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Bluegrass Airlines, August 2010

 

Alaskan Freight Challenge

by Allan Lowson

 

A post in the Bush Pilots Forum by Tom Goodrick back in January inspired this feature.

 

Anyone who has watched the TV Series “Ice Pilots” will be aware that piston-engined aircraft are still a significant feature of freight delivery services in the North of Canada thanks to Buffalo Airways. Evert are also operating piston-engined freighters to deliver cargo and fuel throughout the West and North of Alaska. Other airlines also operate in these areas, but the one mentioned by Tom did not bother replying to the email I sent asking for permission to use their routes so we will run routes devised especially for Bluegrass Bush Division operations.

 

As the routes serviced by Evert and Buffalo are quite long, for this month’s feature we are going to operate some freight routes for the Bluegrass Bush Division out of Nome, Unalakleet and Wien Memorial in the West of Alaska.

 

To add some spice to the routes you can download Tom Goodrick’s landing speed gauge from his website and see if you are up to delivering dynamite for mining customers! If you download the gauge and install it in a panel, see if you can keep your landing speeds below 350fpm.

 

When flying the routes you can either stop at each of the fields or take a charter to one or two of the airfields along the way.

 

Details of Tom’s gauge and suitable aircraft for these services are given at the end of the routes.

   

Nome Routes

 

Nome – Wien Memorial Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

57.6

Nome

PAOM

003

16.8

Quartz Creek

5QC

330

38.6

Taylor

AK49

051

16.9

Upper Hannum Creek

4Z2

035

24.8

Deering

PADE

143

72.8

Independance Creek

2AK9

338

 

Wien Memorial

PAOT

 

Nome – Teller Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

105.7

Nome

PAOM

334

  61.8

New Shishmaref

PASH

216

    5.7

Wales

IWK

114

  11.7

Tin City

PATC

051

  13.4

Buck Creek

AK98

129

  14.5

Lost River

AK45

130

  11.0

Port Clarence

KPC

048

    6.2

Brevig Mission

KTS

135

 

Teller

K54

 

Nome – Unalakleet Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

26.2

Nome

PAOM

065

27.6

Solomon State Field

AK26

055

13.0

White Mountain

WMO

113

20.2

Golovin

GLV

059

  7.4

Elim

ELI

028

27.0

Moses Point

MOS

038

33.8

Koyuk

PAKK

163

31.4

Shaktoolik

2C7

139

 

Unalakleet

PAUN

 

Wien Memorial Routes

 

Unalakleet – Wien Memorial Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

31.4

Unalakleet

PAUN

319

33.8

Shaktoolik

2C7

343

16.0

Koyuk

PAKK

340

12.6

Haycock

HAY

326

  9.7

Granite Mountain

GSZ

013

26.6

Bear Creek

AK02

335

64.0

Buckland

PABL

308

 

Wien Memorial

PAOT

 

Wien Memorial – Kobuk Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

36.8

Wien Memorial

PAOT

076

16.8

Curtis Memorial

ORV

034

25.1

Baker Memorial

PAIK

133

58.7

Selawik

PASK

036

21.0

Ambler

PAFM

105

7.1

Shungnak

SHG

057

 

Kobuk

OBU

 

Wien Memorial – Cape Lisburn Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

41.6

Wien Memorial

PAOT

327

28.2

Noatak

PAWN

343

41.4

Red Dog

PARD

225

62.6

Kivalina

KVL

289

34.7

Point Hope

PAPO

009

 

Cape Lisburn

PALU

 

Wien Memorial – Icy Cape Route

 

Heading

Distance

Airfield Name

ICAO

-

41.6

Wien Memorial

PAOT

327

28.2

Noatak

PAWN

343

63.1

Red Dog

PARD

321

46.2

Cape Saline

Z53

003

40.3

Point Lay

PPIZ

012

 

Icy Cape

2AK8

 

 

Flight Simulator Files

There is a Cessna T-50 in the alphasim set t50-fs89.zip at flightsim, and there is a Bluegrass texture set in our Hangar.

 

The Beech D18S was operated at one time by Buffalo and is available in a Cargo scheme in D18SVC4.zip and D18SCARG.zip from flightsim.

 

The default DC-3 is a prime candidate for this service, and they are still being used by Buffalo Airways in the North of Canada.

 

A larger aircraft which is still being used by Buffalo Airways and Evert Fuel is the Curtiss C-46. This is available from flightsim in C46GA.zip and C46GAFIX.zip.

 

Tom’s landing speed gauge can be found at http://home.hiwaay.net/~goodrick/Downloads.html in landspd.zip.

 

Some of the default FS2004 airfields in Alaska can be upgraded by installing Pete and Sid’s scenery which is available from flightsim in five downloads – just search for Pete & Sid's Viva Scenery.  This is purely optional and is not needed for these flights.