Wheel-Ski Flight Training at Lake Hood

ACME Cub Training outfitted our Super Cub with Airglass LW2500 wheel-skis this week.  We now offer our students both ski training and tail wheel training.  We keep our cub pre-heated and available for training.

Ski flying, late freeze-up

Lake Hood froze solid during the third week of November.  We experienced a very mild fall.  Freeze up came about a month late.   Snow pack in the Anchorage area remains very light.  We are still able to operate and give off-airport training with 31" Bushwheels.  Our off-airport syllabus includes techniques to avoid the "Moose Stall".   This coarse is mandatory for all pilots that hope to venture out and find their own runways.

ACME Cub Training will install wheel skis after the Thanksgiving weekend and start the ski training season.

N8976D on wheels for Bear hunting. The floats will go back on by September 21st. We will get a couple more weeks of float training before freeze-up.

Jacob's first Bear

Jacob and I put N8976D on wheels to go Bear Hunting.  Jacob got his first Bear.  Our Cub goes back on floats Tuesday.

N8976D on Jacob's Ridge

Our Camp

The view from our tent

Electronic Advanced Passenger Information System (EAPIS)

Electronic Advanced Passenger Information System (EAPIS) https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/

Our great leaders have come up with a new way to keep America safe from unwanted intruders.  We all can sleep easier now that the EAPIS system is in place.  All pilots must log into https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/ and register about a week before crossing into or exiting from United States.  After your initial registration, the system will deliver a Sender ID and an Activation Key to your email inbox.  Activating your new account is easy if you remember to use the Sender ID that the system assigned to you and the password that you chose.   However, activating the account will be frustrating if you attempt to use the User ID that you chose during the initial login rather than using the Sender ID.

I learned how to use the system last week when I flew from Penticton, British Columbia to Anchorage, Alaska in a wheeled DHC-2.  We planned to fly up the coast with stops at Bella Bella, Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, and Yakatat. A low-pressure system on the coast dashed this plan.  The Prince Rupert terminal forecast predicted 300 sky obscured, ¼ mile visibility in fog.  The Outlook reported more of the same. The METAR and TAF for all the points along the Trench made that route look appealing. The weather from Whitehorse to Gulkana was IFR, but we did not worry about that at the moment. Whitehorse was nine flight hours away.  After a day of flying and a night in Whitehorse, we hoped the weather would change.  Soon after eating an early breakfast, we filed a VFR flight plan with FSS and departed for Prince George with 138 gallons of gas.  On this first leg we converted 242 liters (64 US gallons) of 100 LL into a lot of noise with a 145 mph ground speed.  The second leg to Watson Lake burned another 345 liters (91 US gallons).   The hot sunny day produced ample cumulus clouds, but produced no lightning.  The OAT allowed the flight in T-shirts and shorts with the windows lowered.  As the afternoon sun grew hotter, only a few of the cumulus clouds turned dark and heavy.  We encountered light rain showers, but no lightning.  As we arrived at the Watson Lake airport it appeared deserted. No chatter was on the radio.  The only noticeable life was the briefer in the FSS.  After receiving a favorable briefing, we departed for Whitehorse.  We found Whitehorse full of overfed or nearly dead travelers who had deboarded the cruise ships which were anchored at Skagway – an hour's drive away.  After three phone calls, we found a hotel with a vacancy. While eating ribs on the deck at the Klondike Rib & Salmon Barbecue, we exchanged ALCAN stories with two Honda Goldwing travelers.  We had enough fun and conversation that the waitresses took our picture.  After dinner, I logged into https://eapis.cbp.dhs.gov/ once again to enter border crossing details.  Logging in took several attempts.  I tried to use the User ID.  This did not work.  The system needed the Sender ID that was sent to my inbox and the password that I generated.  After reading the login page, I figured out the problem and successfully opened the EAPIS home page.  I followed the prompts and entered the passenger information and the border crossing information.  This entire process was completed within an hour. 

