Out of nowhere this 30's looking lady walk into our office and since i'm about the only one that looks like i'm doing nothing she comes up to me. She tells me she's a reporter and has been assigned to cover the race "from a different angle" so she to do a behind-the-scenes report. She's learned about the Idiratord airforce and asks me who should she ask permission to get "embedded" with us. I ask her how much will she need to haul around and she seems to have done her work. She has all the essentials for living in the trail plus all the lady stuff, plus photo and video equipment in compact form. These days a small camera has a very high quality image. I tell her that her gear and herself on a plane will mean less weight to carry car
go. She understand and hands over a triple-platinum American Express credit card and to charge her flying expenses to it, her press agency will pay for it. Well with all excuses out the window I tell her that I can take her out today on my flight and show her how we operate. She agrees. We go over to the plane and she is a little surprised by the size of the 208, she thought only really small planes were used.
We get her gear in the underbelly pod and she takes her video/photo camera up infront on the right seat. All but 2 pax seats have been removed and the space is now filled with 14 bales of straw. I tell her to sit tight while I do my walk-around. Everything is fine and I get back in, and we get going.
Taxing around PANC is a pain, it's a big airport so it takes a looooong time to get our turn to take off after a DC-9 and a 182. We finally line up on the runway, ready to launch into the air. All checks out. and off we go.
Ready for launch!
It's a pretty smooth flight over to RP. The weather is fine and we have just a little turbulence out of ANC. The mountain peaks show off nicely with the sun as it is now. Soon we are over them and RP is comming up front real quickly. I cancel IFR and start descending at my discretion. She has been taking pictures until now but now terrain is comming up close and I tell her the strip ahead is short so it will be a firm landing, she noods quietly. She's probably thinking why did she agree to fly with me, a latino flying up in Alaska!!
RP is down there, look hard.
RP shows up like a hairline up ahead and soon it is more clear but not much more wider. First pass and I was too high so I turn 360 to lose some altitude, second time around I get closer but i'm underpower and low so I go around again. She's a bit nervous now and I tell her it usually takes 3 approaches to get down, trying to calm her. I think she buys it as she is now used to all the turning and climbing and descending.Last attempt and I make it, well sort of. Left wheel down first and on the paved runway, right wheel out on the dirty. Well i'll take this and engage reverse and stop nicely in the runway. I taxi out to the spot where guys are pointing me.
One, two, three gears down.
We hang around RP for about an hour while I let her talk to the guys doing the unloading and stacking. I get a cup of coffee to go with my donut. She comes in to get one too and I tell her she's really brave to be on her own out here. She says she's gone out on assignments before but she really wanted to do this one due to all the fame it had. Oh well she'll get her money's worth that's for sure.
Time to go. With a light plane takeoff is uneventful but we are required to climb up to 15,000 so it's time for me to tell her about the 02 masks and she quickly gets the hang of it. So for about a half hour we don't talk much since it's hard enough on a noisy plane, even harder with masks on.
Getting close to ANC the radio is full of chatter again and my head is on a swivel looking out for traffic. I don't want to be a hood ornament on a 747 freighter!
She is mostly resting since she already has material from Anchorage Master Supply Base.
I get the 14 ILS approach and take it. Sure a bit more time but I like the practice every now and then. So I focus now on my glideslope rather than the GPS. Soon we are lined up with the runway and on slope. I worry that some other plane will be infront of me and will make me go around, but he's going to Lake Hood. Good.
Red and white, lined up.
Well it seems that i'm #1 for landing but there are a couple of airliners waiting for me on the ground to empty the runway, strangely I get to put the bird down in the center and in about less runway than rainy pass. I guess it's the ILS approach and PAPI lights that allow me to have the correct power/descent rate configuration. I'll need to work on that. So I fast taxi to the nearest proper taxiway and once my butt is out of the way the DC-9 behind me roars by.
Getting out of the way!
So now we do the lonely long taxxing to TCAA Cargo Ops/Supply Master Base. Once everything is secure we both leap out and collect her gear and mine from the pod.
Snowboss is out here to meet us and talks a bit with the lady and then she signs a couple of waivers that she shoulda signed before taking her up..opps. Well she was happy with the flight cause she also signs the credit voucher from her credit card and tells Snowboss to keep it open cause she'll run a tab. LOL.. Some nice extra money will sure be good for business.
Now he talks over to me and tells me next time to reach him first and fly second. But he's happy with her signed voucher :-). Now we are moving over to MCG. She walks back and asks me if we will go out with Snowboss or back in the Caravan. I tell her that now she'll ride a plane she's never flown in before. A Checz Let-410. She looks puzzled but agrees to keep riding with me.
PANC-6Ak-PANC
Total flight time 1:55
Aircraft : Cessna 208B Grand Caravan
Pilot: Angel Castillo #2845
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