The week before I started my flight, I had dinner with Yuri Gaspar, who circumnavigated last year with his wife in his Cessna 182T. Yuri left me with the sage words that 90% of the circumnavigation effort is the planning and preparation. Once you take off on the first leg, you’re just doing the last 10%. This is how it’s felt – especially in the weeks leading up to taking off. So after lots of final preparations, sorting out last-minute (expensive) snags with the aircraft, I finally took off from my home airport on Monday, 22 July 2024, at 12.20 pm.
22 July 2024: Belmar NJ to Saginaw MI
The first leg already changed the original plan. Instead of going via Chicago, where I planned to stop at Gary, IA, just across the Illinois state line, I chose to take a more direct route and stop at Saginaw, MI, which was directly on my route to Fargo. I got going late rather than rushing things, and in summer, that means you’re setting yourself up for dodging afternoon thunderstorms. This is precisely what happened, weaving through the weather on my way to Saginaw and landing just before a significant cell moved through. Looking over my back for weather is how most of my flights across the US ended up being. Hence, the picture leading this post – was taken just after landing in Saginaw. The airport is quite some way out of town, and the friendly people at the Avflight FBO kindly lent me the crew car for the night. (This is an excellent feature of US FBOs. Fixed Based Operator (FBO) – This is what these private terminals are called, and there are thousands of them all over the US. The crew cars are free, and the etiquette is adding some gas. Sometimes, you must show your driver’s license, but that’s about it.). Avflight was even running a free hot dog stand for all the pilots stopping for fuel on their way to Oshkosh – the annual giant fly-in and airshow.
23 July 2024: Saginaw MI to Fargo ND
Getting to Fargo was again an exercise in dodging weather. Despite my well-laid plans to fly a direct route to Fargo, I had to plan a fair southerly diversion to get around a storm just north of Oskhosk. I was flying via Waterloo Regional Airport in Iowa, where I refueled before heading to Fargo. Again, I had to ask ATC (air trafic control) for a 90-degree left turn when a quickly developing convective storm front closed up in front of me, and I had to go around it rather than risk trying to find a gap through it. This is where ADSB weather products in the US are so valuable, as it gives you this picture live (although somewhat delayed) right into the cockpit, and it’s displayed both on my iPad and on my panel instruments. Nevertheless, after 6 hours of flying, I was in Fargo. I found this a nice town with great weather (despite its winter reputation).
24 July 2024: Fargo, ND to Calgary, Canada
As they do every season, Wildfires in Canada caused a substantial amount of smoke, which was swept down to Fargo. So again, for an entire flight, I essentially didn’t see the ground. I’d flown across the continental US without seeing much of it. As another snag, I called the general aviation airport outside of Calgary the previous evening to check whether Uber would go out to them or whether I needed to book a rental car. Turns out they don’t have any AvGas! That meant scrambling to fly into the giant Calgary International, where I also needed to book arrival slots. Luckily, Signature Aviation at CYYC was fantastic and did all this for me – including arranging a fuel truck from a supplier next door. So, after another 6-hour flight and about a 20-minute taxi across the giant Calgary Airport, I ended up at Signature FBO. After a beer and catchup with my buddy Bani from South Africa, I went to a hotel close by the airport and slept for 12 hours. That was also my sign to take the next day off.
I went back to Signature to refuel – and the fuel truck also only had about 250 gallons left – of which I took 100. The fuel situation in Western Canada seemed quite challenging and not something I expected while still in North America. They had a rental car ready for me, and I took the day to see Banff National Park, which I’ve always wanted to do. This was an excellent decision and a reminder to “smell the roses” along the way.
26 July 2024: Calgary to Ketchikan AK
With a decent rest day behind me I was ready for the flight over the Rockies. On this one I was really concerned about icing. Additionally there was still quite a bit of smoke in the air (the iconic mountain town of Jasper was tragically destroyed by a wildfire just ealier in the week). ATC was very flexible with my requests for different altitudes and routes. I ended up flying at 17,000 feet on oxygen for quite a while to stay well clear of the cloud layer below me. Of the Rockies itself I saw very little until I was well over British Columbia and a few peaks were sticking their heads out of the clouds.
Apart from those glimpses, the entire flight was above a cloud layer. I did the RNAV 29 approach into Ketchikan and broke out at about 1500ft. Ketchikan is quite something and it’s one of the many approaches along my route that I practiced at home in a simulator. So at least I was fairly familiar with it. Sadly though the GoPro ended up not running, so you’ll jus thave to believe me that it was perfectly flown!
In Ketchikan I was of course back in the USA again. So I had to wait at the aircraft until the USCPB officer took the ferry over from town to the airport and then cleared me into the US next to my plane on the apron. Ketchikan Airport is seperated from the rest of Kethickan town by the Tongass Narrows and there’s a ferry service that connects the two. I ended up staying in Ketchikan again for two nights, electing to take another rest day and do some town exploration.
28 July 2024: Ketchikan to Anchorage
On Sunday it was off to Anchorage. Had to wait until at least reasonable ceilings before I took off. Reasonoable ended up being about 1000ft. Flew the SKOWL TWO departure which kept me clear of the high ground, and then climbed to 10,000ft where I was most of the way to Anchorage. This ended up being a very pleasant flight for once. Had much more sight of the ground around me and the scenery was just spectacular. My route took me to Sitka and then all along the coast over the Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm into Anchorage. The extent of the mountains along the way is just magnificent.
Anchorage itself is fairly trickly to fly into. You have Anchorage International, Lake Hood seaplane base, Merrill field general aviation and Elmendorf Air Force Base all stacked up right next to each other. In addition, Merrill Field has what is called Part 93 special use air space, which means there are defined VFR arrival and departure routes. I was on an instrument plan but nevertheless it’s expected that one know about these things. (Luckily Yuri Gaspar warned me about this – yet another reason why it’s so valuable to speak to all the Earthrounders for tips). I ended up with the RNAV-A approach and a right hand circle to land into runway 25 at Merrill. There’s no FBO on the field, but convenient transient parking right at the airfield managers’ office.
I again elected to take a few rest days. I needed to have an oil change and last inspection of the plane done anyway. Here Pat at Aero Twin was great in accomodating me into his busy schedule. He and Tyler had me turned around in no time – with the extra peace of mind that three pairs of eyes had a look over the engine for any gotchas before I head to the Aleutians and across the Pacific.
I had now done 29 hours of flying across 3260 nautical miles. If you do the math you’ll see that meant headwinds all the way – as was expected. Of that there is more to come as I go onwards to the Aleutians and the North Pacific.
