Post by scottb on Aug 8, 2015 9:53:54 GMT -5
Thought I would post a PIREP of a recent flight from Merrill Field in Anchorage to Chenega Bay. Chenega Bay is located 104 miles southeast of Anchorage on the west side of Prince William Sound. It is accessible only by air and water. My job was a late-afternoon air freight delivery of 1200 pounds of food and supplies. The weather was pretty clear today, with some scattered cloud cover and light winds. I was flying a Cessna 404 on this assignment, to deliver cargo to the 3000 foot gravel strip in Chenega Bay.
Loaded up and ready to go at Merrill. I do my pre-flight and request clearance from the tower.
After take-off, I turn back south, watching for traffic out of Anchorage International and Elmendorf Air Force Base.
A nice view turning back over Anchorage.
The flight is pretty calm and uneventful, just some light cloud to avoid, flying VFR.
I begin descending to lose some altitude while it's clear. There is some heavier clouds between myself and Chenega Bay, I want to get under while I'm in the clear.
On my approach to Chenega Bay, it looks like a straight-in approach to runway 15 would work, as there is a 10 knot wind favoring that runway. However, I want to overfly the field first to check to make sure it's clear. The airport is in a bit of a valley, so I have to be careful of the mountains.
As I overfly the field, it looks clear, but at this time of day, half the field is in some heavy shadow from the mountains. That is going to make picking out cues for a visual landing a bit difficult.
I've overflown the field and turned back on my final approach. The strip is below a crest of a hill and slopes downhill coming this direction. The shadows will make seeing the threshold a bit difficult, but I've been here before, and I'll rely on other cues to line up.
Over the hill and a nice touchdown, I actually found the runway!
Taxiing off the field, there were several locals waiting to help unload. Once that job was finished I filed an IFR flight plan direct back to Merrill and home.
-Scott
It gets the job done quick!