Date: 3/31
Flight 999-14 RJCJ (Chitose) - PASY (Shemya)
Plane: DC3S
Time: 8.2 hrs
Pilot: BGA030
Fuel: 1352 gals
Remarks: Narrative to follow
Chitose - Shemya ( Eareckson AS )
Off at 0730 ( leave earlier if you want to land in daylight), climbing to 7500' on a course of 062 deg. Flight distance to Shemya is 1422 nm. On our way home to the good ol' US of A.
My mess up on the Attu -Shemya landing will be evident when you see where they each are in relation to each other. Attu has a NDB and a small airfield that is only available for emergencies. Shemya has a VOR 109.0 and a NDB 211 and an airport.
Level at 7500'
Climb to 9500' feet to clear those mountains ahead.
Asanikawa Airport, VOR 113.5 with a 8202' runway and ILS of 110.5
Kushiro Airport with a 7586' rwy and an ILS 108.9
Crossing the coastline at 0820, Pacific Ocean at last. We will be following a chain of islands off our right wing for awhile then they will appear off our left wing. These are the Kuril Islands that the Russians and Japanese each claim. Japan presently has jurisdiction. Then, after the Kuril Islands we will be following along the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian). Do you what happened over Kamchatka awhile back? The Russians shot down a Korean Airline 747, acquiring it of being a spy plane.
The first of the Kuril Islands is now off our front right. That will be Iturup Island, next will be Urup Island followed by Simusir where they will cross over to the left wing. I am only mentioning the larger of the islands as there are many small ones which you will see.
Kamchatka Airports and Navaids:
Khalaktyrka NDB 685
Bulsheretska NDB 907
Khayrhuzovo NDB 965 (sure hope I spelled the correctly)
Urup Island off our Front right.
Simusir will be next and we should pass right over it. There are some smaller ones first.
That's Simusik to the right front, now the islands shift to the right side.
Flying alongside Kamchatka, but out of viewing range.
Yelizovo Airport with 2 11155' runways NDB 260 ( this is where the Russian MIGs that shot down the 747 came from.
Shemya Airport Data
Eareckson AS - VOR 109.0 - NDB 221 - Elev. 97+'
Rwy 10 10006'
Rwy 28 10006' ILS 110.1 H 284
163 miles to go and the Shemya VOR is active. That's Attu Island to the front left, Shemya will be showing shortly. These are part of the Near Islands. There's Shemya straight ahead. Attu is the largest of the group and Shemya the smallest. As I recall, the Japanese landed on Attu during WWII, but didn't stay. I am not sure as to how long they were there.
During the Korean conflict, flights to Japan stopped at Shemya for fuel rest and a hot meal. This was all scheduled and the meal would be for the scheduled time of arrival. One flight I was on, we were due in 0700 and we would get breakfast. Due to a tire problem at Vancouver (we were on a CP Air Charter) we arrived at 2130 and we gat, but of course, breakfast.
Descend to 2100'
Turning down wind leg
Turning base, have the ILS
Turning final.
Hey we are on Shemya and it's not raining. We are on time so it must be supper time.
Flight 999 Route (flight overview)