Let's Fly Alaska

(First time blogger, long time blog avoider)
Background...
Last summer I was asked to "copilot" a trip to Alaska in a turbocharged 2006 Cirrius SR22 (sweet plane). The flight would start in Novato, Ca. and fly to Oympia, Wa., where we would join a group of eleven planes that have similar speed capabilities (150kts)and another group of six planes flying at slower speeds (120kts). Most of us were meeting for the first time . Together we would fly to Alaska. The trip is organized (to the tiniest detail) by a company called Lets Fly Alaska, based out of Olympia Wa. Both my pilot and I have been receiving instructional emails since last fall from Let's Fly Alaska on how to set up our border crossing etc. (lots of hoops to jump through and if you do it wrong...)

Saturday July 9, we met at Gnoss Field, in Novato, Ca. weighed our baggage and everything necessary for the trip (15 days). With two guys and limited baggage we are not able to carry full fuel. Not carrying full fuel requires careful, detailed flight planning...this will come into play on the first day of our group flight!

After careful planning we departed for Olympia. The haze over the Central Valley was more than usual,15-20 miles. The snow capped peaks of the Sierras poked through the top of the haze. We stopped in Redding, Ca. for fuel, temp was probably 95 degrees (feel like temp = 110). Departing Redding we pretty much flew IFR off and on the rest of the trip to Olympia. IFR meaning in this case ... "I Follow Road" (Interstate 5). We left the haze behind us at Mount Shasta and had a very scenic trip through Oregon and Washington.

Will try to catch the trip on the next entry. Meanwhile...follow our progress on the map link below:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0mlMdvtN6LbyUJQugfK74oZWyGziLsnyV