Flying to Alaska!

[Helidesigner]

It looks like my dream of flying my Bearhawk to Alaska is in sight. A couple friends in a Cessna 180 want me to tag along on a three week trip in July. We will start from Connecticut, head south of the Great Lakes, make our way to the Alaska Highway, and on to Fairbanks. They took this trip many years ago. Skagway and Juneau are on their destination list. I want to visit the Kenai peninsula. Weather will be the final factor in all destination selections. We are going to stay very flexible on the planning. What advice do people have regarding a long trip like this? I have read many articles about trips to Alaska but I'm interested in actual experiences and destination recommendations.

Look forward to everyone's inputs!

Mark

[Zzz]

Just returned from a few days in the Wrangells with some local pilots. The impression I was left with is that... it's awesome. And it's massive on a scale that's hard to comprehend. I can't wait to return in my Bearhawk in a few years.

It also reinforced my decision to install the aux tanks. Having enough fuel to play around once you're at some remote area and then return back to a fuel-equipped airport is a big deal.

Eager to see some of the suggestions here.

[Helidesigner]

Great Pictures! Thanks. I have aux tanks for that reason. I do think I need bigger tires. I have 7.00x6 now. I think I'll move up to 8.50x6. The most bush like flying we will probably be like the runway in your second picture.

[jaredyates]

My suggestion would be take some pictures and write a multi-part Beartracks article about the whole experience! And maybe reach out to some of the Alaskan Bearhawkers to get tips from them too.

[Zzz]

Great Pictures! Thanks. I have aux tanks for that reason. I do think I need bigger tires. I have 7.00x6 now. I think I'll move up to 8.50x6. The most bush like flying we will probably be like the runway in your second picture.

That's Jake's Bar on the Chitina River. It's much rougher than it appears with these cobbly teeth-rattling rocks. The 29x10 Air Hawks are a good long-wearing solution shy of full bushwheels, but expensive for the initial buy. The Goodyear 26" are slightly larger than 8.50x6 I think. Battson is running those. We were on 31's and it really made every surface easy on the airframe.

Peavine Bar is another great spot that is pretty smooth save for a few places. Some people question the necessity of big tires but I'm of the opinion that the loss of speed and the expense are worth the stress savings on the airframe.

[Ed.Meyer]

I lived and flew in Alaska for many years and flew the Alcan once. Remember that the long trip is really just a bunch of short trips strung together. Do be careful of the weather and be prepared to turn back. It was on my Alcan trip that I pushed the weather some and scared myself. It sneaks up on you since it often gradually gets worse rather than abruptly. For the tires, I think you would be fine with the 8.50s. As I recall, for many years that was the biggest that could be put on the C180/185s and they went lots of places. I am now building a Patrol in Idaho and put 8.50s on it.

[Zzz]

I think you would be fine with the 8.50s. As I recall, for many years that was the biggest that could be put on the C180/185s and they went lots of places. I am now building a Patrol in Idaho and put 8.50s on it.

Definitely. 8.50s have gone places many of us wouldn't dream about with bushwheels. BUT... the extra suspension of big tires really keeps vibration and stress down on your pride and joy.

[Mark Moyle]

On the extra gas to burn. Aux tanks for sure. I've seen allot of guys carry fuel in 5 gallon plastic jugs...probably not a good idea. I watch Shawn Lunt put three jugs in his super cub while I was departing Dillingham. About an hour later watched him fly over platinum. 10 minutes later he moose stalled in, tuning into a fire ball on impact. Maybe 5 gallon military jerry jugs would be a better idea for hauling extra gas in the middle of nowhere?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Battson]

Purely in terms of a very long cross-country flight... and assuming our planes have similar cruise speed and engines (I think they do): here are a couple of airspeed and fuel management thoughts.

I fly with 180s quite a lot, in formation cross country. At lower altitude I am either asking my buddies to slow down a little, if I want to make my fuel last; or else I have to run quite high power settings like 26" and 2400 and rich of peak fuel flow (think 16gph) which hurts my range a lot.

