Bear with me...I have a rant. I travel quite a bit. Fortunately, I can usually tap into my Scandinavian Zen to maintain my calm. It usually works...I just don't worry about the guy who doesn't take his laptop out until he puts his case on the x-ray belt, the guy who acts like his lighter shouldn't be setting off the metal detector, or the family with 42 carry-on items. It just isn't worth it...I will get to my plane with plenty of time, just go with the flow.
There is one thing that really gets me...and it shouldn't...but it does. "Pillow Girls"...you've seen them. It seems to be a trend. Usually 16 to 27 years old. They are usually wearing sweats with a word emblazoned across their ass (Pink is the most common), slippers, hair in a pony tail, a pissy look on their faces (that usually says...I got up early and I don't like morning), and they are carrying a damn pillow. They look like they just got up from bed, complained about having to be up so early, grabbed the pillow and their carry on, and shuffled off to the airport.
What ever happened to dressing for travel? Granted, I don't dress up for travel...but I sure as damn well don't wear my pajamas!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Short Trip to Homer
"If you have time to spare, go by air." Paul Anderson
Yesterday, I thought I would take a quick trip to Homer to help a grad student who is working on salmon in the Fox River estuary that flows into the head of Kachemak Bay. My plan was to leave Anchorage between 7 and 8 in the morning, arrive Homer around 9:30, work on otolith preparation methods for a few hours, and be back to Anchorage by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. No problem.
Forest fires on the Kenai Peninsula are causing haze and smoke throughout the region and a temporary flight restriction is in place on the north shore of Tustumena Lake. In order to avoid the TFR, I planned on flying right down the mountains to Homer. I got a flight briefing and filed my flight plan when I got to Lake Hood. Then, I took off and headed south. As I crossed Turnagain Arm, the visibility was roughly 7 to 10 miles, so everything looked good. Between Skilak Lake and Tustumena Lake, the visibility improved dramatically, so I decided to call flight service with a Pilot Report (PIREP). Just after I relayed my PIREP, my radio crapped out. Dead. Nothing. Damn. I worked through everything I could think of and couldn't fix the problem. No real problem, though. I got to Homer, overflew the field and entered the pattern following a plane in the pattern. After landing, I tried a few more things and found the radio to be dead with no hope of repair.
In Homer, I called a friend and we worked through the radio issues but didn't come up with anything I hadn't already tried. So, I worked on the otolith prep methods with the student and, around 4 got back to the airport to head home. I found someone (a complete stranger) who loaned me a small handheld radio. I got a briefing from flight service, filed a flight plan, got fuel, and was ready to roll at about 6pm. But, the handheld wouldn't transmit from inside the plane. I figured, I would get to Anchorage and squawk 7600 (code for lost com) on my transponder once I got to Anchorage. I tried to retrace my route along the mountains, but turned back as I approached Tustumena Lake. Visibility was less than 3 miles and it looked worse ahead. I flew back to Homer. I canceled my flight plan and after another briefing, decided to fly up the coast and cut between Soldotna and Kenai airports. Then head straight to Turnagain Arm and into Anchorage.
I called Anchorage Tower and asked for a no-radio arrival. They gave me a transponder code to squawk as I approached the Lake Hood airspace and said they would give me a light gun signal to land. That was great. I opened my flight plan, took off, and headed along the coast.
I arrived into Anchorage, got the light gun signal as I crossed the Tudor Overpass as promised, and landed. There was a layer of smoke over Anchorage. I called Flight Service to close my flight plan and called Michelle to let her know I was home. It was 9 pm. So much for that quick trip to Homer.
Yesterday, I thought I would take a quick trip to Homer to help a grad student who is working on salmon in the Fox River estuary that flows into the head of Kachemak Bay. My plan was to leave Anchorage between 7 and 8 in the morning, arrive Homer around 9:30, work on otolith preparation methods for a few hours, and be back to Anchorage by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. No problem.
