Blue Ice Aviation

Exposing Real Alaska

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Photo of the Day — Helicoptering Home the Pieces

Look closely and you will see that there is a line connecting the Super Cub to the Helicopter. I was returning from the Portage Glacier area through the Knik drainage when I happened upon this scenario and managed to get a picture. You can imagine this is not a cheap activity for the poor owner of the airplane. This airplane does not appear to be badly damaged because the wings and tail section are still attached. But it does not take a very big mistake to send the pilot reaching very deeply into their back pocket. After yesterday’s post I thought this was an appropriate follow up. When I am tempted to do something questionable I remember images like this. The average helicopter bill for transport out of the weeds is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. I don’t know about you, but that would send me digging very deep into my back pocket. For such a humbling picture it sure has a gorgeous back-drop.

I should add that mishaps like this seldom hurt anyone. There is a lot of “bent metal” in Alaska, and especially during the summer months. Often this is caused by the pilot stepping too firmly on the brakes and nosing-over. Usually these mishaps are caused by one of three factors: Improper use of a short airstrip, misjudging the winds, and most commonly, in-proficiency. I often fly guys who own their own Super Cubs. They know they are not proficient, so they fly with Mike and I into areas they would not have been comfortable with. Sure it cost them a few bucks, but it’s a lot cheaper than hiring a helicopter to pick-up the pieces.

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Photo of the Day — Granola Bar Reaches Terminal Velocity

When the first snow-fall of the season reaches down to the 3000′ elevation, I always hope that we are done using the affected strips … but all too often we are not. I flew up this valley to the one-way airstrip where a doctor and his son were anxiously waiting to be picked up. I found their tent covered with snow and observed the two hunters gazing longingly up towards their only escape. I was unsure about landing because the snow had covered the airstrip so completely that I could no longer tell where it was. One of the most important thing about landing on a bush air strip is knowing where to set your tires on the ground. I dropped down until I was just 5 feet off the ground, and flew down the area where I knew the strip lay, but my eyes could not make it out. The airstrip is so steep it can only be drug flying down hill at an angle across the strip. I circled above thinking about the situation and my options. IF it was sunny I could have seen the definition of the ground, or IF it was a two-way strip I could have gotten a better look, or IF there was not so much snow it would not be a problem. It is an obvious, and proven fact in life, that as difficulties add-up successful outcomes are less likely to follow.

It is difficult to resort to “plan-B”, but I seldom regret it. I grabbed a small scrap of paper and scribbled a note, “mark strip. can’t see ground. kick snow off landing surface. be back later.” I taped it to a granola bar and chucked it out the window when I flew by. I really enjoy flying my Super Cub and I am highly motivated to be very cautious. There is NOTHING good about bending metal on my airplane for any reason, especially if it’s because I am in a hurry. Later that day Mike and I both returned, and I took this picture just seconds before he landed. The hunters had walked to the low end of the strip and put out two markers. They had also kicked as much snow as possible off the strip as they walked back and forth. The lighting had also improved so my eyeballs weren’t straining to see the ground. You can see Mike’s plane is even casting a shadow, that is a good thing. Without a shadow (on snow) the ground tends to sneak up on you, and I don’t like that.

This is a picture of us loading. You can see I am parked where they had their tent set up the night before. Snow is obviously very slippery and braking is utterly useless. Brakes are not needed when the airstrip is climbing and you are plowing through snow. I was down and stopped in 200 feet and I never touched the brakes.

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Photo of the Day — The Gold Miner’s Daughters

You can always tell an Alaskan Girl by the XtraTuff rubber boots and a flower dress. I was hauling groceries, gas, and propane for this gold mine in the Talkeetna Mountains. I shot this picture while waiting for something to be brought up from camp. These little gals ran all over the surrounding hills having the time of their life. This particular gold mine gets particularly bad weather and it is almost always a challenge to land here. If the wind is calm enough to land, then the fog is so thick you can’t see the end of the airstrip. Caribou wander all over these hills, and although it is not my favorite spot, it really is pretty in its own little way. If you have any interest in doing a little gold panning I may be able to talk the miners into allowing us to wet a pan for a little bit. The miners that work here are really great people, and always willing to give a tour of their operation. They are 70 trail miles from the road, so it is definitely part of the Alaskan Wilderness. The miners live out here May through September. This is a unique piece of Alaska that few get to see.

