[TPR] Flying in Alaska

[Mad Dog Antenucci]

That is a good question....JB should be able to answer as he has been flying 
since he was 11 years old!
Here's one of my Alaska stories...its a combination of several experiences 
supporting the Alyeska Pipeline up in Prudhoe Bay....I had a variety of jobs for 
Crowley Maritime (diver, tender, rigger, deckhand, tankerman) and one of its 
divisions "Alaska Hydratrain" did the "SEALIFT" every year after the ice broke 
up....this was the days (76-77) before any highways so the only way to get 
anything BIG into Prudhoe Bay was by barge....and Crowley had these 400' barges 
which they moved rail cars and everything from modular housing to gen sets onto 
for the trip up the SE Alaska passage. It was a hellva beautiful voyage up SE 
Alaska.  The first time I flew from Seattle to Anchorage I remember that feeling 
you are describing of everything being WHITE-WHITE-WHITE but I do remember 
seeing a couple ORANGE single engine planes so they did exist....probably bush 
pilots <JB?>


 
Mad Dawg Antenucci 
Team Pantera Racing 
The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing 
www.teampanteraracing.com




________________________________
From: Bob Radefeld <bob at dodgecarroll.com>
To: tpr at teampanteraracing.com
Sent: Sun, December 12, 2010 8:50:22 AM
Subject: [TPR] Flying in Alaska

 
The first (& last) time I had the pleasure of  visiting Alaska was in the early 
seventies when my then boss bought a new Buick  station wagon right off the 
showroom for his wife & disconnected the  speedometer before he, his son & I 
headed out to tackle the Alaskan Highway.  When we arrived at the beginning of 
the highway we were told it was closed due  to rock slides so we had to detour 
to Prince Rupert & take the inland ferry  up to Juneau. Among our month long 
adventures we hired a guide & small plane  to fly us out on the Aleutian Islands 
for some big time fishing. Man, I'll never  forget the most rugged, beautiful 
& isolated terrain I've ever  seen in my life below us during that flight & 
wondering how anyone could  ever find us if we went down. Remember, I was young 
& not used to flying  that much in a small aircraft & this was before ( I 
think?) all the now  present avionics, GPS, etc. were available. As far as I 
knew, the radio was  about the only way to let a search party know approximately 
where you might be  if you went down - a scary thought in my mind at the time & 
what would  happen if the radio was damaged if you did go down?? SOL came to my 
mind! 

 
When we flew out of Achorage to begin this trip I  distinctly remember looking 
down @ all the small planes on the ground & in  the bay & noticed that the large 
majority of them were painted WHITE. I  began to wonder why any pilot 
would choose white as a color for his  aircraft (ours included) in an 
envirornment like this where it seemed like 95%  of the terrain beneath you was 
WHITE!! Seemed to me that I'd definitely prefer  BLACK of some other dark color 
that would be easier to spot from the air in case  of a mishap?? And you know, I 
was never able to get a good answer from anyone I  spoke to after our 
flight concerning my question - go figure??
 
Bob 
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