From the SPOT, looks like he made it into Northway. I'm so jealous.

Brett

Once he gets to Tok, he can drop down and fly the road to Delta, then pick up the Tanana River and fly it to North Pole. Raining off and on but he can get down under the clouds..

BT is in Tok, he just called so should be in North Pole soon. .

0035hrs... this was a heck of a long day...started at 8am and just landed in Anchorage at 0035am but it was a GREAT day! Tok to North Pole was a giant game of thunder shower dodging... finally made it in to North Pole to meet up with AKFlyer and a bite a Wendys! Then a quick 6 min flight to Fairbanks to fill up and pick up giant tundra tires for M6RV6... Then it was a super nice leg over to central Alaska, Galena... There met up with Chris and George, had some great food, took Chris out for a quick rip and circuit and checked out his suped up 172...sweet ride! George, the dog, gear and I then took off for Anchorage... took the pass east of Rainy pass... great flying over some beautiful rocks and glacier and the back side was clear...it was nice all the way to Lake Hood where George surprised me with a short Tundra landing...well done for a Tundra first timer! I have some great photos, will try to post tomorrow... looks like were heading towards Denali tomorrow and then who knows...need some sleep and costco run before we get going. Will report soon, cheers

Check my spot if you wan to see where we went/where we are going.

Good Morning, After a little shuteye and life is good, Had a nice ride in the Tundra, Slowhawk came over to Nulato then gave me a ride to Galena where we met Tundra, filled up on $7.90 gas and headed to Anchorage, Got here about a little past midnight, got the Tundra on the ground. Nice RIDE, lots of interest in the bird with both approach and tower wanting to come look at it. Parked in Alpha by the road.
Will be trying to get to Gwennies around 10 if anyone wants to stop by, Just look for the 2 Pilots????
GT

Gwennie's- will be looking for ya.

It was great getting to meet you guys (and Jake) yesterday!

Thanks again for the quick ride in the Tundra JM, love that plane. I have put it on the wish list.
Glad you had a good flight in. After beautiful skys all day i arrived home at 23:20 to low ceilings, fog and mist. What can you say, it's Alaska.

Chris

Update on our Adventure, will let Tundra articulate a little more in a bit when he gets up!
Made it to Anchorage just fine, Had a good breakfast with Dot at Gwennie's, had a big Bull sesion around the Tundra sitting on the Ramp as had lots of lookers, Tundra was in his element.
Did a little shopping then took off to go pick up the 170.
Found it at Wolf Lake where it was supposed to be with a fresh annual and ready to go!!
Dead battery, no log books, no airworthiness cert, no registration, weight & balance, 1/2 flat tail wheel. and no one around???
Talked to the owner on the phone, after about 2 hours said the hell with it and went back to LH and picked up all out stuff and JM was kind enough to fly me back to Nulato.
So question for some of the local guys around Palmer & Wassila. Who can the owner of this 170 get to get a ferry permit and get the 170 in annual? Cause I am not going to fly it until I get someone else to take a look at it!!
By the way Thanks to Kody and his family and friends at Wolf Lake, as they invited us over for Hamburgers and the rest of the fixuns for a great dinner!!!!
Afoot in Nulato!! GT

M6RV6, BCT,

Was great to meet you guys for breakfast! Much as waiting on weather that meets my low-time minimums is a drag, I'm happy the pass was closed yesterday so I got to meet you two and swap stories. BCT, that is one sweet airplane! I love my Taylorcraft, but you've definitely got a very persuasive argument about what to build next!

M6RV6, damn sorry to hear about the 170 - I'd recommend my IA, but he's got two annuals and a major repair going on right now, and I'll bet you want this done faster than he can get to it. I'm bettin' he's going to get a little time in at work today to catch up on paperwork when no one expects him to be in. If so, I'll ask him for a recommendation.

M6RV6 wrote:So question for some of the local guys around Palmer & Wassila. Who can the owner of this 170 get to get a ferry permit and get the 170 in annual? Cause I am not going to fly it until I get someone else to take a look at it!!

Try Tom at Nugget Aviation. He has a hangar at Wolf Lake and his shop is in Palmer: 745-2344. He probably already knows something about that 170.

Tundra , glad to see you made it safe. Great to meet you and your right it is a great looking plane.
It would of been nice to have had Breakfast with you all in Anchorage. We should have our own fly in.
The rain here has been going on for a bout 10 days now hope it lets up soon.
A gain Tundra thanks for stopping by and will keep a look out for you next year...