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Photo of the Day — Moose Antlers, Dog Mushers, and Ice

This is my neighbor, and good buddy Zack Steer, Iditarod musher and owner of Sheep Mt. Lodge.  We spotted these moose horns laying in a meadow 2 miles from one of our landing strips, and decided to hike over and pick them up.  If given a choice between bucking brush or walking on the glacier it’s a no-brainer for me.  People always ask me if I am afraid of “falling through”.  I can’t help but laugh because the glacier is hundreds of feet thick, and it’s solid ice (snow-covered glacier is a different story).  The glacier is often a great walking path, and much easier than the surrounding terrain.  

In this picture Zack is nervous about crossing the stream and is trying to determine the depth.  Ok, that was a joke, he’s actually just getting a drink.  If you want a nice moose antler to hang on the wall of your house you should consider taking one of these trips.  We can fly out together, and pick-up an antler out of the wild, or I have piles of them laying around back at the house.  After you have picked out your new moose antler head down to Sheep Mt. Lodge for a salmon dinner and get the full Iditarod scoop during Zack’s musher talk.

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Photo of Day — Vertical Rock and Ice

I turned directly into the glacier for my final approach to land and was surprised see how quickly the clouds were forming on the ground behind me. I continued my approach to landing and hopped out of the plane to assess the changing weather. When I looked back towards the forming clouds I was amazed to see that they were almost gone. I then realized it had not been a forming cloud bank, but the explosion of a massive avalanche that had fallen from the cliffs pictured above. The avalanche cloud I had seen was more than a mile long and several hundred feet thick. I had never seen an avalanche of that magnitude. I would like to have gotten a picture of it but I was too slow. Even without the avalanche it is an impressive picture. This photo was taken only 20 minutes from my house.

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Photo of the Day — Hauling Rocks

Nobody will say it to my face, but deep-down inside I know my family thinks I’m weird.  You see, I am in the process of building our house.  I have designed a stone fire-place that will be centrally located in the living room.  I am very picky about this fire-place, and I want the rocks to be just-so.  Sometimes while I am out flying I will see these areas with rocks that are just awesome.  Usually it is very near the toe of a glacier, the rocks look like they are brand-new.  I hauled this load of rocks out of an area with a very large fault-line.  The Earth’s crust is actually tipped on-end allowing geologists to get a cross sectional view of the entire crust.  Conditions like this make for some really unique rock formations.  (See photos from Nov. 7th, 2009)

Every Chance I get I load the airplane up with boulders, and fly them back to an area where I can load them in my truck.  Believe it or not, it’s a lot of work.  My family and friends are surprised by the number of rocks I have managed to haul with the Super Cub.  It’s probably odd to people because my house consists only of a concrete slab at this point, (but I hope to frame the walls in the next month).  I know it will take me several years to haul all the rocks I need, but my house will be under construction for at least that long.  Very rarely do I put a rock on a clients lap (only if it’s a really cool one) But, if I do, I always promise them a hot cup of coffee in-front of my fireplace in approximately 5 years when it is finished.  So if you come up here for an Alaskan excursion maybe we can go pick-up some rocks for my fire-place ….  NO I won’t make you do that … unless you want to  :o)

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Photo of the Day — Looking For a Spot to Land

Mike Meekin and I moved 9 people onto the glacier by 11 a.m. one Sunday morning. Considering we can only take one person at a time, that is not too bad. There was an ominous dark cloud hanging over Mt. Valhalla (pictured above) on my first of five trips. By the fifth and last trip the wind was blowing more than 30 mph. I took-off up-glacier and into the wind and when my skis broke free of the snow my ground speed was only 19 mph. (Super Cubs don’t fly at 19 mph, uphill, unless the wind is really blowing really hard). A 30 mph wind is a very stiff breeze when operating in the mountains and it was time to be doing something other than flying. So I tucked tail and ran for the hangar.

