<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div></div><div>That is a good question....JB should be able to answer as he has been flying since he was 11 years old!</div><div>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?></div><div><br></div><div><br> </div><div><strong><font color="#0000ff"><em>Mad Dawg Antenucci <br></em></font><font color="#ff0000">Team Pantera Racing</font></strong> </div> <div><em><strong>The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing <br></strong></em><font color="#0000ff"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.teampanteraracing.com">www.teampanteraracing.com</a></font></div><div><br></div><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Bob Radefeld <bob@dodgecarroll.com><br><b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">To:</span></b> tpr@teampanteraracing.com<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Sun, December 12, 2010 8:50:22 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [TPR] Flying in Alaska<br></font><br>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">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!
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">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??</font></div>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Bob</font> </div>
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