I'm going to be posting some recent photos of flying the RTMM Postal Flights in the trusty DHC-2 Beaver amphibian. Truth be known, this isn't the best time of year to be flying in the Alaskan panhandle. It's raining or snowing much of the time and the ceilings are pretty low, often below the tops of the mountains in the vicinity. Flying through these clouds can be pretty risky; some of them have solid centers. But, it's less work than learning those two new aircraft I just bought, so I have been working away at it for a couple of weeks.
So how can we handle this? There is no local radar based ATC available once you're off the main jetways and there are very few radio navaids in the region. All of that dictates that you can only fly in VFR conditions, which may happen once every couple of weeks. I have no idea what the FAA has to say about this, but I have been a passenger on a few bush flights in Alaska and I have some idea what the bush pilots do. There seem to be two basic approaches, often used in combination. The first is stay under the ceiling and navigate VFR to your destination. This works as long as you can get all of the way from your origin to your destination below the ceiling. It's best to stay over the water because you know its elevation and, in a pinch you can land on it and consider your next move - which may be camping out for a few days until the weather clears. However, some times your destination isn't on water and/or there is no continuous path over water that will get you there. Then you may have to cross a mountain range which is higher than the ceiling to get there. Then you have to resort to the second approach: climb (preferably in VFR conditions or over water) until you are at an altitude which you know to be above all of the peaks in the area surrounding the route to your destination. This is the strong form of the verb TO KNOW. You must be absolutely certain of this, or you may not get another chance to perfect your technique. Once at this altitude you can proceed IFR Direct to the vicinity of your destination, using radio navaid where they are available and/or GPS or RNAV where they are not. Once you are in the vicinity of your destination, the weather may be clear, allowing you to make a VFR descent and landing. If not, you are going to have to descend safely until you can get under the local ceiling and land. This may or may not prove possible, and you probably won't know until you get there - weather forecasts just aren't that good. This uncertainty is what makes this "fun". If you can't make a VFR descent you can look for a hole in the clouds (good luck), or, if possible make a descent over water. The ocean (elevation = 0) or a lake (elevation known) or a river valley (elevation range known) until you are under the ceiling and then navigate to your destination. If you run out of elevation above the water before you get beneath the ceiling, reverse the procedure and go home - this isn't your day.
Sometime this works, sometimes not. I'm posting photos of my experience in real weather on the three legs of the RTMM postal flights 9POST 194-196 showing how to do this.
Mike<br /><br /><!-- editby --><br /><br /><em>edited by: Westcoast, Feb 07, 2015 - 02:43 PM</em><!-- end editby -->