I returned 5 days later when the storm had subsided. The mountaineering team had been forced to stay within the perimeter of their camp, the same place I had dropped them 5 days earlier. When 5 feet of snow falls while the wind blows nearly 80 mph for 5 days straight it is not surprising that the glaciers landscape had changed drastically. The photo above was taken while I circled the area looking for a smooth stretch of snow to set down on. It took me approximately 20 minutes of searching before I was able to line-up on something that would leave my landing-gear intact. This was such a nice afternoon that it’s hard to believe the frightening weather that existed here just hours before this was taken. The 5 foot snow drifts told the story plainly. The team was happy to have their fresh groceries.

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Photos of the Day — Slush, Powder, Mt. Drum, and Fun

Anybody who was in the Anchorage area during the week of December 1, 2009 woke up Monday morning to the sound of falling rain on snow.  The Anchorage area  (Including Palmer/Wasilla) has a nasty habit of destroying a perfectly good winter season with hints of summer.  It rained fairly heavily for most of Monday and then continued with 6″ of beautiful snow in the days that followed.  One can only imagine what this does to the avalanche danger in the mountains, ski conditions, road conditions, and in my case, runway conditions.  

I had a flight first-thing Wednesday morning.  I pushed out of the hangar and fueled up.  I am equipped with hydraulic wheel skis and because of the prevailing conditions, and lack of snow (and a list of other factors that I won’t go into) I opted to fly off our home-strip with my wheels down and skis up.  I finished fueling, jumped in the plane, lit the fire, and did the proper run-up and engine checks.  Everything looked good so I applied full power and accelerated down the snowy runway unconcerned.  I was well on my way when the ground erupted with slush and my windshield was covered with a sloppy mess.  I could still see well enough to safely continue my take-off, so I decided to maintain take-off power rather than to risk decelerating and getting stuck.  I accelerated out of the first pit just to be slowed by the second slushy hole.  By now half my runway was behind me and I still had not developed enough airspeed to lift-off.  I maintained full power but continued to fight gravity.  I was just beginning to break ground when I decided that I was no longer 100% certain of success, so I chopped the throttle and began decelerating very carefully.  Decelerating is risky in these conditions because if it happens too fast the Super Cub will nose-over.  The slushy mess was thickest at this end of the runway so I was needing to maintain about 50% power as the airplane slowed down so that I would not flip. 
I was disappointed to be delayed, but I shut the engine down and walked around the plane.  I was totally amazed.  The slush that had been revealed as I was running down the runway had completely covered my Super Cub and was now in the process of freezing to the wings, fuselage, skis, and tail section.  Without the insulating factor from the snow, the watery snow was adhering like concrete to the entire surface of the airplane with every passing second.  I tried to rub it off but there was no-way, I was fighting a loosing battle.  If I did not get it into the heated-hanger immediately, my flight controls and skis were going to freeze in-place.  After a bit of a struggle, I fought it back into the hangar and started the torpedo heater to speed-up the thawing process.  It was not long before the plane was dripping.  I had managed to pick-up about 120 pounds of snow and water during my 500′ December slip-and-slide.  I had to wipe the whole aircraft down, and dig all of the slush out of the ski apparatus before I was comfortable pushing it back outside to try again. 
I picked my passenger up at the Palmer airport and headed out through the Chugach towards Sheep Mt.  After working for a bit we decided to stop for a quick break at our house and hangar near Sheep Mt.  It was apparent that Palmer’s rain storm the previous day had loaded Sheep Mt. (2900′ elevation and 60 miles North) with snow.  I took one good look at the strip from the air, and then came in for a landing.  It felt really good until I started to decelerate.  The snow was deep and dense, Sheep Mt. had received nearly 2 feet.  I had to use full throttle just to taxi on flat ground.  Eventually the 160 HP Lycoming could no longer pull us along, and we came to a stop still at 100% power.  I slowly eased the throttle back, shut the engine down, crawled out,  and put on the snow shoes.

I was concerned that I might have had ice chucks still stuck to the bottoms of my skis from the morning’s slushy frolic, so I jacked the wing up to have a look … they were as smooth as glass.  A combination of the depth, density, and temperature were such that the skis just did not want to slide very well.  I have had this happen before on the glaciers in the summer.  With the nose of the airplane pointed down hill, on packed snow, and under 100% power the airplane will sit dead-still.  Snow can be very temperamental.  After about 30 minutes of packing the snow down with the snow shoes we were ready to give it another try.  I took-off by myself first, and then did two more landings.  This way the runway would be more packed down before doing it with a passenger.
We finally got airborne and headed back out over the Chugach mountains.  This photo shows the sun setting on Mt. Drum in the Wrangell St. Elias mountain range near Glenallen.  The view made all the work well-worth it.  Days like this are common during winter operations in Alaska. Especially when operating off unimproved air-strips.  Ski flying is a blast, but as the pilot or passenger you better bring a good set of snow shoes and be ready to work your buns off, because eventually you are going to get stuck… sometimes more than once in a day.  

