BLUEGRASS AIRLINES

October 2006

San Juan Island Flights by Bill Von Sennet

Friday Harbor, Washington intrigues me. A search by google will reveal the KFHR is served by several sightseeing and charter operators. Island Air, San Juan Airlines, Westwind Aviation, San Juan Air Tours, Bellingham Air Tours, Friday Harbor Helicopter and Kenmore Air Express. Kenmore provides service to its seaplane bases in Seattle from the Friday Harbor Seaplane Base.

History of San Juan County

Dedication of the Roy Franklin Terminal

A pilots remembrances of the Island flights.

Roy Franklin's book "Island Bush Pilot"

The terminal at Friday Harbor Airport is named after Roy Franklin, who began air service with a Stinson Gullwing in 1948. He would leave at 7:15am and fly to Anacortes to pick up the mail for all of the neighboring islands. Most of the strips were primitive so the plane was called the “Bushman”.

In FS 9 there are many airports and seaplane bases available to fly between.

Code	Airport	Island	Runways	Length	Type	Elevation
21H	Skyline	(Anacortes)	SEW/MWW	5000’	Water	0’
74S	Anacortes	(Anacortes)	18/36	3015’	Asphalt	239’
38WA	Blakeley Island	Blakely Isl	38736	2200’	Asphalt	65’
78WA	Center Island	Center Isl	17/35	1600’	Grass	114’
WN07	Decatur Shores	Decatur Isl	15/33	2550’	Concrete	391’
WA18	Decatur/Jones	Decatur Isl	1/19	1500’	Grass	124’
WA58	Eliza Island	Eliza Isl	SE/NW	1500’	Grass	6’
WA93	Eliza Island	Eliza Isl	16/34	1500’	Grass	6’
WA81	Fishermans Bay/Lps	Lopez Isl	5W/33W	4000’	Water	0’
WA81	Fishermans Bay/Lps	Lopez Isl	14W/32W	2500’	Water	0’
S31	Lopez Island	Lopez Isl	16/34	2900’	Asphalt	200’
4WA4	Windsock	Lopez Isl	2/20	1850’	Grass	29’
4WA5	Millers Field	Lummi Isl	14/32	1650’	Grass	170’
WA35	Clam Harbor	Orcas Isl	12/30	1200’	Grass	219’
KORS	Orcas Island	Orcas Isl	16/34	2900’	Asphalt	29’
W49	Rosario	Orcas Isl	7W/25W	2500’	Water	0’
W49	Rosario	Orcas Isl	16W/34W	10000’	Water	0’
WA83	Westsound/WSY	Orcas Isl	10W/28W	4000’	Water	0’
WA83	Westsound/WSY	Orcas Isl	18W/36W	500’	Water	0’
KFHR	Friday Harbor	San Jaun Isl	16/34	3398’	Asphalt	75’
1WA9	Friday West	San Jaun Isl	15/33	2100’	Gravel	150’
61WA	Burden Field	San Juan Isl	E/W	2500’	Grass	49’
W33	Friday Harbor	San Juan Isl	3W/21W	10000’	Water	0’
W33	Friday Harbor	San Juan Isl	12W/30W	6000’	Water	0’
WA09	Roche Harbor	San Juan Isl	6/24	4300’	Asphalt	98’
W39	Roche Harbor	San Juan Isl	SEW/NWW	2500’	Water	0’
W39	Roche Harbor	San Juan Isl	NEW/SWW	5000’	Water	0’
GWA5	Winding Farm	Shaw Isl	18/36	1000’	Grass	59’
7WA5	Stuart Island Airpark	Stuart Isl	9/27	2000’	Grass	9’
2WA3	Stuart Island West	Stuart Isl	9/27	1560’	Dirt	200’
90WA	Waldronaire	Waldron Isl	14/32	2700’	Grass	141’

Toughman Challenge #19

These flights are all short. Take off climb to 1500’ or less and look for the destination airport.

The heading shown is the direct route. If the destination runway is not suitable for a straight in approach you will want to fly with a heading 30 to 60 degrees offset. i.e. if the chart shows a heading of 60deg and the runway will be 1, you would fly a heading (base leg) of 100 deg and watch for the airport to your left. Navigation aids are not needed. Usually you are hopping from one island to the next.

From:	To:	Heading	Distance
KFHR	74S	75 deg	14.5 nm
74S	WA58	357 deg	9.7 nm	Note: #6
WA58	4WA5	293 deg	6.3 nm
4WA5	KORS	242 deg	8.4 nm
KORS	90WA	252 deg	4.3 nm	Note: #1
90WA	2WA3	237 deg	7.8 nm	Note: #2
2WA3	WA09	137 deg	3.9 nm
WA09	KFHR	119 deg	7.1 nm
KFHR	WA35	5 deg	6.8 nm	Note: #3
WA35	6WA5	159 deg	3.4 nm	Note: #4
6WA5	38WA	60 deg	4.9 nm
38WA	S31	197 deg	7.3 nm
S31	78WA	63 deg	4.2 nm	Note: #5
78WA	WN07	31 deg	0.9 nm
WN07	74S	70 deg	6.0 nm

Note:1 Waldronaire 90WA is hard to see. Just look for a grass field. The runway is 300 ft wide!

Note:2 Stewart Island West sits on a hill west of the bay along the north shore.

Note:3 The far end of RW30 ends on a hill just east of a little notch in the bay.

Note:4 RW18 is just south of the south-western corner of a U-Shaped bay.

Note:5 Runway sits on a hill in the middle of a very small island.

Note:6 Eliza Island is just to the east of the southern tip of mountainous Lummi Island.

My schedule: I left Friday Harbor at 7:15am and arrived Anacotes at 7:30 Left Anacortes at 7:45 and stopped at Eliza Island at 7:54, Millers Field at 8:04 and arrived at Orcas at 8:14 I left Orcas at 8:30am and stopped at Walronaire at 8:36, Stewart Island west at 8:45, Roche Harbor at 8:52 and arrived at Friday Harbor at 9:01am.

After a break, while the postmaster sorted all the mail I left Friday Harbor at 9:30am and stopped at Clam Harbor at 9:38, Wilding Farm at 9:46, Blakley Island at 9:54 and arrived at Lopez Island at 10:02 All of the preceding flights were in a SR-7 Stinson.

Using a Waco CTO Mailwing, I left Lopez Island at 10:15 and stopped at Center Island at 10:19, Decatur Shores at 10:23 and arrived at Anacortes at 10:30am This has been a difficult morning. Roy Franklin and the pilots who have followed in his footsteps have left a legacy of dedicatation and skill that has to be admired.

Screenshots of some of the approaches will be on the Screen Shots page until November 1, 2006