I prefer to go 7-8 kts slower and almost double my range, or fly quite high where I can safely run the engine near peak EGT and get maximum fuel efficiency - although on some days my buddies still need to throttle back slightly if we want to stay in formation. Other days I have been able to get a little more speed than they do. Seems to depend on how the planes are loaded, and who I'm flying with. Cessna 180 cruise speeds seem to vary measurably from one aircraft to the next.

With the smaller tires you have, they might help you be a little more comparable to the C180 in terms of cruise airspeed, or at least give you more options. At higher altitude, you may have more of an advantage, but probably still be a little slower. The 180 will probably be much faster than your Bearhawk in cruise descent though.

Personally, I would not suggest adding huge draggy tires if you're planning a very long range high altitude cruise. High altitude cruise is where the big tires hurt performance the most.

[Battson]

It's easy to land safely on most backcountry airstrips with quite small tires. Provided it's not an unexplored or unimproved surface, I don't see any issue with 7.00's.




From my experience, to get meaningful extra cushioning and soften the forces on your landing gear, you would need to step up to at least a 8.50 or 26" tires and also be running them at very low pressure (think 10 psi or less) - which means tubeless tires or using tire bead lockers.



I would say that 26" tires or 8.50's running at typical pressure, like 24 psi, offer practically nil extra cushioning for the airframe. You can feel it through the seat of your pants....
Yes the larger tires will handle larger stray rocks - but big rocks are not a problem on an explored airstrip surface anyway. It's the unimproved surfaces where the extra inches start to become useful "insurance" against that unseen rock or patch of soft sand.

[Battson]

What size tires did you end up putting on the 4-place, Mark?

[Helidesigner]

I bought Good Year 8.5x6 tires. I'm running them at 27 psi. They are a little softer and roll over grass and gravel better. I did install three 8-32 pins through the rim into the tire bead to keep the tires from rolling on the rims. For the flying we will be doing these tires will be sufficient. They are a good compromise.

Nice pictures too. Thanks for posting. Someday I'll get down your way.

[Helidesigner]

By the way, I notice you have VG's on your wing. I find my three point attitude is at least a few degrees well below stall attitude. I can drag the plane in nose high already, higher than I want to land. Do you find the VG's beneficial? Are you using them more as stall margin in gusty conditions?

[Battson]

Glad to hear you made an upgrade - always satisfying Did you notice any speed changes in the cruise?

With the bead-locking pins, I have run my 26 GY tires down as low as 8 psi. They are quite similar to your new 8.50s, and you could probably do the same if you ever needed to let the pressure down for some reason.

I discussed my VG install in this thread here:
http://bearhawkforums.com/forum/flyi...sing-vgs/page3

In short, yes I do find them very valuable for off-airport flying.

My approaches are much slower than they were before. The plane wants to land tail first with a very steep nose attitude, typically I pole forward aggressively just before the tail touches and use a tail-low wheel landing in an off-airport environment. The soft tires + suspension soak this up, but I DON'T do this with any big loads aboard. I can still touch down deep into the stall warning with this technique, practically landing as slowly as the plane will fly. Best touchdowns are somewhere around 32 KIAS for a tail-low wheel landing. Smooth air only... for the really slow ones.

P.S. now that' I've practiced some more, I am sure I am lifting off a fraction earlier too with the VGs, by using a big flap-pop. But I have no empirical data to support this, yet. Just seat of the pants stuff.

[Helidesigner]

I am heading out Sunday July 5th. The basic plan is head to Buffalo, Michigan, Winapeg, Edmonton, Dawson Creek, the Alaska Highway up to Alaska. From there we will check the weather and do a clockwise or counter clockwise loop. We hope to get down to the Keni peninsula. If at all interested you can track my trip at the DeLorme web site;

https://share.delorme.com/MarkScott

I will be checking this site periodically. If anyone has suggestions regarding routes or destinations let me know.I'll post pictures to this topic as I go.