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Photo of the Day — Somewhere in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska

A friend of mine from Chile took this picture of me while I was landing with food and supplies. It was several years ago and the funny thing is… I have no idea where it was taken. I do not recognize the mountain, but I know it is in the Chugach somewhere near Marcus Baker. It is a great image that really gives a feel for the ruggedness of the landscape. When I take tourists on flight seeing trips over this terrain it really blows their minds because it is so otherworldly. It is like nothing you can describe, you just have to see it.

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Photo of the Day — Snaggle-Tooth Protection

During the summer months (May-Sept) I will spend many hours in the wilderness by myself.  These solo opportunities arise for a number of reasons.  Nearly 50% of my flight time is spent alone because of the nature of our business.  I fly one-way loaded, and then return home with an empty Super Cub or vise versa.  I like flying alone because when I am empty I can land and pick up moose antlers that have been naturally shed the previous winter.  Or I will land to explore an old gold miners cabin that has long been abandoned.  I have hauled the backpacks of our elderly clients to locations more suitable for a tent than the glacier I landed them on.  This last summer we put forth a major effort to clean up a pristine valley that had been littered by gold miners 6 years earlier ( I will tell that story later this winter).  Much time is spent each year brushing-out and working on existing air-strips and building new ones.  Or, as I explained in the Nov. 28th post, sometimes our clients will have situations that require our involvement beyond just flight support.

Alaska gets a lot of attention because of our furry, four-legged, snaggle toothed friends.   I was born and raised in Alaska and even with all my time outside in the wilderness alone I have NEVER had a problem with bears.  When I say “a problem” I am talking about being charged or “woofed” at.  This tells you something about the area that I fly in.  We definitely have bears, but I do not see them everyday like I do the moose and the sheep.  I see them probably a couple times a week.  Regardless I have always said that I would rather have 1000 lbs of teeth and claws coming at me in the mountains than unknowingly being bitten by a camouflaged nasty little snake or spider… but that is just me.  Anyways, all that to say, that is why I have shot-gun tied to my wing. I honestly can’t remember what I was doing this day that I was packin’ heat, but for some reason I wanted the added security.  Lots of people carry only bear spray.  I will rely on bear spray only if there is a number of us hiking together.  If I am a group of one or two I like my shotgun.  I used to carry a .44 mag but deep-down inside I knew I was not that good of a shot :o)

A couple of quick things about my airplane as long as we have this view.  My Super Cub weighs about 1200 lbs empty,  I can legally carry 800 lbs, It has a 160 horsepower Lycoming (Don’t Ask $$$$). Those are 35″ Alaskan Bush Wheels ($5500).  The shocks are a titanium Alpha Omega Hydrasorb suspension system ($3500).  I love my headset, it’s a Lightspeed Zulu ($850).   A Garmin 296 GPS sits on the dash ($1500). 

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Photo of the Day — Winter in July

Nothing beats high glacier country in the middle of summer.  Isn’t that an amazing view !  I see this view often, and the picture still gets me excited.  Just over those mountains (un-named Chugach peaks) and down the other side is Prince William Sound, the hub for marine glacial tours.  Sheep Mt. (where I am based) is a mere 30 minute flight to salt water.  

Just 100 yards to the north of us is a 4000′ vertical drop that will… literally take you breath away.  I have heard grown men scream as the plane goes from an altitude of a couple feet to 4000 feet in the blink of an eye.  One of the fantastic aspects of a Super Cub is that the passenger can see so well out both sides of the plane.  If the passenger is really serious about photography it is not uncommon to open a window or door so that pictures can be taken without the interference of the plexi-glass.  I only open the door if the passenger requests it :o)  

This is a close friend of ours that came up for my cousins wedding.  We spent 15 minutes walking around and taking pictures, it was a great day for it.  Even at 9500′ its totally comfortable in a t-shirt as long as that sun is out.  I have actually played a round of golf from this position, but that is another story for another day.

