Flight 2: Kalispell, Montana to Juneau, Alaska

Date: Thursday October 16th, 2008
Departure: 08:00 local time
Routing: West over Spokane, Washington, then across the middle of the state near Grand Coulee Dam, past Mount Baker and over scenic Victoria, BC. We'll then turn north, skirting Vancouver Island and up the western coast of Canada - an area that I once called, "The most scenic area in all the flightsim world."

Aircraft: Air Canada Q400
Altitude: 12,000 feet initially, dropping down to just 5,000 feet as we come over the Channel and San Juan Islands. This kind of kills the gas mileage but the views should be worth it. Then we'll have to climb again to stay clear of the mountains ahead.
Miles: 1092
Arrival Stats: 09:42 which works out to 295 mph average.
Notes: Departed with clear skies but as usual, that changed over the cascades.






Once clear of the Montana version of the rockies there isn't too much to see over Spokane but once the Cascades start it gets much more entertaining. I was shocked and surprised to see the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River off to my right as I cruised along.



In the United States, this is "the largest electric power producing facility and the largest concrete structure. It is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world!"

12,000 feet kept me clear of the "foothills".

I was thinking that this may be a fun area for a future "Flight of the Month" on http://www.toomuchfs.com/

We came across the Mount Vernon VOR north of Seattle and over Anacortes and Friday Harbor where my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon all those years ago.

As I crossed the Victoria VOR I had burned off 33% of my fuel so decided to continue on to the north. At this point I commenced a slow climb up to 15,000 and also added some throttle to bump up my speed.

In due time I was ready to drop into Juneau, the state capital. ATC was directing me to a visual approach to runway 26. There is no default GPS approach for this one - procedures are basically to cross a southern NDB and then fly visual along a left-turning canyon until the airport appears ahead. Problem one was that ATC, in their cautiousness, wanted to hold me at 6,800 feet waaaaay too long. So I cancelled IFR and Flight Following and headed into the canyon sort of mid-way through the turn. This led to problem two, decreasing visibility and then rain and then some wind gusts on finals.

But what's to worry about? The Dash-8 is built for this stuff and the landing was smooth as ice. We slowed promptly and taxied over for gas - I only had 4% fuel left!