The following morning we woke up to another early wake up call.  A taxi delivered us to the FSS where we found many pilots sipping coffee.  The weather briefer in Whitehorse had lots of company.  For the past several days all VFR aircraft headed for Alaska had been stopped by the low-pressure system. We checked the weather, topped off the tanks, and led the way.   At first, I was tempted to fly direct, but the hills looked ominous.  I decided to follow the highway only to find the rain intensifying and the clouds lowering.  By the time I reached Burwash Landing, I slowed down to 90 mph and pumped down a little flap.  Squalls obscured my course several times causing me to leave the highway and circle until the squalls moved through. The comforting thing about this route is the Alaska Highway is mostly straight with little traffic and few power lines.  It is easy to land on most straight stretches of the road, and many pull-offs exist to get aircraft off the highway.  For situational awareness, I followed our ground track on the Whitehorse Sectional with my finger.  I put an X on the sectional to indicate the landable stretches of the highway and an X on all the airports as we passed them.  I knew exactly where I was at all times and knew my landing options should the weather worsen.  As I passed Beaver Creek, we cleaned up the flaps and ran the power up to 28 inches of manifold pressure.  The sun was shining again.  Clearing customs went smoothly and only took five minutes.  I must have filled out EAPIS correctly.  After customs we were informed that no fuel was available.  Our options: Tok or Gulkana.  Gulkana reported clear and ten miles visibility. I filed for Gulkana, climbed through a scattered layer, and headed direct.  After Gulkana, all points showed severe clear with a tailwind down the Matanuska River.  We arrived in Anchorage by 3:30 p.m.  

Note:

1. Remember to register with EAPIS about a week before your trip.  Keep the password you chose on your initial registration in your permanent records. 
2. EAPIS will send a Sender ID and an Activation Number.
3. Use the Sender ID and your password to log into EAPIS and activate your account.
4. Keep the Sender ID in your permanent records.

If you have any questions feel free to call me at (907) 250-6030.

Steven Williams

ACME Cub Training

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

Crosswind Landings in a Seaplane

Crosswind Landings in a Float Plane

To open this discussion, I will start with a quote by Geoff Armstrong, who was my chief pilot when I flew for Trail Ridge Air in 1989: “The reason that God made lakes round is so that seaplanes do not have to land with a crosswind.”  If we always followed Geoff’s philosophy and landed into the wind, we could forgo this discussion.  However, the problem with Geoff’s philosophy is that many locations allow no choice as to landing direction.  These locations include rivers and even the Lake Hood seaplane base. In the afternoon when the white streaks form on the Southeast waterway, they do not always align with my desired landing track.  Many seaplane pilots reading this article land with a crosswind without giving it a second thought.  Actually, landing a seaplane with a crosswind is easier than landing a wheel plane on a runway with a similar crosswind component.  The keel effect of the floats is what makes the touchdown and roll out easier.  Of course, a seaplane pilot must be prudent like a wheel plane pilot and utilize proper crosswind technique prior to touchdown. As the float plane touches down, the keel causes the floats to track straight ahead.  Any weather vane tendency is not noticeable until falling off of the step and into the displacement or slow taxi mode.

Open water changes the whole situation.  The normal visual reference the pilot relies on to determine ground track is not in his/her vision.  The pilot is tempted to look at the waves as a reference.  Although this reference will give information about alignment, the side drift information is an illusion.  The waves will be traveling downwind. If the pilot lowers the upwind wing and stops all side drift in relation to the waves, the aircraft will still be traveling sideways at the same rate as the waves.  It is in this situation that everyone should follow Geoff’s advice and land into the wind.

To better understand this phenomena you must correlate landing with a crosswind without a shoreline reference to landing on glassy water.  The visual information you get when you look at the surface of the water is deceiving.  The information you must use is the horizon.  During all glassy water landings the horizon is the only reference that can be used to maintain pitch.  During a landing in open water the horizon is the only reference that can be used to determine wind drift.

Feel free to comment or expand on this discussion on this forum.

Steven Williams

ACME Cub Training

Training with Bradley Kosek

Flight to Duck Flats

Mountain Lake for Mountain Training

This is one of the lakes that ACME Cub Training uses for mountain training.

Landing on the Duck Flats

Our new Float Dock on Lake Hood

Using a Super Cub for Downhill Skiing

Jacob and I went downhill skiing above Knik Glacier this weekend.  This is the upper LZ to drop off skiers.  Elevation 5000'.

New dock system at space 801

We are designing a new ramp at our parking spot.  We want to be able to drive our float plane out of the water after every flight.  We are doing this because the water at Lake Hood is making the paint come off of our floats.  We have needed to repaint the floats on N8976D every spring.  We think that we will extend the life or our paint jobs.  Brian Horschel from ACME Fence company is designing and installing the ramp system.

3" Extended Gear

We just removed the standard length gear from N8976D and installed 3" extended gear.  We needed this to get prop clearance when on skis.

Valdez Air Show

Jacob and I will attend the Valdez Air Show in N8976D.  ACME Cub Training will put N8976D on floats on May 10, 2010 after the air show.