An afternoon at Lake Hood

ASpilot2be

Qbicle seat warmer
I went down to Lake Hood to kill some time today, here are some pictures.

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I just looked at the google map satellite picture of lake hood and the surrounding area of the airport. Holy crap that is alot of airplanes. I don't think I have seen that many airplanes on one airport where there is no airshow.

Cool Pics though!!
 
It was a beautiful day in SC wasn't it? I made the drive in from vdz and was wishing I had flown instead, but looking at the 24 hr prog convinced me that would have been stoopid.

Z41 is a fun strip, I get my maintenance done there and love the vfr approaches that give you the feeling you are going into PANC but then dump you onto the gravel.

Everytime I come here I return home with photos of a plane I just have to buy, then I show my wife and I end up climbing back into my 150.

Today it was the old artic circle air king air that has been sitting there for two years. Maybe we ak jcers can pool together and start a 135 op with it.
 
It was a beautiful day in SC wasn't it? I made the drive in from vdz and was wishing I had flown instead, but looking at the 24 hr prog convinced me that would have been stoopid.

Z41 is a fun strip, I get my maintenance done there and love the vfr approaches that give you the feeling you are going into PANC but then dump you onto the gravel.

Everytime I come here I return home with photos of a plane I just have to buy, then I show my wife and I end up climbing back into my 150.

Today it was the old artic circle air king air that has been sitting there for two years. Maybe we ak jcers can pool together and start a 135 op with it.
Yeah, it started out as a beautiful day. Although the planes were frosted, and had 1/4" of ice in sections. I got three free touch n goes. :)

It is supposed to get ugly starting tonight though.

I saw that King Air, its a nice looking plane.:)

You in town?
 
I saw that King Air, its a nice looking plane.:)

You in town?

I was, in town that is. Real quick under 24 hour visit for a short interview for a co pilot spot. No call back yet though, I'm still holding out hope though.

Potential hijack...so what kind of plane do you think would best suit a guy for a tiny 135 op in SC?
 
I was, in town that is. Real quick under 24 hour visit for a short interview for a co pilot spot. No call back yet though, I'm still holding out hope though.

Potential hijack...so what kind of plane do you think would best suit a guy for a tiny 135 op in SC?

South Central AK?

You need 2 planes, a 207 with the mudflaps on 8.50x6 tires (you know the small ones), that will cover most of the places you could go into from the Copper River to Lime Village, and from Healy to Seldovia, then you need a Cub on big tires to get in and out of the rest of the places. I'd avoid the 207s with the STOL kits. I dunno why, but I don't really like how they fly compared to the normal ones.

To be honest, I think the 207 is about the best 6 place beast ever made. It can get in short, take a beating, load up 1000lbs of stuff, and blast off. Its a pig, yes, but in the right hands (I was pretty good at flying it, but there are guys who make me look like an idiot child flying it) it beats the 206 because of the increase in useful load you can take out with it.

When I went into Lake Marie Lodge Strip for Servant Air, it was in the 206 with the flint tanks, big tires, big prop and stol kit, and it was still spooky going in. Then the old-man-bill, who has over 17,000hrs in 207s went in there in the stock 207, and pulled out more than I did, got off shorter, and didn't break a sweat. If you know some of the secrets, that plane is the bomb-diggity.
 
Only two 135 operator's still going in PWS, one is using two 206's, one of which is on floats and the other runs a Beaver on floats. Both those outfits run out of Cordova. Only heli's running in VDZ at the moment. I'm thinking there is a potential, albeit small, market here for some fixed wing action. The 207 would fit pretty well for vfr sightseeing and hauling hunters around. The issue here though is it is IFR more often than not and a guy would need a different kinda rig for that kind of work, and with an AutoPilot or an SIC by my reckoning of 135 regs. Could a 207 fill that roll too?
 
Only two 135 operator's still going in PWS, one is using two 206's, one of which is on floats and the other runs a Beaver on floats. Both those outfits run out of Cordova. Only heli's running in VDZ at the moment. I'm thinking there is a potential, albeit small, market here for some fixed wing action. The 207 would fit pretty well for vfr sightseeing and hauling hunters around. The issue here though is it is IFR more often than not and a guy would need a different kinda rig for that kind of work, and with an AutoPilot or an SIC by my reckoning of 135 regs. Could a 207 fill that roll too?

Its not lower than 1sm and clear or clouds that often, so you can get in. IFR you're going to need a navajo, because the 207 is a great stable IMC platform for the summer, however it doesn't have boots for winter icing flying legally (that's not to say that it doesn't get done on the slope, or out west where there's nothing to hit, but in PWS, there's more things to run into).

I guarantee you though that 9 times out of 10 you can get in with a special out there. It gets crappy, and the approaches won't get you down low enough, so to quote an old school guy, "if its too bad to go IFR, go VFR."
 
After I posted I thought about svfr. With the addition of floats, you could pretty much go anywhere anytime in the sound. What would amphibs do to a sled's gross?
 
After I posted I thought about svfr. With the addition of floats, you could pretty much go anywhere anytime in the sound. What would amphibs do to a sled's gross?

You don't see too many 207s on floats, let alone amphibs, its enough of a dog already, unless you put the soloy conversion on it.

Best bet is a 206 on straight floats, as ours is on amphibs and only gets around 500lbs useful after pilot and fuel. Which isn't too good.
 
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