Considering doing this trip in May and am looking for any advice.
Would go from Hood River Oregon to Bellingham Washington, then Bellingham to Ketchikan non-stop. Then probably Yakutat for a stopover before Anchorage.
I'm carrying a fuel belly pod, so 73 gallons useable at ~9 GPH and 110 MPH TAS, very conservatively. Most critical leg would be the Bellingham-Ketchikan, which shows 622 SM on the most common routing, so I should have the range provided I bring a few Gatorade bottles, even with strong headwinds and a Klawock or Wrangell alternate (~840 sm calm wind range).
The airplane is equipped for IFR, although MEAs and Icing obviously impact the viability of that. I've been researching everything necessary, already have my FCC license and will get one for the airplane. I will have plenty of payload weight left for any prudent survival gear. I could flex to trench or alcan if the weather was absolute garbage and showed no signs of improvement, but the coastal routing seems to make the most sense. I'm planning time to wait in Bellingham for up to 4-5 days if necessary, before launching to avoid bad weather. I've flown this routing quite a bit, except a few hundred miles off shore and 20 or 30 thousand feet higher :lol:
I will fly the airplane for about 40 hours in Hood River before embarking. Is it crazy to do this in a new airplane while relying on a belly pod transfer pump and an engine with no magnetos or backup alternator? Obviously Canada is on the table for emergencies. I've found this site https://fly2ak.com/ as well as the associated HDHP with the website's creator, Ted Waltman. It's pretty helpful.
Would go from Hood River Oregon to Bellingham Washington, then Bellingham to Ketchikan non-stop. Then probably Yakutat for a stopover before Anchorage.
I'm carrying a fuel belly pod, so 73 gallons useable at ~9 GPH and 110 MPH TAS, very conservatively. Most critical leg would be the Bellingham-Ketchikan, which shows 622 SM on the most common routing, so I should have the range provided I bring a few Gatorade bottles, even with strong headwinds and a Klawock or Wrangell alternate (~840 sm calm wind range).
The airplane is equipped for IFR, although MEAs and Icing obviously impact the viability of that. I've been researching everything necessary, already have my FCC license and will get one for the airplane. I will have plenty of payload weight left for any prudent survival gear. I could flex to trench or alcan if the weather was absolute garbage and showed no signs of improvement, but the coastal routing seems to make the most sense. I'm planning time to wait in Bellingham for up to 4-5 days if necessary, before launching to avoid bad weather. I've flown this routing quite a bit, except a few hundred miles off shore and 20 or 30 thousand feet higher :lol:
I will fly the airplane for about 40 hours in Hood River before embarking. Is it crazy to do this in a new airplane while relying on a belly pod transfer pump and an engine with no magnetos or backup alternator? Obviously Canada is on the table for emergencies. I've found this site https://fly2ak.com/ as well as the associated HDHP with the website's creator, Ted Waltman. It's pretty helpful.