Flying to Alaska

[av8ing]

At the end of the month I will be flying my Tri Pacer from Southern California to Soldotna Alaska. If there is anybody that has made a similar flight I would appreciate some tips. Here are some of my questions/concerns.
1) Any preference on entry airport into Canada? Victoria International or Vancouver are the closest to my planned route.
2) Once I get past customs I'm having a problem finding info on airports. I want to fly a 250-300 mile leg and stop for fuel and a hotel.
It's hard to tell who has what kind of fuel. I'm looking on AOPA's online airport guide as well as airnav. I can't even find frequencies for CTAF. Basically all I get is runway info.
3) The next morning I will fly into Alaska and land at Ketchikan (PAKT) for customs. Any advise on the rest of the trip to Soldotna would help out (Fuel stops etc)

Thanks!

[Grantmac]

Clear customs in Victoria, avoid the lower mainland airspace unless you have the Vancouver VTA chart. Taxi around the corner to the Victoria flying club (they have their freq on the side of their hangar), get lunch and a copy of the Canadian Flight Suppliment (CFS, ~$15). That has information for every airport in Canada.
The club has overnight tie-downs for $10 if you want to overnight there.

From there I'd recommend taking the established VFR route through the interior of BC, it follows the highway and lowest passes.

Have fun!

-Grant

[Steve Pierce]

Haven't been that route, went the highway through Canada to Northway.

[av8ing]

Cool! Thanks Grant!

[Stephen]

A couple of weeks ago on my flight to Alaska from Lopez Island, WA, I went through customs at Abbotsford, it was easy, if we didn't have a gun they would have cleared us on the phone. We flew up the Frasier River to MacKenzie, up the trench, stayed overnight at a strip one hundred miles up the trench for the night (Fort Grahame) had good food. There is NO gas for the 400 miles up the Trench. My buddy Dave (he flies a Pacer with standard tanks) took TWO cans for gas on the trip and was glad he had. I've got the Dakota 48 gallon tanks in my Pacer and took one can and used it twice for myself and once to transfer fuel to Dave's plane. We also stopped at Scoop Lake in the Trench for a great lunch which is about 100 miles south of Watson Lake. Watson (it has camping on a lake at the airport) is the first opportunity for gas after leaving MacKenzie. If the weather is OK the Trench is a great way to go, it's beautiful and there are lots of places to land and it saves 2 to 3 hours. Our second night was at White Horse, they have a nice area for camping. At White Horse they have an excellent FSS, just like the old days and an FAA computer station to file your eAPIS (often referred to as the Ape S..t)report We flew over to Skagway then through Glacier Bay and up the outside of the Fairweather range......this was the single most beautiful day of flying of my life, glaciers, beach, bays, mountains.....amazying!!! Cordova was a fun fuel stop, then on to Lake Hood(very interesting), Ancorage. After Ancorage, we stopped to see Eddie Trimmer in Willow and at Talketna for lunch and to see the the mountain climbing and glacier landing operations. We flew on to Denali Park and fought our way into the airport next to the park entrance. Eddie's comment was "why would you want to flew into that place, the winds are terrible." They don't call it Windy Pass for nothing. Denali Park was well worth the effort, it was interesting watching a local expert fly in with his 206, he came in hot and high and rode the inevidable sinker right on in for a perfect touch down. We took a day trip into the park and camped at the airport, showers and a store were near. Next stop was Fairbanks which had the best camping area I've seen for pilots, secluded, shelter and hot showers. Once again we had to file the Ape S..T report, which was a pain finding a "hot spot" or computer, U.S. FSS was no help. We made it to Dawson City for the night and saw all the gold mine tailings. Our flight down to White Horse was interesting in that roads really do make fine runways. When the weather became bad we found out. Do look for a place that there is a turn-out to get off the road if possible. We had a hot lunch and a nap, then off again, RCMP's came by and never stopped. At White Horse and once again at the excellent Canadian FSS, we found that there was no way to get back through the Trench or the AlCan hwy. The only decent route was Hwy 37 "The Cassiar Hwy"....We made a quick trip into town to get more charts....WOW! did we luck out, that was a fantastic route, if you don't count the extra day we had to spend at Smithers (another good camping spot). We did get to know the local taxi driver, but found out too late about the showers at the laundray mat.. The flight down hwy 37 felt like I was flying through the Alps, beautiful mountains on both sides and glaciers. We cleared customs at Bellingham which was the only time we were run through the process, showing my pilots license, medical, registration, AW cert., customs decal (which I did not have and finally got stuck paying the $27) and did I make a blunder, on my final Arrival Ape S..t report I put the wrong birth date (2011) for my passenger and was told that I could be subject to a $5000 fine for filing out the form wrong.... Yippee...welcome home.

