http://newsminer.com/bookmark/7911228-Northway-Airport-services-to-vanish

Sad to hear about this. Take note if you're flying to AK.

ASW.

For a couple years, I did bi-weekly trips up the Nabesna and Shishana Rivers tracking fish. Most every trip included fuel at PAOR and many included lunch at the lodge.

While this is an issue for wheel planes, I would assume that this also means there will no longer be fuel delivered via truck to Yarger Lake. If that's the case, this will be a HUGE issue for straight seaplanes coming into Alaska. Coming from Whitehorse, the next fuel on floats used to be Fairbanks, and that is a looooonnng haul. On wheels, you can just go down the road a piece to Tok and fuel at Forty Mile Air, and walk across the street to Fast Eddy's for lunch. Still, that'll mean two stops: One at PAOR for Customs and one at Tok for gas and food.

I have to sympathize with the owner. There is a LOT of contaminated soil around airports everywhere, but especially anywhere the military used to operate. It wasn't that long ago that waste oil was commonly used for dust control, and fuel spills were no big deal. Used anti-freeze?? No sweat--dump it on the driveway.

So, he's caught between a rock and a hard place, since no doubt at some point, if he were to accept the lease as is, the State would tell him he'll have to pay for a clean up of "his" mess.

Too bad.

MTV

I was planning to stop there the last week of June, so I guess it will still be running?

You can't do customs in Tok can you?

Hate to see this, Nice old couple runnin the place. Offered to make me a burger even though they were'nt open. No customs at Tok, Only Northway and Fairbanks. Need to get to Northway before 1600 ADT or no customs and i would call the lodge in Northway and check on fuel. He had a tank mounted on the back of his pick-up and brought it out after the customs inspection.

Chris

Sorry to hear this. On May 29 I flew from Whitehorse to Northway in my 185 on straight floats. Landed on Yarger Lake and cleared US Customs, no problem. I had taken 10 gal of av gas with me in the floats and added them to my tanks just in case, and then flew a little over 2 hrs to Lake Hood. I landed with plenty of fuel, not an issue at all. I have 84 gal useable and burn about 13 gal per hr at cruise.

Still, I hope somebody takes over the fueling at Northway.

I guess I will be seeing more of my friends here on BCP coming up the coast. Be good to meet more of ya all in person.

gb

Actually, it'll be interesting to see how much longer Customs is available at ORT also, with the lodge closed. I have a feeling the seasonal customs deal may go away also.

Oh, well, progress.

MTV

Typical Government thinking, tell a private business to do an expencsive clean up project that they don't want to pay for, and probably caused themselves, forcing the business to go bankrupt, leaving the Government to pay for the clean up anyway. I've got an idea, just leave it the way it is. The soil has been that way for years and it's not like little kids are sitting around the runway eating the dirt, well not much anyway.

To be fair no one has told anyone that they have to do anything, yet, nor is there anything to say they would.

It wasn't exactly a gold mine of a business for the owners. The guy that bought them out a few years ago gave it back. The few times I've been there I shared the dining room at lunch with maybe two people who were doing more talking than eating.

Things didn't look good to me in the summer of '08, when I was there. Same thing, no one but us was there other then the gal that seemed to be running at least the kitchen and the gas parts.

They had no gas, but if we really needed some, they could go somewhere and get it in 5 gal cans. We could get by, so passed on that.

While we were eating, the phone ran and that gal answered said "we sent the check" and then got up and finished the conversation in the kitchen. Also about ten minutes later a guy drove up on a backhoe. He drove out to the highway, raised his bucket and pushed over the sign for the business. I am not surprised.

Hello Backcountry Pilots,
Thats sucks about the FBO in Northway! Rob and I were planning on clearing US Customs there on August 1st, then on to Faribanks on our flight from Whitehorse. Its also just plain lousy to see anyone go out of business too.

My Maule only holds 40 usable so it will be pretty tight to make it to Tok, AK without extra fuel. We were planning on fuel at Nothway. If the weather sucks at all, I'll pour at least an extra 10 gallons in at Nothway out of 5 gallon cans in the back..

James
Spokane


My youngest has her own style!

It's never been a rocking business, though I suspect their biggest income has been liquor sales, not sales to pilots or food. THey used to do a fair fuel business, though.

Tok is a long stretch from Whitehorse in any case, but if you're that short on range, the rest of the highway isn't going to be much fun either. And north of FAI you wont' find much gas either.

MTV

Darn Shame. Seems like a lot of rural operations up here- hanging on, but just barely and it doesn't take much to tip the balance. It may not have been any goldmine for the owners, but it was somebody's livelihood, and that's something if you live in a place like Northway. Not to mention, an inestimable service to pilots. Seems like the kind of outfit that Uncle Ted might have gone to bat for back in the day.

Some years back there was 100LL available at Haines Junction, but the call-out fee was $50. I've got the phone number written down in an old logbook. It may still be thumbtacked next to the pay phone too, as it was at the time.

Contaminated soil has become a HUGE issue for fuel vendors. We had a relatively minor fuel spill when we were removing an old hangar at FAI. That precipitated some testing, which of course revealed many of the sins of the pilots of yore. It cost us $60 K to clean that mess up to the engineer's satisfaction.

Burying tanks these days is a very expensive and risky business. Above ground tanks are easier to inspect and repair, but the cost of legal tanks, above ground or buried has sky rocketed as well.

Vending fuel ain't cheap. Running a restaurant/bar and gas station near the end of the earth isn't going to be a real profitable business in any case. But, I'd agree--it's our loss when another fuel vendor goes out of business.

When I started in Fairbanks there was fuel in Fort Yukon, Circle City and Eagle. No more for any of them. Fuel is getting harder and harder to come by in the north country.

MTV

mtv wrote: Fuel is getting harder and harder to come by in the north country.

MTV

and if you can find fuel, more than likely it will get more and more expensive

Why?? Logistics, Supply and Demand

58Skylane wrote:

mtv wrote: Fuel is getting harder and harder to come by in the north country.

MTV

and if you can find fuel, more than likely it will get more and more expensive

Why?? Logistics, Supply and Demand

$10 a gallon isn't uncommon in the places where they fly it all in, but if you need it you gladly pay.

gb

Actually, Evert's Air Fuel is delivering fuel to remote villages with DC-6 and C-46 airplanes nearly as cheap as the barge companies can, believe it or not.

Of course, on the Yukon, the barges have a looooonnnngggg trip to many of those villages.

MTV

MTV
Actually there is 100LL at the store in Circle City, It can also be delivered to the river for floatplanes.

Good news on the Circle City deal. Dan used to do that when he ran the store, but when the village corporation took over the lodge, it got pretty undependable. Sometimes it was there, sometimes not..... That isn't good. Dan was dependable as the day was long, and a great resource.

Glad to hear it's back on track, though.

MTV