month there was no fuel in Red Deer.

PAOR is Northway, AK for Customs. PFTO is Tok, AK for fuel. From there SW to Anchorage or NW to Fairbanks.

KCXP KLKV KBDN KDLS KEAT CYLW CYWL CYXS CYZY CYXJ 331 CYYE CBF8 477 CYQH CYZW CYXY CYHT CYDB PAOR PFTO PAGK PAWS

Carson City to Wasilla. There you go.

The Coast on wheels or floats: Seattle, Port Hardy, Ketchikan, Yakutat, Cordova and then wherever you want.

My preferred route:
KOMK (Omak for last fuel top off if needed)
CYYF (Penticton for customs, fuel and lunch at a nice Polish restaurant on field)
CYWL (Williams Lake for fuel)
CYPZ (Burns Lake - spend the night - fuel is way cheaper than Smithers and no landing fee, nice pilots lounge where you can sleep, TV, wifi and telephone , courtesy car and couple of rooms to rent on field as well).
I also like Burns lake as it gives you three weather route options to go to PAKT (Ketchikan), PAWG (Wrangell), or CYDL (Dease Lake) and PAJN (Juneau) for customs if heading to SE Alaska.
BTW the customs were very accommodating with me when I flew in the fall. The weather was pretty iffy, and I wasn't sure whether I could make it over the pass to CBW4 (Bob Quinn Lake). Called customs in Juneau, Wrangell and Ketchikan - all told me to just call when I land. Ended up in Wrangell and the customs guy was super nice. Then got a call from the Juneau customs asking what's up - I told them I already cleared customs in Wrangell - they said sounds good!

If going to CYDL (either via highway or Skeena-Stikine valleys straight from Burns lake) - from Dease Lake you can follow down the Taku river to Juneau (PAJN) if weather is low, or go to Whitehorse (CYXY) and Northway (PAOR) for customs..

Another option is the old railroad grade in northern BC. Basically up the valley from Ft. St. James (CYJM - no fuel) to Takla Lake and on up the valley NW. Ends up at the Cassiar Highway near Gnat Pass, just south of Dease Lake (CYDL - fuel available). Beautiful route, but pretty lonely. There are several old airstrips along the way that would be better than the rocks or water in an emergency, but not much else. I flew this about 3 years ago at the end of May.

Thanks everyone. To clarify, I am looking for the routing (sequence of identifiers) for the 4 specific routes I am including in this knowledge base piece:

The Coast: ___ ____ ____?
The Trench: ____ _____ ____?
Cassiar route: _____ _____ ____?
The Al-Can: ____ ____ ___?

I just want to make some pretty maps to show the various routes one could take, doesn't need to be perfect. I'd like to show how they compare, roughly, in distance and leg length.

AlCan from West of the Rockies: KOMK CYKA CYXS CYXJ CYYE CYQH CYXY PAOR

This is more or less the route I have followed, with a couple small amendments. I can give you those details if you like...

Troy Hamon wrote:AlCan from West of the Rockies: KOMK CYKA CYXS CYXJ CYYE CYQH CYXY PAOR

This is more or less the route I have followed, with a couple small amendments. I can give you those details if you like...

Thanks, that's adequate.

Just need Trench, Coast, Cassiar.

Zzz wrote:Thanks everyone. To clarify, I am looking for the routing (sequence of identifiers) for the 4 specific routes I am including in this knowledge base piece:

The Coast: ___ ____ ____?
The Trench: ____ _____ ____?
Cassiar route: _____ _____ ____?
The Al-Can: ____ ____ ___?

I just want to make some pretty maps to show the various routes one could take, doesn't need to be perfect. I'd like to show how they compare, roughly, in distance and leg length.

Wasn’t mine specific enough? I need an attaboy lol.

akaviator wrote:

Zzz wrote:Thanks everyone. To clarify, I am looking for the routing (sequence of identifiers) for the 4 specific routes I am including in this knowledge base piece:

The Coast: ___ ____ ____?
The Trench: ____ _____ ____?
Cassiar route: _____ _____ ____?
The Al-Can: ____ ____ ___?

I just want to make some pretty maps to show the various routes one could take, doesn't need to be perfect. I'd like to show how they compare, roughly, in distance and leg length.

Wasn’t mine specific enough? I need an attaboy lol.

Yes, it was great. Thanks. Attaboy I've flown the AlCan route myself, so I'm comfortable plotting a line for that one. It's the Trench and the Cassiar mainly that I'd like the routing for.

Zzz wrote:

akaviator wrote:

Zzz wrote:Thanks everyone. To clarify, I am looking for the routing (sequence of identifiers) for the 4 specific routes I am including in this knowledge base piece:

The Coast: ___ ____ ____?
The Trench: ____ _____ ____?
Cassiar route: _____ _____ ____?
The Al-Can: ____ ____ ___?

I just want to make some pretty maps to show the various routes one could take, doesn't need to be perfect. I'd like to show how they compare, roughly, in distance and leg length.

Wasn’t mine specific enough? I need an attaboy lol.

Yes, it was great. Thanks. Attaboy I've flown the AlCan route myself, so I'm comfortable plotting a line for that one. It's the Trench and the Cassiar mainly that I'd like the routing for.

If I knew I had the range I’d fly the Cassiar.

Cassiar - kind of depends on your starting point and range and what you want to do but...

From Seattle area could go: CYNJ (or other customs airport in Vancouver area)-CYPS-CAJ4-CYYD-CYDL-CYSQ-CYXY-CYDB-PAOR. There are other stops enroute depending on your range and bladder capacity and weather. The southern part of this route is pretty far from any decent roads.
Alternate route would be CYNJ-CYWL-CYXS-CYPZ-CYYD-CYDL-CYQH-CYXY-CYDB-PAOR. This route mostly follows roads and the "official" VFR corridor up the Cassiar.

Greg

The Coast avoiding customs.

Its a long stretch from Port Angeles to Ketchikan so make sure of weather and range

KCLM PAKT PAYA PACV


If you cant make the hop then stop in port Hardy BC CYZT

KCLM CYZT PAKT PAYA PACV

I'm hoping to fly the Cassiar in a couple of weeks. I'll share my "planned" route stops later today or tomorrow (on my other computer).

One issue where there is a huge variance is range-between-fuel-stops. Then as noted by others checking ahead via the Canadian Flight Supplement (and phone calls) to make sure fuel is actually available (not just listed as available).

There are a number of possible stops along the upper Trench route where one could add fuel from bladders or cans, but no fuel for sale--how do we indicate that to others (other than mentioning as I just did).

Landing fees are common at even small airports in Canada. I was pleasantly surprised to see one comment above about a courtesy car at a Canadian airport--highly uncommon.

The Alaskan Airmen's Assoc published a spiral bound book years ago (I have a copy) with tons of information about "Flying Your Airplane To (and in) Alaska" most of which is perhaps out of date (??). Can't get the book anymore. Good historical information though if you do find a copy.