ASES – Airplane Single Engine Sea In July, while on a family flying vacation to Alaska, I took the opportunity to get a float plane rating. Alaska has thousands of float planes to take you into the many beautiful but secluded lakes they have. I located an instructor who was willing to help me get […]
I am getting this question more frequently these days…how should I go about getting my Pilot’s License? I love this question because the question embodies the very essence of human adventure! It is a question that captures the imagination! I wish the answer was easy, but the truth is, the answer is as individualized as […]
The trip from Alaska back to Texas was a whole other set of challenges. One of the primary challenges was the weather in Southeast Alaska. We had planned on starting home on Friday July 12th, but the Sitka, Wrangle, Ketchikan corridor was pretty well socked in with low ceilings and low visibility. On Sunday, the […]
LEG #4: (FlightAware Link) PAKT – PAWS Ketchikan, AK to Wasilla, AK ROUTE: ERANE BKA YAK JOH YESKA TED The morning of July 4th, 2013 my first act was to check the METAR/TAF on my iPhone for PAKT through eye still unfocused due to an alarming lack of coffee. The short story…the weather was awful. Low […]
Leg #4: (FlightAware Link) KPAE – PAKT Everett, WA to Ketchikan, AK ROUTE: YYJ YZT CBBC AGPAL ANN The flights up to this point had been what I call “routine”. Read more about the flights from Rockwall, TX to Seattle HERE. When I say routine, I mean that I am on an IFR Flight Plan, in […]
As the routing and options for routing to Alaska from Dallas became more clear, I went ahead and spent the money to purchase a few more items to help. I purchased actual paper VFR charts for Canada. In June of 2013, only IFR charts for Canada were available for Canada through ForeFlight. I wanted the […]
After answering the 3 basic questions (see part one) flight planning began in earnest. The schedule that worked best for us to do this Alaska trip was in conjunction with the July 4th holiday. Work had been pretty nutty, so we decided to spend a couple of days in Colorado to decompress and celebrate our […]
Ever since my wife and I got our very first plane in 2006 (a 172XP) we loved using it for flying vacations. We flew to both the West Coast and East Coast (including NYC) from Dallas while we had our XP. But on the list was always the goal to fly to Alaska. For us, […]