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Photos and Video of the Day — Blue Ice Hikes

This was a perfect day (except for the smoke) to hang out on the glacier and take pictures. I have hundreds from this day alone. We spent the entire day flying over the Chugach and Talkeetna mts. We landed occasionally to take pictures and go on short hikes. Great memories. These were two clients from Ohio.

This is looking down the throat of a medium sized Moulin. It was probably only 150′ deep.

These glacial streams run all over the surface of the glacier and contain some of the finest drinking water I have ever tasted. Look out for brain freezes. You can see in the video below that I actually land right in the middle one of these small streams. It is always a chore to find a spot that is smooth enough for landing and long enough for takeoff. The water will sometimes help smooth things out, but I have hit puddles a little deeper than I expected and it is a surprise.

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Photo of the Day — Swimming in a Glacial River

While hiking in the Talkeetna mts a backpacker fell down while crossing a large stream. It was a very scary place to take a tumble because the boulders in this particular river were massive and the water was raging because of the glacial melt-off from the warm weather. The backpacker managed to dump the backpack while being swept down stream and was actually rescued by a hiking partner. The backpack got stuck on a boulder a couple of hundred feet downstream and it was not retrievable in the high water. Fortunately no-one was hurt in the incident, but unfortunately his satellite phone, sleeping bag, jacket, rain gear, food and everything he carried was now stuck in a raging river. With no possible way to retrieve the bag, and food running thin, they decided to press on for the resupply point. After crossing one mountain they decided it was the better part of wisdom to wait for help.

Mean while back at the ranch, I was expecting the typical early morning sat-phone call to report weather at the pre-determined re-supply point, but no such call came in. The weather was not particularly favorable so I was reluctant to launch with-out a good visibility and cloud cover report. My impatience ran thin so I loaded the cub and headed for the re-supply point. I arrived over the strip 40 minutes later, but no-one was camped out waiting for us. I started to work my way back through the mountains checking out every valley and drainage along my route. I eventually stumbled across the backpackers nearly 15 miles from the re-supply point. They had been waiting for three days. Fortunately I was able to land near where they camped. They were awfully happy to have fresh food and my nice warm jacket, along with my emergency sleeping bag. It was a good story with a happy ending. But the backpack was still stuck.

I tried on several occasions to land near the stranded backpack and retrieve it. During the next several weeks every time I flew within 10 miles of the stranded backpack I would detour to the spot and try to land somewhere nearby. The only spot around was sketchy at best. It was virtually a “no-margins” landing. I had to get it right the first time or pay the price. I am really good at knowing my limits, so I turned around and flew home for a cup of coffee and some nachos. It is amazing how hard it is to discipline yourself to not take unnecessary risks. It was just a stupid backpack and it’s not worth bending metal. The cost is too great.

After the backpack had sat in the creek for nearly 6 weeks I finally found this spot on the glacier (almost 4 miles away) to land and retrieve the bag. When a bag has been sitting in a glacial creek for that length of time it is incredibly heavy. The bag that once weighed 65 pounds now weighed a solid 230 lbs because of the glacial silt imbedded in every fiber. Needles to say I was not strong enough to pack 230 lbs the 4 miles back up to the glacier where my plane was parked. So I took what was valuable and personal so that I could return it to the owner. The rest of the contents of the bag sit under a blanket of snow awaiting my return next summer. We will go back in and take out every last piece so no-one will stumble upon our garbage in the years to come.

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Photo of the Day — Hauling Groceries for NOLS

For most pilots under normal flying conditions, locating the runway is as obvious as staying on a paved road while driving. This is not the case when flying in the bush. It is not uncommon for me to make several passes at VERY low altitude in order to pin-point where exactly the runway is. The first thing I look for is where I am going to touchdown and the second is to locate the actual run-out area. There are several strips I have used hundreds of times but are virtually invisible until I am within a couple of feet. It is very important to have a mental landmark and a concrete plan in these situations because at 40 mph headed up the side of a mountain it is important to get it right the first time.

