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Leg Stats

  • Time Enroute: 2.4 hrs
  • Distance (direct): 219nm
  • Distance (actual): 345nm
  • Fuel Used: 29.5 gal

After our picnic lunch on the wing, I filed our next VFR flight plan with the WiFi in the little terminal building (no cell service), and we departed.

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I had planned to fly the 'long way' around Yakutat Bay, which would be a pretty long 10nm overwater leg, but also so we could fly up Russel Fjord and see the beautiful Hubbard Glacier.

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We stayed on Yakutat CTAF and heard that a US Coast Guard C130 would apparently have the same plan, and we flew parallel for a bit through Russel Fjord and along the glacier, with them around 1000 feet below us. It was very cool to see the very large C130 look tiny against the vastness of the Hubbard Glacier.

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We got some awesome photos and then headed onwards up the coast.

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We passed over the very cool Malaspina Glacier, the worlds largest so-called Piedmont Glacier, and had great views of the spectacular Mt. St. Elias, rising to nearly 18,000 feet over sea level.

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Further up the coast we encountered the Bering Glacier creating lots of little icebergs.

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Before turning up the fjord towards Valdez, we made a quick detour to the west to make a low flyby of the Columbia Glacier.

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The Columbia Glacier area was the most spectacular scenery we saw in all of Alaska. The Columbia Glacier is absolutely massive, with a face that meets the sea that is several miles wide. It is also set in a rocky inlet, devoid of anything but rocks, ice, and snow.

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Due to the low altitude, the ferrous rocks around us, and the cold temperatures, the instruments on my G3X became very unhappy! I had a brief loss of GPS Integrity, a HDG MISCOMP, and a few other errors to get my attention. Fortunately the weather was brilliantly clear and the errors resolved quickly as we climbed away from the glacier. We crossed the ridge over to the fjord leading to Valdez entered a downwind to land.

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Nobody else was around, so we landed in calm winds and taxied over to the self-serve pump to stretch our legs.

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Trip Leg Navigation

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Leg 13 - Valdez, AK to McCarthy, AK   >>