Forest fires on the Kenai Peninsula are causing haze and smoke throughout the region and a temporary flight restriction is in place on the north shore of Tustumena Lake. In order to avoid the TFR, I planned on flying right down the mountains to Homer. I got a flight briefing and filed my flight plan when I got to Lake Hood. Then, I took off and headed south. As I crossed Turnagain Arm, the visibility was roughly 7 to 10 miles, so everything looked good. Between Skilak Lake and Tustumena Lake, the visibility improved dramatically, so I decided to call flight service with a Pilot Report (PIREP). Just after I relayed my PIREP, my radio crapped out. Dead. Nothing. Damn. I worked through everything I could think of and couldn't fix the problem. No real problem, though. I got to Homer, overflew the field and entered the pattern following a plane in the pattern. After landing, I tried a few more things and found the radio to be dead with no hope of repair.
In Homer, I called a friend and we worked through the radio issues but didn't come up with anything I hadn't already tried. So, I worked on the otolith prep methods with the student and, around 4 got back to the airport to head home. I found someone (a complete stranger) who loaned me a small handheld radio. I got a briefing from flight service, filed a flight plan, got fuel, and was ready to roll at about 6pm. But, the handheld wouldn't transmit from inside the plane. I figured, I would get to Anchorage and squawk 7600 (code for lost com) on my transponder once I got to Anchorage. I tried to retrace my route along the mountains, but turned back as I approached Tustumena Lake. Visibility was less than 3 miles and it looked worse ahead. I flew back to Homer. I canceled my flight plan and after another briefing, decided to fly up the coast and cut between Soldotna and Kenai airports. Then head straight to Turnagain Arm and into Anchorage.
I called Anchorage Tower and asked for a no-radio arrival. They gave me a transponder code to squawk as I approached the Lake Hood airspace and said they would give me a light gun signal to land. That was great. I opened my flight plan, took off, and headed along the coast.
I arrived into Anchorage, got the light gun signal as I crossed the Tudor Overpass as promised, and landed. There was a layer of smoke over Anchorage. I called Flight Service to close my flight plan and called Michelle to let her know I was home. It was 9 pm. So much for that quick trip to Homer.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Time off for good behavior
I'm taking some time off of work. I've been flying, working on the shop, and doing little else. It has been pretty nice. Tomorrow, I'm headed to Chitina to dipnet with John and Jeff. I will post more, then.
Here is a photo from my first landing at the picnic bench strip near Knik glacier.
Here is a photo from my first landing at the picnic bench strip near Knik glacier.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Kustatan River Coho Salmon Fishing
After spending a long day, yesterday, floating the Matanuska River for work, I took the day off and went fishing on the Kustatan River. Sean Burril joined me and we left Anchorage around 1pm and arrived at the Kustatan at around 3. It took us a little while to find the airstrip, but when we did we were the only plane there. A few minutes later another plane landed. We were a little late (or early) to catch the right tide to fish but we did okay, anyway. I caught a fish within the first 30 minutes and we both limited out (three fish) by 7:30. It was a great day.
My limit of coho.
There were only two other planes, for most of the day. Then, around 6:30, three more planes showed up. We left at 8.
There were clearly some bears in the area.
The horse flies were fierce!
Sean fishing.
This bear wandered by just as we were ready to leave....really there is a bear in this picture!
On the way home. You think someone might have been nice enough to tell me that I had mud on my face!
It was pouring rain and there was a rainbow as we landed back at Lake Hood at 9pm.
My limit of coho.
There were only two other planes, for most of the day. Then, around 6:30, three more planes showed up. We left at 8.
There were clearly some bears in the area.
The horse flies were fierce!
Sean fishing.
This bear wandered by just as we were ready to leave....really there is a bear in this picture!
On the way home. You think someone might have been nice enough to tell me that I had mud on my face!
It was pouring rain and there was a rainbow as we landed back at Lake Hood at 9pm.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
4th of July in Fairbanks
For the 4th of July, I had plans to go plane camping with friends. Originally, we planned on going to Beluga Lake where Paul, Verena, and Brianna camped and saw a bear. See http://verenagill.blogspot.com/2008/06/briannas-beluga-bear.html for a description of the area and its attractions. We planned on putting Brianna on bear watch, so there would be no surprises. On the 3rd, I flew out to Beluga to practice landing at the camping spot (so I would look like a pro when I went in there with a passenger) and found it blowing near 40 miles an hour. I didn't even land.
