Flew from Trading Bay to Iliamna this morning, going through the mountains. I was concerned about the overcast and whether it would be high enough to make the flight, but I planned another route along the coast as a contingency. As entered the first of the canyons here at 1500 feet, I was worried we might end up in that dark stuff off our left wing.
Caution by
Kurt Kalbfleisch, on Flickr
Now at 2,500 feet, you can see the sun trying to burn through over our left shoulder, but it never got any better than this. The winds weren't bad, either, going more or less straight down the canyon and giving us a nice little tailwind. I have her trimmed for 117 KIAS here, and we were making 121 knots groundspeed. It was at this point that I realized it had gotten dark enough to need the panel lights, and I turned on the nav lights, too, just to be on the safe side.
Bright Sun by
Kurt Kalbfleisch, on Flickr
Somewhere above us in all that dark stuff is a stream of tubeliners headed in to Anchorage. I'd rather be down here where I can see the mountains. After this, it got a little bit bumpy as the canyon narrowed and we had to fly closer to the terrain on the right. No real turbulence on this trip, but plenty of updrafts and downdrafts as we crossed the minor ridges inside the canyon.
White and Yellow by
Kurt Kalbfleisch, on Flickr
Over Lake Clark, things smoothed out again and we could relax and enjoy the view. The XCub is really pretty in yellow, and I think I'm gonna name her, "Banana Daydreamin'."
Over Lake Clark by
Kurt Kalbfleisch, on Flickr
On the northern shore of Lake Clark, halfway between Nondalton and the twin airports of Port Alsworth and Wilder Runway, there's this interesting little airstrip. I plan to come back here and drop in on them. I also want to visit Wilder Runway and see if I can get someone to tell me the story of how two airports came to be so close together. (Sorry to say, I didn't take any pictures as we flew over them, but it's weird and I'll get some on the next trip.)
Airstrip by
Kurt Kalbfleisch, on Flickr
At the southern tip of this little peninsula, we turned left and crossed over a ridge to make our way around the Class G airspace around Nondalton, then past the north side of Roadhouse Mountain and into the pattern at Iliamna.
Winds were 35-40 degrees to the right of runway centerline, but only about 5-10 knots, so it was an easy crosswind landing. We touched down after 1.2 hours of flight, 4 minutes earlier than planned.
(I used Live Weather for this flight. The XCub is from Carbonprop/Bush League Legends and the livery is [90%] my own work. The registration number is from the C152 I soloed in 35 years ago.)
