Leg 224, Port Heiden, Lake and Peninsula Borough to Chickaloon, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
DAY04_03.PLN (22.2 KB)
Does everyone have an airstrip in their backyard in Alaska? The density of airports is rather insane here. I raised my previous record of 54 stops in a day to 64. Long stretches I didn’t even get over 500ft, 2 minute flights, not even worth it to retract the landing gear. Fun, some strips seem to have no actual landing strip though, or hidden under the snow. One they went a bit far with snow shoveling and is stuck in a deep trench! (Lincoln Village Airpark 89AK)
04-02 Port Heiden PAPH 4:48 PM Aniakchak National Monument 56°53’01.8"N 158°09’02.5"W
04-02 Ugashik Bay UGB 5:11 PM 25 knot winds
04-02 Bartletts AK96 5:18 PM
04-02 Ugashik 9A8 5:21 PM
04-02 Pilot Point PAPN 5:27 PM
04-02 Fort Jensen AK60 5:37 PM
04-02 Egegik PAII 5:45 PM 14 knot crosswind, tough
04-02 South Naknek Nr2 PFWS 6:01 PM
04-02 Naknek 5NK 6:03 PM Ramp at end of runway
04-02 Tibbetts 4AK9 6:10 PM No runway, road landing
04-02 King Salmon PAKN 6:19 PM
04-02 Karluk PAKY 6:57 PM Big gust of wind right after landing
04-02 Larsen Bay PALB 7:06 PM
04-02 Akhiok PAKH 7:22 PM
04-02 Old Harbor 6R7 7:38 PM
04-02 Kodiak PADQ 7:54 PM Landed on taxi way, not used to big airports!
04-02 Kodiak Mun PAKD 7:59 PM
04-02 Port Lions ORI 8:08 PM
04-02 Dog Fish Bay AK07 8:41 PM
04-02 Nanwalek KEB * 8:49 PM
04-02 Port Graham PGM 8:56 PM
04-02 Seldovia PASO 9:01 PM
04-02 Jakolof Bay 4Z9 9:07 PM no runway or maybe under the ice
04-02 Oyster Cove 2AK4 9:14 PM 3 attempts, short sloped runway on hill in front of another hill (wrong way slope)
04-02 Bear Cove Farm 46AK 9:26 PM no runway landed on lake again
04-02 Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project Airstrip 0AK7 9:31 PM Airstrip tilted 10-15 degrees
04-02 Glacierview strip AK17 9:36 PM no runway visible, landed on grass
04-02 Lowell Field 00AK 9:48 PM a runway!
04-02 Camp Point AK18 10:05 PM no runway visible, landed on lake shore
04-02 Pedro Bay 4K0 10:18 PM Chinitna Bay - Grizzly Bears 59°48’3"N, 154°33’29"W
04-02 Iliamna PAIL 10:30 PM
04-02 Nondalton PANO 10:37 PM
04-02 Port Alsworth TPO 10:45 PM
04-02 Trading Bay Production 5AK0 11:14 PM
04-02 McGahan Industrial Airpark AK73 11:21 PM
04-02 Carty’s Airstrip 8AK2 11:23 PM
04-02 Arness Lake 6Z1 11:25 PM
04-02 Kenai Muni PAEN 11:29 PM
04-02 Basquo 52AK 11:31 PM
04-02 Gaede 7AK3 11:34 PM
04-02 Soldotna PASX 11:36 PM
04-02 Dan France 7AK6 11:39 PM Might have landed on access road instead of the ‘runway’
04-02 Moose Run Airstrip AK55 11:41 PM Does everyone have an airstrip in their backyard here??
