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

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Dawson Creek to Whitecourt to Lloydminster

We got a late start this morning leaving Dawson Creek due to wet weather to the east and southeast. 

This is the first time during our trip that we were able to make two legs in one day which made us feel like we made some progress.

When weather permits, we're down to 2 legs (hopefully in 1 day) where we'll spend our last night in Canada in Brandon before crossing the border and going through customs at the airport of entry in Pembina, ND which is right on the border of Minnesota.

Once through customs we'll fly south down the western sides of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and then slide through the final leg into Rogers, Arkansas.

The weather tomorrow looks doubtful based on what I see tonight but we'll make the call in the morning.  Here we have a rental car so at least we have a convenient way to get around as needed.

More tomorrow.


Jim & Cindy

The day began in Dawson Creek where Mighty Mouse was waiting faithfully to get back underway.  The clear sky in Dawson Creek changed to a cloud cover as we headed southeast. 

Flying along in mostly stable and smooth air, Cindy took over for some more stick time while I took it easy.

After refueling and checking the weather between Whitecourt and Lloydminster, we climbed back in and off we went.  This picture is Whitecourt on our departure climbing to 5,500' which is the altitude we flew all day.

The Garmin 796 has the capability to show weather on the moving map.  The downside is that it wasn't available through all of Alaska and all of Canada up to this point between Whitecourt and Lloydminster.  I've missed not having this capability on this trip and it's most welcome to have weather back in the cockpit. 

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