Apparently, some other pilot scared the beans out of himself on this strip because they spent the time to mark it very well. We have a general rule to not mark strips in this manner simply because it looks so unnatural. This is in the Talkeetna Mountains and is an excellent spot to spend time hiking around gazing at the scenic landscape, wildlife, and flowers.

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Photo and Video of the Day — Coffee and Cookies at 10,000′

Heavily loaded with 400 lbs of groceries the Super Cub tends to get a little grouchy when its milked all the way up to 10,000′ for a glacier landing.  This is a fairly common trip during the summer months, but seldom is it this clear and calm.  The mountaineering team I was re-supplying tried to entice me with powdered potatoes and trail mix but, I turned them down because I was late for dinner back at the ranch.  I reluctantly took-off wishing I could have spent some more time getting sun-burnt in the intensely reflected light in a thin atmosphere.  Over dinner my wife and I decided it would be fun to bring them fresh cookies and coffee.  So, when we were done eating we made two pots of coffee, and bought a dozen LARGE cookies from our neighbors at Sheep Mt. Lodge.  Samantha and I flew back up to 10,000′ and had dessert with a very excited group of climbers.  Good memories.

Most people do not realize how attainable an experience like this is.  15 minutes from the time I leave my house I can be standing right here.  We are only a two hour drive out of Anchorage on a nationally acclaimed scenic byway.  Alaska really is an amazing place !

If you would like to see a video of the flight from my house up to 10,000′ check out the video below.

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Photo of the Day — Granite Clouds

My Super Cub has no instrumentation to fly inside of a cloud. In other words, if my eyeballs can’t lay hold of some portion of solid earth at all times, I am not only breaking the regulations, but I am also gonna’ get hurt. The average life expectancy of a pilot inside a cloud without an artificial horizon is less than 3 minutes. Some pilots have told me it is “unsafe” to fly without an artificial horizon. I argue just the opposite because when the weather is bad I don’t fly. People will drive too fast on icy roads because they have studded snow tires, similarly someone with an artificial horizon will push the bad weather. I would not argue this for larger faster aircraft simply because larger aircraft do not have the countless landing opportunities that I do in my Cub.

I always carry a satellite phone with me under my seat. On several occasions I have simply landed and called back to the office to tell them I was on the ground safe-and-sound, waiting on weather, and I was going to be home late. A wise old Bush Pilot told me one time, “Remember, the helicopter always hauls out the wreckage when the weather gets nicer.” This is a great reminder that the weather will improve eventually.

I took this photo flying over the Chugach Mountains on the way towards Tazlina lake. There is a lot of granite floating around in those clouds, and they deserve much respect. I think most pilots prove to themselves at some point in their career that, “yes, clouds can be VERY scary.”

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Photo and Video of the Day — Spring Skiing, My Math Teacher and Me

Mr. D was my Algebra teacher in 9th grade. We had not been skiing together since 1996 when we climbed up Gunsight Mountain near Eureka. Mr. D is always up for an adventure so it was fun to call him late one night last spring (9:15 PM) and wake him up to see if he wanted to play the next day. This picture was taken last April, and we are already gearing up for a much bigger ski season with the Super Cub for the Spring of 2010. This is a killer spot with over 5000′ vertical from the drop-off point. I landed just above the 5000′ mark on a glacier in order to access this run. I will have more info on Blue Ice Aviation’s ski camp as the winter progresses. Below is a video that we made during this afternoon of skiing, it was an awesome day.

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Photo of the Day — Forget-Me-Not

I really like Forget-Me-Nots. I was hiking in the Talkeetna Mts. when I took this picture. The mountains only come alive for a few short months, but they never disappoint in their beauty.

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Video of the Day — Steep Ice

This is an Ice Field in the Chugach Mts. It is a one way strip because of the steepness of the ice. When my tires hit the ice I am under full power.  “Going Around” (pilot-talk for canceling a landing and circling back for another try) is laughable on a spot like this.  Notice that while the client climbs into the back seat, the airplane slides sideways down-hill.  I know it does not look like much, but when you are standing / parked on a sheet of slanted ice … it gets your attention.  If the plane ever started sliding, and gained any momentum, it would only accelerate as the glacier gets steeper just downhill.  The de-celeration would come quickly about 4000′ down glacier… in a boulder patch.

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