Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 11:54:31 GMT -5
We have a scheduled charter 3 times a week from Cordova to Yakutat, with a stop in Yakataga when conditions permit. Today was one of those days, and so I was out preflighting the airplane at around 06:00 this morning. The weather was pretty cloudy for the entire route, but doable. We had a pretty full load with some cargo and people getting off at Yakataga, but most going on to Yakutat. We don't stop at Icy Bay as that's Northwood's territory, although we will do charters there if they originate from Cordova. Pretty good trip - have a look:
Ready to load under somewhat gloomy skies (I love this kind of weather
)
It was a fairly long climb through the soup but the scenery on top was gorgeous
Especially with the mountains and low sun!
High over the coast. We cruised out on both legs at 9000 ft
We stayed south of the mountains along the coast, using the NDB at Yakataga to navigate with.
Now Yakataga was 1000 broken and 1200 overcast. We have a company approved NDB approach into Yak which we needed to employ today. The minimums are fairly high (basically VFR) so the approach gets us down through the clouds but we still have to be able to navigate to the airport once below. Today it was the west runway we were using, so I overflew the airport at 2000 ft (the NDB is right on the strip), then turned outbound on a heading of 130 for 2 minutes before flying the procedure turn. Once inbound again our course was 310, which is about 40 degrees off the runway heading but keeps us clear of the mountains to the east of the airport. It worked out great and we broke out in plenty of time to see the airport and set up for the final approach.
The turn onto final
It's a nice strip here that sees a fair bit of use from bush and cargo machines. Short final here.
Unloading and then loading a bit of cargo and a couple of people going to Yak on the next leg.
Ready to load under somewhat gloomy skies (I love this kind of weather
)It was a fairly long climb through the soup but the scenery on top was gorgeous
Especially with the mountains and low sun!
High over the coast. We cruised out on both legs at 9000 ft
We stayed south of the mountains along the coast, using the NDB at Yakataga to navigate with.
Now Yakataga was 1000 broken and 1200 overcast. We have a company approved NDB approach into Yak which we needed to employ today. The minimums are fairly high (basically VFR) so the approach gets us down through the clouds but we still have to be able to navigate to the airport once below. Today it was the west runway we were using, so I overflew the airport at 2000 ft (the NDB is right on the strip), then turned outbound on a heading of 130 for 2 minutes before flying the procedure turn. Once inbound again our course was 310, which is about 40 degrees off the runway heading but keeps us clear of the mountains to the east of the airport. It worked out great and we broke out in plenty of time to see the airport and set up for the final approach.
The turn onto final
It's a nice strip here that sees a fair bit of use from bush and cargo machines. Short final here.
Unloading and then loading a bit of cargo and a couple of people going to Yak on the next leg.
. Maybe not?? <LOL>
)