THE FLIGHT OF A LIFETIME





This is my very first attempt at blogging so I hope this flows smoothly and we can all enjoy it.


This week, we (my best friend, co-pilot and wife) will be flying from Northwest Arkansas to Anchorage, Alaska via American Airlines to pick up Cessna 63082...a Cessna 150.


This plane was nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" some time back as this is no ordinary, run of the mill Cessna 150.

This is a 150-150 which means the stock Continental, 100 horsepower engine was removed and then upgraded to the Lycoming O-320 with 150 horsepower.

Additionally, Mighty Mouse has the full Horton STOL kit installed and 39 gallon long range fuel tanks.

Another big plus with this conversion is the 160 gross weight increase.

Mighty Mouse is a 1976 model with about 2,500 hours total time on the airframe and a new, zero timed, Lycoming factory rebuilt engine.




Here's a picture of Mighty Mouse in Alaska.










Cindy and I will be flying with (following actually) our good friend Terry Dickinson from Big Lake, Alaska.

Terry has two planes. One is a Piper Super Cub (on floats this time of year) and the other is a Cessna 152 which is affectionately known as Mosquito or......"Skeeter" for short.

Terry has a need/desire to reposition Skeeter to his winter home in the desert of Nevada and we (Cindy and I) have a need to travel with a highly experienced bush pilot (who also just happens to be a CFI) from the Alaskan wilderness, through the Canadian Rockies and on home.

Our generic plan will have us crossing back into the lower 48 at Great Falls, Montana and at this point (probably) we'll separate where Terry will turn right to the southwest and head to Nevada and we'll turn left to the southeast and head to Arkansas.




Here's Mosquito (Skeeter) parked next to Mighty Mouse at Big Lake, AK




All three of us consider this to be the ultimate flying adventure of a lifetime and we'll do our best to document this trip for not only our enjoyment but yours as well.





Jim & Cindy

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013


Friday morning arrived with continued low ceilings and visibilities but the forecast called for some improvements later in the day which did happen.....not perfect by any means but good enough to fire up Mighty Mouse and get some flying in.

Terry and I flew two flights today, the first one lasted about an hour and we flew close to the Big Lake Airport after which we landed and topped the tanks off to check our fuel burn.

The second flight was a little more adventurous lasting over two hours.  We followed the highway up to Talkeetna, turned around and headed to Wasilla and then the fun began.

With Mighty Mouse flying well and the engine purring like a kitten, our confidence in the plane is increasing.  In life, there's nothing worse than flying an airplane you don't trust but Mighty Mouse is holding up his end of the bargain so far and we're starting to become "friends".  By the time we get back to the lower 48 and on to Arkansas, we'll be intimate friends.

Flight to Talkeetna sandwiched between the clouds and Mother Earth

Headed to snow capped mountains and our first Glaciers

Mountains on the left

 Mountains on the right

And on the nose......Knik Glacier

Awesome view of ice that is thousands of years old


The clarity of glacier water is cloudy due to silt caused by the glacier "grinding" up the rocks as it passes over the earth turning it (the rock) into a very fine powder.   The mountain runoff water and snow melt is clear. 





These picture were from yesterday (Friday) and we're hopeful that we'll get more flying in today.



Jim & Cindy
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