I was the trip of my life. Do file your eAPIS asap, figure to spend a while doing it. You will have to fill out departure and arrival eAPIS forms each time you cross the border and file flight plans (in the air is fine) each time you cross the boarder, and pay the $27 custom fee and get the decal or at least have the email reciept. Have a blast.

[GeronimoDriver]

Avbing, give me a call at 907-545-5843 and I'll share my experience with you, I've been back and forth a dozen or more times now... I'll be happy to help.

[Stephen]

Near Glacier Bay, going around the south end of the Fairweather Range.

[Throttle Pusher]

Awsome picture!
When you travel to or through Canada, I know your suppoed to have 12 inch numbers.Is it a problem if there only 3 inch?

[Stephen]

Awsome picture!
When you travel to or through Canada, I know your suppoed to have 12 inch numbers.Is it a problem if there only 3 inch?

I did not have 12" numbers on my plane and was never asked. Entering Canada was no problem, remember to file a flight plan crossing the border and make check the requirements for carrying guns, which are really no problem. The U.S. eApis system is a challenge especially for the first time and U.S. customs is humorless (just my experience), coming home is the work.


This is a glacier outside of the Fairweather Range on our way to Yakatat.

[Throttle Pusher]

Another beautiful picture.I've flown around Alaska alittle but haven't made the trip up there yet. Right know it would be nice just to run over to Victoria for the day.
I figure Id hit Friday harbor for customs on the way back. I received my PPL in 89, and have lived in the great north west since then, I've never flown to Canada. I'm sure once I've done it once then I'd probably go several times a year.
Its just that dreaded first time.At this time I haven't even looked at the eApis system yet.browsed through it once when it first came out, but I've never used it.

[Nathan Hiebert]

Great pictures! Looks like a lot of fun!

[gliderman]

Throttle Pusher

Don't worry about your letters- this only applies to CDN registered A/C. If you have questions about crossing into Canada call Canada Border Services and they will help you.Pretty painless really. the big thing IMHO is the point of entry and their bankers hours.
Shane-o

[Stephen]

Flying the Trench, north of Ford Ware.
Dave landing at Scoop Lake
First night at Fort Grahm

[Steve Pierce]

Awesome photos Stephen, you got me wanting to go back especially since it is 109 degrees here and in the 60s where I want to be. :)

We crossed into Canada at Del Bonita, MT which was on the border so we just called the port from Cut Bank and didn't have to file a flight into Canada. We had no problems with Canadian customs. US customs was a pain because we couldn't find a computer in White Horse to file our eApis. Finally called my Dad and had him update it. Probably should have filed it and maybe we coud have called them to update. It cost us a good flying day because of Customs bankers hours. We spent the night at Beaver Creek and then landed at Northway at 8:30 am because it takes the agent 30 minutes to get there. We had no problems, he wanted to talk airplanes. Northway is a ghost town without fuel or restroom. We filled 2 gas bags in town at Beaver Creek so we didn't have to go out of our way to Tok.

[Stephen]

109.....That's one of the reasons I left SoCal 30+ years ago. Too bad White Horse did not have their current eAPIS computer in FSS for you, it was the only time we had a relative easy time filling.

Got to get you to come out here for a visit then fly north up through central BC. or as Arron and some of the locals do, fly up the coast....Which is fine if you don't mind looking at lots of water and no place to land....it's good for character, I hear.

[Stephen]

Flying down the Cassiar Hwy (BC hwy 37)

Got stuck in Smiters for a couple of days

[Mtvagabond]

Hey guys I'll be flying into Fairbanks late monday night, unfortunately not in my Vagabond. Thought i'd ask any of you local shortwing guys what the recommended method of killing 48 hours up there would be. Thanks!

Will

[Stephen]

Hey guys I'll be flying into Fairbanks late monday night, unfortunately not in my Vagabond. Thought i'd ask any of you local shortwing guys what the recommended method of killing 48 hours up there would be. Thanks!

Will

I'm not local, but we did rent a car and drive out to see the pipeline and then went to the University and went through the museum...both were worthwhile.

[Steve Pierce]

Go by Tamarack Air. Great folks and an awesome parts store that you will never find in the lower 48. Tell Vicki I said hi.