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This was a 2-part flight. Leg 1 was from AVSim Base to Mule Creek, where I picked up the family of three bound for Whitehorse. Leg 2 was Mule Creek to Whitehorse. I used real weather, and the private liveried (which I might repaint later to sport the BFU colors) DHC-6 Twin Otter. I know it was overkill, but I love the plane, and it is a long flight from AVSim Base to Mule Creek in a Beaver or Zenith 801. The weather started out kind of lousy, but got better as the flight progressed. LEG 1 At AVSim base, the sky was overcast with some low-hanging scattered clouds under the overcast layer, and a little bit of rain. Here I am at AVSim Base, ready for takeoff at dirt airstrip 15. I took off at 16:21.
Here I am, just after takeoff
After I settled into cruise, I set the panel to work with the GPS so I wouldn't need to keep it up. Here are some pictures of me in my cruise. Pretty cloudy along this part of the trip.
OK now the weather is a lot better, just in time for the part in the mountains.
For a while I was looking for Mule Creek. I had the GPS on, but could not find it. I came up on it all of a sudden, and could not get a good picture of it on my approach. Here's me on landing, at 17:43. Just in time, we agreed to meet at 5:45 that afternoon.
End of Leg 1
I met the family at the airport, and they were John and Courtney Palmer, with their 6-year-old son Kyle. They have a 2-year-old daughter, Erica, but they left her back home in the care of Mrs. Palmer's parents. After meeting the family, they told me what they had done on their vacation. First they had gone into Juneau, and seen several things, the best of which was the Alaska State Museum. Afterwards they went on up to Skagway and saw the Klondike Gold Rush N.H.P. and went on the Scenic Railroad. Then they went on up to Mule Creek to spend a couple of days with John's brother, Frank, and his wife, Nicole. I told them how BFU had recently celebrated its anniversary, and we packed up and headed out. Here we are, just after take-off on runway 34 (I'm not sure if I was supposed to have an extra scenery for this, I guess I can check if there's one available when I'm done writing this).
After takeoff, we settled into cruise at 7500 feet. Pretty scenery through here; this is a shot of us cruising towards Whitehorse.
After I got info on Whitehorse Int'l, it seemed that the active runway would be 31L, so I lined up for the PJ NDB. However, when I contacted the tower, they said that I would land at runway 13R, so I broke off the path my GPS had made for me, and flew downwind. I turned base and headed for the XY NDB. Right before I reached it, I made my turn on final, and lined up with the runway.
Here I am on touchdown, at 17:42, during the twilight.
We taxied the length of the runway (somebody build a better taxiway!) and turned off to the right. We requested a taxi to parking, and they told us to go to general aviation parking using taxiway E. We taxied over, and I parked it and shut it down right next to the terminal.
We unpacked the plane, and I helped them with the bags. We bid each other farewell, and they headed off towards their gate while I walked down to find a bathroom. After doing my business, I went off and got a drink and decided to chill out in the terminal for a while. I might just sleep on the plane tonight, heck, it'll save me a night in a motel. End of Leg 2 and PIREP
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