Ken in Alaska

M6RV6 wrote:Found it at Wolf Lake where it was supposed to be with a fresh annual and ready to go!!
Dead battery, no log books, no airworthiness cert, no registration, weight & balance, 1/2 flat tail wheel. and no one around???
Talked to the owner on the phone, after about 2 hours said the hell with it and went back to LH and picked up all out stuff and JM was kind enough to fly me back to Nulato.
Afoot in Nulato!! GT

Wow George, sorry about the misadventure Glad JM was able to fly you back.
Had a simular mis-cue when i was supposed to pick up my first plane. Pre-buy all done, the seller was going to bring it up from Seattle to avoid the registration hassle bringing it through Canada and we would meet in Anchorage. Long story short; i ended up spending an expensive weekend in Anchorage, he had decided to do something else instead. Killed that deal

Let me know if/when you want to try it again.

Chris

Ok.... little back tracking going on today... was hoping to fly towards anchorage and down to Cordova/Valdez/ Yakutat/Haines and home but the Alaska Range is clogged up...so on my way to Galena to fill up, then Fairbanks... from there likely to Big Delta and either go towards TOK or Cordova??? Check spot and you'll get your answer!

Tundra
Looked at the SPOT. Looks like you made it home OK!
Glad to have spent some time with you and your bird, Mighty nice airplane, I really don't think there is a production aircraft out there that matches it in all around useful airplane.
Was a good adventure, tho I would have liked to have picked up the 170 and saved you a day.
Met some new people, had some good BS sessions, Your bird shows really well, You can be proud of it!
Glad you liked the Yukon Caviar!
We know the tundra will do just fine at 14,500 with a full load!!
Have a good summer my Friend and may you always have a tailwind in cruise and a smooth landing.
GT

Tundra,
What is the 100ll availability between Whitehorse and Tok?

AKclimber wrote:Tundra,
What is the 100ll availability between Whitehorse and Tok?

None! But I'm going to Beaver Creek next week and could drop off few gallons for you.... or I can just fly up and meet you with few cans as well... actually, now that I think of it, there may be 100ll in Burwash Landing... let me make couple phone calls but doubt it.

When are you wanting to fly this way? Cheers, J-M

Hello All...well make it back at 00:40hrs this morning... long flight back from Fairbanks as I kept her straight and level but at least the weather was good... walked across the street in Tok and had a good 4th of July meal at Fast Eddies! Then straight to Beaver Creek to clear customs. The ceiling was good so flew over a prominent sheep hunting zone and saw many I think I have found my sheep hunting mountain for this fall!

I had a Great time flying along with George and learned tons, the Tundra performed exceptionally well and VERY short at Lake Hood... but then again M6RV6 was flying it! Spent an out at a local Nulato household yesterday and was served fresh caviar and fresh cup'a joe...great people. I met up with Akflyer in Northway, had lunch at Wendy's and talked about airplanes, visited his hangar and all... and we also discussed the possibility of a fly in in British Columbia...halfway between AK and lower 48 folks... Atlin came to mind...I wonder if there would be enough interest in it... tons of parking spot, one of the most beautiful town north of 48 Ak included, cheap fuel, etc...

All in all the weather was a great mix, rain, snow, ice, high/low clouds...all in all typical flying weather.

I was really hoping to fly the coast, valdez/cordova, Yakutat, Haines/skagway but the weather was down in Haines/SKagway which would have halted me for too long... so I will keep this project for a little later on the summer or fall...

I will put the photos on a website... I hear Flicker is good... once I have the link I will post it here.

Cheers, J-M

I have about a 370 mile range.
It's about 300 miles from Haines to Northway and another 30 to Tok. Unfortunately you can only clear customs in Beaver creek, 50 miles before Northway, but if there is no fuel there, I'll have to pack fuel cans. If I have to pack fuel anyways, it's 275 miles to Chisana and 250 to Horsefeld (4Z5 - does anyone know if it's even usable?) and I could skip the customs, but only add 30 miles to the trip to Tok.
Of course there is always the Yakuat-Cordova-Gulkana-Tok route, but that's almost double the distance in worse weather!

Tundra,
Next time you're flying down the coast - the best way back into the interior when all the passes are socked in is via the Taku river and that'll put you right up in Atlin.

Backcountry Tundra wrote:there may be 100ll in Burwash Landing... let me make couple phone calls but doubt it.

Not that I'm aware of, and from what I hear they get pissy now if you land on the highway now for fuel/food.

Gump