At that point, Verena came up with plan 2. There are three dead whales washed up in Kamishak Bay (across the inlet from Homer) and lots of bears are there feeding on the whales. We could fly down, watch the bears, and then find another beach to camp. That sounded GREAT. I could get some great pictures of bears. I was on board for that trip.
That evening (the 3rd), Paul was on his way back from somewhere to the north and called Verena from Fairbanks. It was 80 degrees and sunny there. Why would we go anyplace else?, Paul asked. No one had a good answer to that question, so it was settled, on the 4th, we would meet at Paul's hanger at 11:00 and head north to Manley or Chena Hot Springs.
Michelle didn't feel up to sitting in the plane for 4 hours, so I was flying solo. A friend of Verena and Paul's (Tamara) was going to ride with them, so she opted to ride with me.
At the time, Tamara probably thought this was a good idea. After landing at Chena Hot Springs, she probably wondered why she didn't fly with Paul. We headed north, and had some great scenery on the way. At one point, we thought we would go high and direct to Chena Hot Springs, but some thunder storms got in our way, so we headed through Windy Pass. It was great for me to fly with Paul and learn about the pass and other routes. We got to Chena Hot Springs and Paul landed first. The strip is in a valley and it was pretty windy. I did one low pass and was too high and fast to land, so I went around. On the second attempt, it all came together (with a hard forward slip on short final).
Once on the ground, we headed in to the resort to do some swimming. Apparently, when I was in the restroom, Paul got chewed out for landing there (they like to have a call and give permission to land). After the guy was done with his scolding, Paul asked, "Where should we park?" "Right there is fine." And, with that, I think we had permission.
We swam in the hot springs and soaked up sun for a couple hours and then, headed to Fairbanks. We flew to Fairbanks International, tied down the planes, and Ed (a friend of Paul, Verena, and Tamara's) came by to pick us up. We headed to Ed and Nikki's, where we had a nice BBQ and conversation until 2am.
The next day, I got up around 7:30 and enjoyed coffee in the sun. As everyone began to stir, we started talking about what we might want to do that day. We discussed everything from going to Kobuk sand dunes (near Kotzebue) to going to Cordova and Lake Minchumina. In the end, we decided that we needed to have lunch, so around 2, we spent an hour trying to figure out what kind of pizza to order. After pizza, we still tried to decide where we might go but didn't come up with a new location. Around 5, we decided that we needed some ice cream. In the end, we headed back to the airport (with a short stop for ice cream). I had a mechanical issue (brake line leaked fluid) so we spent about an hour working on that. Finally, at around 8pm, we were off and headed back to Anchorage.
From Verena's camera:
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We got back to Birchwood (Paul's Hanger) at about 11:30 and I dropped Tamara off. I flew on to Lake Hood and landed at about midnight. It was a great trip. We got sun and warm weather. I came back sun-burned.
At that point, Verena came up with plan 2. There are three dead whales washed up in Kamishak Bay (across the inlet from Homer) and lots of bears are there feeding on the whales. We could fly down, watch the bears, and then find another beach to camp. That sounded GREAT. I could get some great pictures of bears. I was on board for that trip.
That evening (the 3rd), Paul was on his way back from somewhere to the north and called Verena from Fairbanks. It was 80 degrees and sunny there. Why would we go anyplace else?, Paul asked. No one had a good answer to that question, so it was settled, on the 4th, we would meet at Paul's hanger at 11:00 and head north to Manley or Chena Hot Springs.
Michelle didn't feel up to sitting in the plane for 4 hours, so I was flying solo. A friend of Verena and Paul's (Tamara) was going to ride with them, so she opted to ride with me.
At the time, Tamara probably thought this was a good idea. After landing at Chena Hot Springs, she probably wondered why she didn't fly with Paul. We headed north, and had some great scenery on the way. At one point, we thought we would go high and direct to Chena Hot Springs, but some thunder storms got in our way, so we headed through Windy Pass. It was great for me to fly with Paul and learn about the pass and other routes. We got to Chena Hot Springs and Paul landed first. The strip is in a valley and it was pretty windy. I did one low pass and was too high and fast to land, so I went around. On the second attempt, it all came together (with a hard forward slip on short final).
