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.
