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Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:23 pm
by Katamarino
After a pleasant night’s sleep, it was time for the final few legs. We were well back in to the real world by now. The first flight took us down to just north of Winnipeg to visit my Belgian friend, who some years ago had decided to move to Canada to work as a pilot and bought a quarter section of land in central Manitoba. He’d recently finished putting in his own grass strip, so clearly I had to go and check it out.

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Packing up the final camp site:
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Morning mist on climb out:
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There were some forest fires as we continued south. We double checked again with flight service to make sure no TFRs had popped up.
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Visibility was somewhat affected.
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Approaching Tribble Ranch:
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Arrival at Tribble Ranch:
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We spent a relaxing weekend at Joachim’s, just what we needed after a couple of weeks roaming around the arctic.

Time for an oil change in the Tribble Ranch hangar, built by Joachim!
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Hanging out on the quarter-section:
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Inside a local establishment:
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The penultimate flight was the 1+ hour to the Piney Pinecreek border crossing; this runway is half in the US, half in Canada, and the same applies to the ramp; you can clear customs in either direction. This had the pleasing result of making my friend’s new strip an international airport.

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From here it was an 800+nm, non-stop leg back to base, just in time for a welcome-home steak dinner at the airport! A good tailwind had us landing after just 6 hours, with 35 gallons left on board.

Departing Tribble Ranch:
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Headed for Pittsburgh:
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Finally back at base!
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Overall, the trip took about 6 weeks, and we covered about 17,000 miles in 152 hours of flying. There are many interesting places up there left to explore and I am thinking of heading back up in summer 2020, hopefully with a few aircraft. If anyone is interested in tagging along, let me know…

The end.

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:16 pm
by Rob L
Excellent, just excellent!

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:22 pm
by Nick
A really enjoyable read. Thank you for taking the time. Lovely photos too.

Nick.

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:29 pm
by dublinpilot
I can't think of a superlative good enough to describe your posts.

So I'll just say thank you very much for taking the considerable time to post them. I've really enjoyed reading them! :thumleft:

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:30 pm
by Waveflyer
An amazing adventure which it has been a joy and privilege to share.

The end, means no more posts for a while which I’ll miss.

I hope you achieve your ambition and make the next trip. So many of us have dreams which we don’t manage to fulfil but I fancy that won’t happen with you. :salut:

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:02 pm
by GolfHotel
Like everyone else I have enjoyed your posts and photos immensely. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:06 pm
by flyingyod
Rob L wrote:Excellent, just excellent!

This, no more needed :thumright:

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:08 pm
by ArthurG
A wonderful envy-inducing odyssey. Thank you for making the effort to share it.

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Mon Oct 15, 2018 3:36 am
by Katamarino
Thanks all, glad you enjoyed them!

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:25 am
by Paul_Sengupta
I've not only enjoyed reading it, I've recommended to a couple of other people that they read it as well. :D

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:32 am
by Katamarino
Waveflyer wrote:I hope you achieve your ambition and make the next trip. So many of us have dreams which we don’t manage to fulfil but I fancy that won’t happen with you. :salut:


Next trip is planned as a round-the-world, April 2019 through April 2020. I've already bought the life raft and vests so I'm committed now ($4,300 :shock: :pale: )! Started working on routings and insurance this week. Airplane goes in for final round of upgrades (ADS-B and a G5 HSI) at the start of December.

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:42 am
by Nick
Good luck. I look foreword to reading about it. :thumleft:

Nick

Re: Katamarino's Alaska and Arctic Canada flight

PostPosted:Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:08 am
by rats404
What an excellent report, thanks so much for taking the time to post it. I visited BC and Alaska in 2009 and it brought back a few memories, although my trip was nothing like as big or adventurous as yours. Really terrific.