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April 26
Scott’s passport is expired, which we knew before the trip. Anticipating the possibility of a hassle getting from Canada back into the U.S. (Alaska), I had advised him to seek guidance or information from the U.S. Customs people at the crossing into Canada last week. We are aware that no passport is needed between the two countries until 2007 at the earliest, but none of Scott’s papers - driver’s license, pilot’s license, or social security card - prove U.S. citizenship. Typically, their answer was along the lines of “it depends on the mood of the person at the Alaska border that day.” The upshot of all this today is that Scott has decided to skip the Skagway side trip today, to avoid the possibility of hassle with two border crossings. This and nice weather forecasts have led us to the flight option rather than driving.
Flying above the highway down to Skagway is safer than flying a direct line. The terrain is lower and the prospects much better in the case of any airplane malfunctions. We followed the highway for most of the way down, but I elected to follow the railroad for about a 20 mile
section where the road went to the east side of a mountain and the railroad split off to the west side. Both followed the edges of lakes. The lake which the railroad skirted was long and very narrow. With steep, snow covered mountains lining both sides, the local conditions were far different than the surrounding skies. An unbroken cloud of ice crystals was just above us the entire way down the lake. The mountains themselves were 95% hidden by ice fog. The GPS unit, which has a worldwide terrain database, showed us flying down what amounted to a tunnel. Continuously looking toward the south end of the lake showed that the ice cloud’s base stayed level - it did not show a tendency to force us lower. It was a magical experience; the two of us, the soft drone of the engine and propeller outside our headsets, the lake below and the soft underside of heaven above us. It is impossible to escape the feeling of cold, though, in these icy surroundings, despite the environment in the cockpit being warm and cozy.
On landing, we were supposed to taxi over to the customs area first thing, but it wasn’t
Lynn canal
Haines to Skagway view immediately obvious which end of the field was for customs. I got sidetracked midfield with another airport function, and was late taxiing into the customs area. If the customs officer had been a jerk and had wanted to ask pointed questions, we could have been found in violation for not reporting in immediately and waiting inside the aircraft.
Skagway has a winter population of around 300, with a summer visitor population of thousands per day. In late April, they are in the getting ready mode. Lot of activity going on cleaning up storefronts, minor construction projects, and arranging of inventory. Almost everything is closed, however. Two cafes were open, and that was about it. A chill wind made the mild spring day feel much colder than it really was, and probably contributed to the mostly empty streets.
After lunching early at one of the two open cafes, we climbed back in the plane for the 10 minute flight to Haines. A Yukon acquaintance had suggested that Haines was a better stop than the touristy Skagway. Because there was no quick and easy transport into Haines, we used the phone to give CanPass our two-hour notice of re-entry at Whitehorse. Then went up for a glacier flight seeing tour near Haines before returning to Whitehorse.
On the return flight, we chose to follow the road all the way back, and when some clouds formed a scattered to broken layer around 3,000 feet, elected to stay below it. I was glad of both these decisions a few minutes later. The cloud layer developed into an overcast, which could have possibly trapped us on top; the GPS quit - its battery depleted unexpectedly; and the big warning light on the instrument panel suddenly glowed bright red, indicating generator failure.
Lack of generator output is no big deal, as long as you are not in instrument conditions. We turned off the radios and other electrical systems. I considered turning off the intercom, but thought continued use of it was the better decision. No point in having Maria think a simple generator failure is a serious, threatening problem. Arrival back at Whitehorse was without incident. Customs people declined to show up, same as Lethbridge last week.
Now to get the generator working.
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