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Post by raphael on Sept 16, 2017 23:33:21 GMT
Hello everybody, so the Rally started... Here is flight 1 from Pitt Meadows to Port Hardy, in the great Turbo Mallard by Milton Shupe & team. Beautiful West Coast Air livery and fast aircraft to save time in this busy life, as usual. Taxiing to Rwy 26L Lined up Rally started ! Vancouver Approaching Nanaimo Campbell River airport Descending as we're approaching Port Hardy Turning base for Rwy 11 at Port Hardy In final Short final over the fence Taxiing to the parking Hope you enjoyed the flight, See you in Bella Coola.
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Post by hugastump5 on Sept 17, 2017 2:51:39 GMT
Great looking aircraft , and scenery. I will enjoy
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Sept 17, 2017 3:44:46 GMT
Just completed Leg 2 in the C-47. Here we are, out of Port Hardy:
Figured it was better to fly up the natural route rather than through the granite clouds...
We made it. Hope they have a decent tavern in this town.
Seeya ATB
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Post by raphael on Sept 17, 2017 11:51:39 GMT
Thank you David. I hope other pilots will upload their screenshots too.
Don't know why, but I can't see paughco's images in previous post...
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Sept 18, 2017 20:27:56 GMT
Here we are flying over Bella Coola. We had to fly up the canyon, then make a tight 180 to head back the way we needed to go. Had to keep flying up the canyon until we got enough altitude to turn east toward Houston VOR.
Finally got out of the canyon and over the mountains. Now we had to decide whether to stay at high altitude to miss the clouds, or to descend below them. We went below, but then had to fly off course a bit to avoid high terrain:
Here we are on base for landing at Smithers (CYYD):
Miller time! No, make that Molson time!!
Guess I'd better make sure we've got full fuel tanks for the next couple flights. No 100LL available at the next couple stops!
Seeya ATB
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Post by hugastump5 on Sept 19, 2017 14:40:43 GMT
Leg#4 CYYD-CBW3 Tied down at Mackenzie CYZY Climbing Circle of CYZY to gain enough to find a pass.
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Sept 20, 2017 15:42:11 GMT
Leg 4 was, well, pretty intense. We had rain and clouds most of the way.
Sure wouldn't want to have to land down there:
We made it into Mackenzie! Thankfully, the weather got a bit better around the field, allowing a somewhat normal landing. Here we are with the engines shut down, per requirements of the mission profile. The parking area is kinda tight for our C-47. We had to move her to the off-pavement parking to make room on the taxiway for a King Air that landed after us, then we went into the FBO to check out the conditions up at Fort Grahame. Here's what we found out: Fort Grahame was a trading post established in 1867 by the Hudson Bay Corporation on the east side of the Finlay River north of its confluence with the Peace River. The post, named after the senior HBC official James A. Grahame, served the local Sekani people until its closure in 1948. In the 1960s flooding behind the Bennette Dam created Williston Reservoir and drowned the site. Today, there is a small settlement up near the north end of the strip. Or not. We bought a case of Famous Grouse scotch, topped up our supply of Molson's, and enough Moose steaks for everybody. Also a couple bags of charcoals for the Weber barbecue.
Mackenzie and our ultimate destination for today, Fort Grahame, are both located on Williston Reservoir which is very long and skinny, running between high terrain on either side. The best course from Mackenzie to Fort Grahame ran pretty much up the lake, so we flew up the lake, staying low enough to see the water, and using the GPS to stay pretty much in between the terrain (note: we had to get down to 500 feet above the water as visibility gradually deteriorated as we approached Fort Grahame):
Awright! Here we are at beautiful Fort Grahame! Not a thing in sight anywhere! Nobody. Nothing. Glad we got some grub in Mackenzie! The rain is actually a good thing, due to less mosquitoes and maybe reduced smell of our barbecue which, now that you think about it, might attract bears:
We're going barbecue those moose steaks, break out the Molson's and the Famous Grouse and sleep in the airplane. We saw some big bear tracks, so I'm glad I brought the TAC-14, just in case:
Seeya ATB
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Post by hugastump5 on Sept 20, 2017 17:40:05 GMT
Good point , up here you are a food source...
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Post by Rob F on Sept 20, 2017 22:44:34 GMT
Glad that you enjoyed leg 4, I had a lot of fun compiling the leg.
Nice info on Ft G, always interesting and appreciate .
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Sept 23, 2017 17:01:34 GMT
We woke up to a pretty clear day for Leg 5. Fortunately, the bears left us alone, and didn't mess with the airplane. Here is a shot of the airplane at the Fort Grahame strip, just before I sent Ernie out to pull the chocks:
We noticed during the pre-flight that the GPS was not working. We tried everything, but, as Lt. Zogg told Major Kong during that famous bomb run, "negative function." Oh man... no Garmina telling us where to go with her magenta line! We had to fly by looking out the window and matching up terrain features with paper maps! How primitive! Ernie and I planned our route, which went something like this (route shown in red, with waypoints shown as little blue flags):
We took off from RWY 31, and climbed at 700 fpm for a few miles up the reservoir, then turned west up a small canyon, continuing to climb at 700 fpm. Hey, we made it! Once clear of the last ridgeline, we eased off to 500 fpm and continued up to about 10,500 feet, so we could look around.
The flight went very well. I used my trusty AN53835-1 Computer, Dead Reckoning, which is a WWII USN version of today's E6B, to figure true airspeed, then guesstimate drift angle and ground speed. NOTE: No GPS in the upper left corner of the cockpit! The waypoints were found and noted, as we flew the route. Here we are flying past Bear Lake (2nd waypoint on map), pretty much on course:
We started our descent over Meziadin Lake, and followed the Glacier-Stewart Highway, 37A, through the beautiful Bear River Valley to Stewart. This may of added a few minutes to our flight, but it was beautiful, and allowed a more gradual descent than if we had held our course over the mountains.
We flew over Stewart Airport, then did a tight 180 and set up our approach to RWY 36:
Back on the ground again!
We fixed the glitch with our GPS, then got a ride into town for a beer and a hotel with hot showers and real sheets.
Seeya ATB
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Post by hugastump5 on Sept 23, 2017 20:56:52 GMT
Leg#5 ValleyFollowRiver-roads-railroads looks like the only valley I can get to Steward bellow 10,000Ft. End of Valley an hard left Steward dead ahead.A chance to look over the Sea Plane for the next leg.
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Post by raphael on Sept 26, 2017 20:41:50 GMT
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Paughco
Junior Member
Nice day for somethin'.
Posts: 98
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Post by Paughco on Sept 27, 2017 2:17:17 GMT
OK - Leg 6. There was plenty of runway; we did a downwind takeoff so we had more room to maneuver and climb. We climbed to 10,500 feet (thank you Pratt & Whitney!) and got on the magenta line.
You may have noticed that my airplane doesn't have floats or any other water landing gear. Fortunately Hake has a runway. We landed on it. Here was are on final:
Here we are at PAFE, Kake, Alaska:
Kake is a pretty cool place. Kake is a traditional Tlingit town, and is home to one of the world's largest authentic totem poles (132 feet tall). It's more of a beachfront village than an actual town. We are staying at the Keex' Kwaan Lodge. We still have plenty of moose steaks and Famous Grouse scotch for any of you guys that might come by.
Seeya ATB
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Post by hugastump5 on Sept 27, 2017 15:34:53 GMT
Leg #6 4Z7- KAE Departure , like the horsepower and variable pitch prop! Able to get up an over with the Fairchild. Parked on the gravel bar at KAE , making room for the rest following.
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Post by raphael on Sept 28, 2017 21:20:01 GMT
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