04-02 Alaska Airpark AK01 11:43 PM
04-02 Breeden AK05 11:49 PM 3 attempts, short narrow sloped runway
04-02 South Gasline AK39 11:56 PM
04-03 Hope 5HO 12:04 AM
04-03 Rabbit Creek AK92 12:10 AM
04-03 Flying Crown AK12 12:12 AM
04-03 Sky Harbor 9AK5 12:14 AM Watch the traffic
04-03 Campbell CSR 12:16 AM
04-03 Ted Stevens Anchorage Intl PANC 12:20 AM
04-03 Fire Island 6AK5 12:24 AM
04-03 Little Susitna 8AK6 12:29 AM
04-03 Point Mac AK36 12:33 AM
04-03 Owen Field 20AK 12:37 AM
04-03 Big Lake PAGQ 12:39 AM
04-03 Lincoln Village Airpark 89AK 12:44 AM In a trench
04-03 Wasilla PAWS 12:47 AM
04-03 Anderson Lake 0AK1 12:54 AM
04-03 Hart Lake AK79 12:56 AM
04-03 Grouse Ridge AK93 12:58 AM Short runway
04-03 Wasilla Creek Airpark 05AK 1:02 AM House at end of runway
04-03 Graham 48AK 1:11 AM
04-03 King Ranch AK59 1:17 AM Drone cam assist, on a hill
Flight time 8:29 64 stops
8:29/1893:27 64/4599 960nm/237,901nm 113.2/125.6
Windy start with a bit of wet snow coming down
Not good to see Aniakchak National Monument, here over Surprise Lake
Aniakchak National Monument
Ugashik Bay Airport, 25 knot winds, luckily not all from the side
Ugashik Bay
Flying over Pilot Point
Pilot Point Airport, it could be worse
Fort Jensen
Egegik build on a cliff
Population 109
South Naknek Nr 2, another great place for a tower
Tibbetts Airport, landed on the road as I could not distinguish any airstrip
Naknek, population 544
Naknek River near King Salmon
Karluk, population 37, flying to the other side to land upwind
Karluk River
Taking off from Larsen Bay Airport
Larsen Bay, population 87
Kodiak Island, half covered in snow
Deadman Bay
Kaiugnak Bay
Ugak Bay
Kodiak Airport, erm I landed on the little taxi way top left, not used to big airports anymore!
Kodiak Municipal Airport, more my size
Port Lions, population 194
Dog Fish Bay
Beautiful place to land
Nanwalek, curvy airstrip, trying approach from the wrong side
It worked, 90 degree bank onto the airstrip
Makes flying out easier, no need to back up or turn around
Jakalof Bay, no strip, just a frozen lake
Oyster Cove, very hard, big drop to the runway from this side
However it’s sloped, from the other side you land down hill
Bear Cove, I landed on the lake again
It kinda looks like an airstrip where the bushes are low but the ground is not even
Glacierview
Cook inlet
Chinitna Bay
Camp Point, another lake landing as I don’t see a landing strip
Pedro Bay, population 42
Grizzly Bears spotted at Chinitna Bay
You can pause the plane, can’t pause the bears, back into the woods
Iliamna, population 109
Flying out of Nondalton, population 164
Following Lake Clark, Currant Creek flowing into the lake down here
Snowy mountains between Ports Alsworth and Trading Bay
Mount Redoubt in the distance (10,197ft)
Trading Bay Production Airport
Crossing Gompertz Channel
Kenai with Mount Redoubt on the horizon
Breeden Airport, short narrow sloped runway, took a couple go arounds to get right
Turnagain Arm close to Anchorage
Anchorage, largest city in Alaska (Juneau in the southeast is the capital)
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
Portage Glacier feeding Turnagain Arm
Fire Island across from Anchorage
Point Mac
Big Lake Airport
Lincoln Village Airpark
Wasilla ahead, Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Anderson Lake Airport
Hart Lake Airport
Graham Airport
And finally King Ranch Airport aka Kingdom Air Corps Inc
I used the boosted exposure from the drone to get lined up right. The strip is on a hill, don’t approach too low. Time to quit, more little airstrips ahead without lights nor runway info in the G1000. Too dark to continue. 64 landings it is, fun record attempt.
More Alaska tomorrow and the Yukon, heading to Scribner Creek from Gold Rush.