Jacob and I flew the Iditarod trail to Nome this year. We travelled and camped with five Super Cubs.  This is Jody Niesen taking off from Melozy Hot Springs.  We camped at Skwentna,  Farewell Lake, Melozy Hot Springs, Ruby, and Serpentine Hot Springs.  We stayed in a motel at Nome and watched Dallas Seavey cross the finish line. 

Contact me if you are interested in flying the Iditarod trail in the future.   

Night training in actual IFR with N9418C

FSS phone numbers

Direct Phone Numbers for FSS

Many pilots call the Flight Service Station (FSS) to get weather.  The published phone number for FSS is 1-800-WX BRIEF (800-992-7433).  I do not use this number.  This toll free number does not go directly to Kenai FSS but goes to a master switchboard.  The master switchboard routes the call to a FSS that is in the geographic area where you made the call.  This will create a problem if you use a satellite phone.  The FSS switchboard thinks you are calling from the home office of the satellite phone company.  The call will be routed to a FSS out east.  The FSS person you get on the phone will know nothing about your needs in bush Alaska.

Instead of calling 1-800-992-7433, I call directly to the FSS that knows the most about the area I will be flying.  I have a list of direct numbers for the Flight Service Stations in Alaska.

FSS Barrow                907-852-2511

FSS Cold Bay             907-532-2454, 800-478-7250

FSS Deadhorse          907-659-2401

FSS Dillingham           907-542-5275

FSS Fairbanks           907-474-0137, 866-248-6516

FSS Homer                907-235-8588

FSS Juneau               907-789-7380, 907-586-7382

FSS Kenai                  907-283-7211, 866-864-1737

FSS Ketchikan           907-225-9481        

FSS Kotzebue           907-442-3310

FSS Nome                 907-443-2291

FSS Northway           907-778-2219

FSS Palmer               907-745-2495, 907-745-3248

FSS Sitka                  907-966-2221

FSS Talkeetna          907-733-2277

Garmin GTN 650 and Federal 3600 Wheel Skis installed in N9418C

The Garmin IFR radio package is installed in N9418C, a 1955 Cessna 180.  I am giving instrument flight training to Jacob Williams and Eugene DesJarais.  The Garmin GTN 650 gives us the opportunity to file IFR on training flights and shoot approaches to all the small airports in the Susitna Valley.  We do real time approaches with a glide-slope to Palmer (PAAQ), Big Lake (PAGQ, Wasilla (PAWS), Willow (PAUO), and Talkeetna (PATK).  The WAAS capability of the GTN 650  provides a vertical navigation on RNAV approaches to all of these airports.  We have the cross-fill option selected on the GTN 650.  This sends the flight plan information over to Garmin's newest gadget, the Aera 795 that is mounted on the pilots control yoke.

Last night Jacob and I flew IFR from Soldotna (PASX) to Anchorage (PANC) in a snowstorm.  We  shot the ILS approach to runway 7 left at Ted Stevens International Airport.  We cancelled IFR when we broke out of the clouds on final approach.  We asked the tower if we could continue on the up-wind for 7 left and turn the up-wind into a left down-wind to land on the ice on the West waterway at the Lake Hood seaplane base. (PALH).  The tower controller cleared us to proceed as requested.  With this flight I introduced my son to hard IFR flying.  I addition, we experienced the situational awareness that the our new Garmin package provides when flying in IMC conditions.

Lake Hood has 9 inches of ice

Unseasonable warm weather lingered in South Central Alaska this year.   The late freeze-up gave us the opportunity to remain on floats through the end of October.  We were able to extend our float-plane season by about two weeks compared to typical freeze-up year.  Several pilots took advantage of the warm weather and earned a SES certificates during the final days of October.

Cold weather descended on Lake Hood during the first week of November and ice formed across the lake.  Last weekend Jacob drilled test holes in the ice and put in tie downs.  He found the ice to be safe for aircraft, 9 inches thick.  We move our Super Cub and our Cessna 180 on the lake.  Both aircraft are equipped with wheel-skis and the ski season has started.

McKenna Paving paved our lot

Garmin 650, Garmin 795, and 3600 Wheel Skis on Cessna 180, N9418C

ACME Cub Training ordered a Garmin avionics package that includes a Garmin 650 touch screen GPS and a Garmin 795 yoke mounted GPS. Northern Lights Avionics will install the radios in October.  N9418C is our instrument trainer, tail-wheel trainer, and qualifies as a complex aircraft.
In addition to the radio upgrades, we outfitted iN9418C with Federal 3600 Wheel-Skis. It is now available as a complex aircraft for the training needed for a commercial rating or a FAR 61.31 (e) endorsement.  It also has a 230 HP engine making it available to give pilots a FAR 61.31 (f) high-performance endorsement.  It is a conventional gear aircraft making N9418C available to give pilot a tailwheel endorsement, FAR 61.31 (i).