Once on the ground, we headed in to the resort to do some swimming. Apparently, when I was in the restroom, Paul got chewed out for landing there (they like to have a call and give permission to land). After the guy was done with his scolding, Paul asked, "Where should we park?" "Right there is fine." And, with that, I think we had permission.
We swam in the hot springs and soaked up sun for a couple hours and then, headed to Fairbanks. We flew to Fairbanks International, tied down the planes, and Ed (a friend of Paul, Verena, and Tamara's) came by to pick us up. We headed to Ed and Nikki's, where we had a nice BBQ and conversation until 2am.
The next day, I got up around 7:30 and enjoyed coffee in the sun. As everyone began to stir, we started talking about what we might want to do that day. We discussed everything from going to Kobuk sand dunes (near Kotzebue) to going to Cordova and Lake Minchumina. In the end, we decided that we needed to have lunch, so around 2, we spent an hour trying to figure out what kind of pizza to order. After pizza, we still tried to decide where we might go but didn't come up with a new location. Around 5, we decided that we needed some ice cream. In the end, we headed back to the airport (with a short stop for ice cream). I had a mechanical issue (brake line leaked fluid) so we spent about an hour working on that. Finally, at around 8pm, we were off and headed back to Anchorage.
From Verena's camera:
.jpg)
.jpg)
We got back to Birchwood (Paul's Hanger) at about 11:30 and I dropped Tamara off. I flew on to Lake Hood and landed at about midnight. It was a great trip. We got sun and warm weather. I came back sun-burned.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Chitna Dipnetting 2008
Tuesday, after work, John, Jeff, and I loaded up my truck and headed to Chitna to dip net for salmon. We had a good trip (we caught more fish than anyone else using the charter boats that day). We came home with 46 sockeye salmon. I lost a NICE Chinook salmon and we probably lost at least another 20 fish that fell out of the nets as we tried to lift them from the water. This is truly extreme dip netting as we were tied off to trees with safety ropes and fishing from a spot about 15 - 20 feet above the water. It was a beautiful day, with clear skies and 80 degrees.
Jeff and John Fishing
In line for the charter boat at 4:30 am. The guy sitting on the trailer in the left of the picture was on his third Pabst Blue Ribbon when I took the picture.
Looking up the Copper River and the charter boats that deliver dip netters to fishing spots.
A view of our fishing spot.
Jeff
John fishing
Some of our salmon (we caught 46).
The boat comes to pick us up at 5:00 pm.
By 7:00 pm, we had all the fish filleted, packed the truck, and started driving back to Anchorage. We stopped in Glennallen for dinner. At about midnight, we were just outside Eagle River and I made the comment that I should be extra careful as it seems most moose collisions that I hear about happen as someone is making a late night trip back from dip netting. Just then, I see a moose and calf cross the highway in front of us...no big deal. Luckily, I was watching the right, rather than looking at the moose..as calf number 2 darts out right in front of us. I was able to swerve and we didn't hit the calf.
We had a great trip. I will probably make this an annual trip.
Jeff and John Fishing
In line for the charter boat at 4:30 am. The guy sitting on the trailer in the left of the picture was on his third Pabst Blue Ribbon when I took the picture.
Looking up the Copper River and the charter boats that deliver dip netters to fishing spots.
A view of our fishing spot.
Jeff
John fishing
Some of our salmon (we caught 46).
The boat comes to pick us up at 5:00 pm.
By 7:00 pm, we had all the fish filleted, packed the truck, and started driving back to Anchorage. We stopped in Glennallen for dinner. At about midnight, we were just outside Eagle River and I made the comment that I should be extra careful as it seems most moose collisions that I hear about happen as someone is making a late night trip back from dip netting. Just then, I see a moose and calf cross the highway in front of us...no big deal. Luckily, I was watching the right, rather than looking at the moose..as calf number 2 darts out right in front of us. I was able to swerve and we didn't hit the calf.
We had a great trip. I will probably make this an annual trip.
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