Alaska Water Flying

Alaska Water Flying

Alaska Water Flying-Out Foxed: It was August, 1990. My now wife Peggy and I had we had just arrived in Seward by ferry. We planned to steam through the gauntlet of the Gulf of Alaska in a fishing boat to our reserved Forest Service wilderness cabin, but the weather forecast winds and heavy seas and a boat captain and nearby Fox Island lodge owner convinced us not to go.

We might have a one day window to get there, but we couldn’t get out. No seaplanes or boats would risk forecast ten-foot seas in icy Alaskan waters. We accepted his invitation and rented one of his cozy cabins. A dream week exploring the wildest part of Kenia Fiords (KF) National Park (NP) would just have to wait.

A Dream That Just Wouldn’t Die: Twenty-five years later, I returned to our former launch base for KFNP. Seward now looked discovered; a Provincetown of the North. Restaurants, specialty shops, T-shirts and every type of touring company imaginable lined its streets and docks. It all started in JBER, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. \

With records and plans in hand, this member-pilot met Alan Wilson, CFII and we put a training flight together that left me in Seward and he with an hour flight back to Anchorage and nearby JBER.
Donning Wings: Taxiing the Cessna 182 past F-22 Raptors, we completed the run up checklist and with our class Charlie departure clearance, we were soon climbing over the mud flat quicksand of the Turn-again Arm, named after explorer Capt. Cook’s commands in his vain search for an inside passage. At just 3500’, I could easily see a dozen peaks standing to the Southwest. Between them, I winged over serial glacial moraine emerald lakes shimmering like lines of dropped diamonds at the feet of snow-crowned monarchs.

Into The Wild:

Seward airport is at the north end of Resurrection Bay. Ringed by mountains on other sides, it is remarkable for its ship dotted harbor immediately south. Bags dropped, I learned my cellular service was DOA. This is my definition of wilderness. Alan called for a taxi, restarted and taxied the Cessna 182R, rapidly climbed away from runway 16 and disappeared over the mountains standing like Seward’s sentinels. My only companions now were a Super Cub and a Cessna 172 brightly reflecting yellow and white under a clear blue, blue sky.

Wings and wanderlust:

First up – literally – was a backseat ride in an airplane model I had float-trained in just up the road in Moose Pass in 2006, a Piper Super Cub with AA Seward Air Tours, www.sewardair.com Owner pilot Jim Craig asked “would you like to fly the Super cub? Today I just want to do photography. The flying is all yours,” I replied. Jim helped me mount my Go Pro Hero 2 on the right wing strut and soon enough we were off following the West shore of Resurrection Bay toward the remote and dangerous Gulf of Alaska. This flight was more fun and exciting than flying an Army Beaver  under the Bridge of Americas 50 feet above the Panama Canal back in 68. Following fiords inland, glacier after glacier showed their receding faces. Orcas plier the icy waters hoping to get lucky on a seal’s very bad day.

Humpback whales fed in a heavenly garden of plankton-rich waters amassing six months of fat stores that would carry them back to their Hawaiian calving grounds when Alaskan winter closed in. Waterfalls tumbled hundreds of feet into iceburg filled blue-green waters. See photos and video at Pinterest.
Immersion: Next, Kenai Fjords Tours, a day-long sail into the Northwestern Fiord. Here I got closer up to wildlife like breaching humpback whales and dolphins playing tag with the boat. Sea otters rested from a long day of gorging themselves on shellfish. With a diet like that no wonder why they never go bald. Topping otters when it comes to looking lazy are Stellar Sea Lions. They seem to think that the Earth is a couch in the form of countless flat rocks to sleep on. Hey, with all these fish, why work hard anyway?

Paddling: Kayaking is almost a must do item in these waters. Guided tours are the perfect way to get up close to wildlife and glaciers without getting eaten by either. These range from day trips to week-long excursions deep into fiords where you’ll spend nights in tent camps or if you’re lucky and a small group, a forest service cabin as my wife Peggy and I had planned 25 years ago. The majesty and geology, glaciology and biology of these shores along with the people you’ll meet is a life changing experience.
Alaska’s People: People make Alaska, Alaska. They are largely free-spirited, kind, generous and above all, adventurous. Arriving back in Anchorage on a bus ride I’d rather forget, fellow Seawind owner-pilots Dean and Margaret, people I had only talked to by  phone, handed me the keys to their Caravan. Further, they entertained me with stories, friends and food. Alaskans are not typical Americans.

There are more pilots here per capita than any other place on the planet for instance. An astounding number of that group own planes on floats. Others land in water accidentally. The way around Alaska is not runway to runway, but often water to water. So I got in the groove.
Flying USAF Float Planes: I met Mike Lucas, CFI, at the JBER Aero club. He reviewed my membership records and before I knew it, I was water taxiing a Cessna 172 on JBER’s Six Mile Lake. Unlike my Seawind, the 172 on take-off seemed to have its floats glued to the water. Mike coached me to lift one float with aileron action allowing us to break into ever bluer Alaskan skies.

Over the next few days after reaching scenic spots like Elkhorn Lake some 50 miles west we drilled the syllabus:

Normal landings, rough water, glassy water, sailing, beaching and docking. Having not flown floats since 2007, I was truly glad I took this proficiency training opportunity. My skills improved significantly. Reflecting the quality of the JBER USAF Aero Club, Mike is a wonderful instructor who explained things well and always kept his cool. Flying Alaska skies on wheels and floats is a story I’ll love to tell my grandchildren – again and again. Sorry kids! And Mike, I’ll be back.

ALSO READ North to Alaska