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It has been raining in K-Town for two weeks, so all of BFU North is a mudpit and everything was moved to PAKT a week ago. I was in Ketchikan when I saw this job posted, so I decided to give it a shot. I called up the two engineers and let them know I would take them, and we agreed to meet at PAKT at 12:30. The weather wasn't too bad considering the area, scattered clouds with an overcast layer at 2600. I found BFU's Beaver amphibian parked at the GA ramp, so I decided I'd leave the Tripod's Charter Service one behind and take ours.
At a little after 12:45, everything was packed and we all climbed in. I turned on the master switch and avionics, and listened to the ATIS as I finished the startup. As the monotone voice finished up, I tuned traffic and started rolling.
As we got to the runway, I announced that I'd be taking off on runway 11, turned on, and taxied all the way to the end of the runway (which wasn't really necessary but why not). After doing a 180 and centering up, I eased the throttle on open and watched the needles move. As it hit 80 MPH, I pulled back and the thing came right on up.
We climbed to 2500 and set our course out of Ketchikan. As we went up the Clarence Strait, the clouds lifted some and I went up to 3000.
We continued up the strait for most of the way until we hit the pack of islands near the Sumner Strait NDB. I took a shortcut and went on up the Stikine Strait. As I descended to pattern altitude, I regularly announced my position in relation to PAWG. As I got down to 1100, I turned to heading 010 and set up for base entry to runway 10.
I ended up flying base way far out, and had about a 3 mile final to show for it.
As would be expected, touchdown was smooth and fairly centered...
...and to clear the runway as fast as I could, I only used as much brakes as I needed and turned at the first taxiway. I rolled on up to one of the buildings at PAWG, shut it down, let everyone out, and tied it down.
After helping the engineers get their stuff out and accepting their pay, I went into Wrangell for a little while, then returned the Beaver to PAKT. Return flight was uneventful, but I got to cruise several thousand feet higher this time. Held an ILS into runway 11, and landed it just fine.
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