Alaska bound!

Guest Discussion
#1

First, I have to say the Cirrus SR20 is a great aircraft!

My father and I have had the Cirrus for just over a year now. It was worth the wait. Between the two of us, we have now flown over 250 hrs to date in the Cirrus and have enjoyed every moment. We have certainly grown to become fans of the Cirrus!

We are now planning on flying our SR20, N229CD, to Alaska via the West Coast & Alaskan Highway. The plan is to leave in just a few weeks. The basic trip itinerary is:

Scottsdale AZ -> Monterey CA
Monterey -> Seattle area
Seattle area -> Calgary
Calgary -> Edmonton
Edmonton -> Alaskan Highway
Glacier Bay National Park ->Anchorage & surrounding areaÂ…

After this we will return back to the lower 48, via the Alaskan Highway and will eventually wrap-up our adventure in Michigan.

My questions are for you:

Has anyone on this forum made the Alaska trip before?

Has anyone made the Alaska trip in a Cirrus?

Any especially great places to land/fuel, eat, sleep or explore?

Thanks,

Reg Cooper

#2

Reg,

Sounds like a wonderful trip! An excellent place to visit is http://www.alaskan.com/talkeetnadenali/Talkeetna (PATK), the nearest airport to Denali National Park. The park is amazing! I also highly recommend the tour of the river. In the summer PATK is a busy little hub with plenty of flights up to Denali, including the outfits that land ski-equipped aircraft on the glacier. There’s also http://www.cafemichele.com/a first-rate gourmet restaurant literally across the street from the airport! Drop me a line and I’ll put you in contact with a pilot buddy who lives in Talkeetna and who flies for http://www.flyk2.com/K2 Aviation, one of the air tour outfits there. (He’s also an old Alaska hand and can provide you with lots of tips.)

Cheers,
Roger

#3

I flew my SR22 to Fairbanks AK, from Palo Alto CA, last July with my father-in-law. It was fun and interesting. I had flown IFR out of radar contact before (not an odd thing at all), but never out of radio contact (this happened in northern Canada).

We went through Portland OR, Victoria BC, Prince George (got my nosewheel fixed there), Watson Lake, Northway.

On the way back, we went through Whitehorse.

We took the required survival gear, plus water (if you go down, it could be quite a hike before you find water). Except I didn’t take the snare wire.

Good luck, and load up on all the possible instrument charts you might need before setting out. I think Sporty’s sells them.

Canada has some different regulations – makes us USA’ers look better if our pilots know them. Like transponder must be on at all times, and flying above a cloud deck requires IFR rating and equipment and a clearance (I think this is right).

Good luck.

#4

Larry Bartlett has a great video on the subject. Think Sporty’s has it.

Opportunity for a future encore to the Bahamas?

Andy

#5

We made the trip from Seattle to Anchorage and Homer and back in late April and early May this year. Had a great time. See our story in the Cirrus stories section of this website. Have a great time.