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Alaska - Gateway to Asia
- It may be America's 49th and largest state, but to Dave Hall, general manager of Signature Flight Support's Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport FBO, Alaska could almost be regarded as an "international destination" for business aviation operators.
The reason is the vast state's remoteness from the contiguous United States, with most of its 663,268 sq. mi. lying above the 60th parallel. Anchorage is three and a half hours by jet just Seattle.
Contributing to the idea of Alaska as an almost separate country to the USA, is it Arctic climate, unique and stunning scenic beauty, and wildness — all contributing to its status as America's last frontier. As one business aviation pilot who had visited Alaska's North Slope (at approximately 70°N latitude during the 24-hr. darkness of the Arctic winter) opined, "It's another world up there, like living on the moon — except there's oxygen and stronger gravity!" Yet this distant, compelling and foreboding place has become the "gateway to Asia" for both commercial and business aviation.
Alaska is situated on the great circle route, which is the shortest distance from North America to Asia. Fifty years ago, the airlines pioneered that routing as the quickest way to get to the Far East.It is an essential part of the navigation process for getting any aircraft to or from Asia.
After World War II, when Anchorage was a small town and Fairbanks a settlement still recovering from the Alaska gold rush of the early 20th century, Northwest Airlines and Pan American Airways pioneered commercial service on the great circle route to Asia from points in the eastern and north central United States with double-deck Boeing 377 Stratocruiser piston-engine airliners, using Alaska for refueling stops. When the jets arrived in the late 1950s with their thirsty first-generation turbine engines, Anchorage and Fairbanks came into their own as tech-stop havens for international airlines in the United States and Europe serving Asian destinations. By the late 1960s, Gulfstream II operators like Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Industries were pioneering great circle operations to and from the Orient with tech stops and crew changes in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
Today, business aviation FBOs in Anchorage and Fairbanks have honed the quick-turn fuel stop to a high art to support hundreds of movements of corporate jets flying between North America and points in Asia every year, no matter what the season or prevailing weather conditions. "If you have not been through here before," Hall said, "plan on being able to get anything you want, as in the Lower 48, but if there is a maintenance issue, expect at least a 24-hr. wait to get parts from the OEMs, as they're not stocked here."
That said, flight crews with no experience flying through Alaska — especially during the eight months of the year when much of the state is captured in the throes of winter — should update themselves on cold weather procedures for their aircraft types and acquire a general understanding of Alaskan weather patterns, which are among the most unique and challenging on the planet in terms of routine aviation operations. Knowing what you can run into when ambient temperatures on the ground are in the -40°s (F) or an inversion is hovering over Anchorage or ice fog is prevalent or winds are gusting up to 70 kt. — and being prepared to handle these and other conditions — can make all the difference between managing an efficient and productive passage through the region or scaring the daylights out of all on board. Or worse.
Alaska Is a Weather Factory
"We fly three or four times a month to Asia and back using Alaska for crew changes and tech stops," the chief pilot for a major U.S. corporation operating Gulfstreams said recently. "I've been up there a couple dozen times in the last few years," he continued, "and never once experienced the same weather. It can range from clear, calm and sunny to 'unbelievable,' with low ceilings and visibilities, ice fog, gusty winds, extreme turbulence — any kind of weather you can think of. Stay up frequently on the forecasts — understand the patterns and how fast they can change."
The Alaskan winter characteristically heralds its entrance in mid-October as temperatures drop and is in full force by early December. It finally tapers off in May, "if not later," said Rich Weiss, shift supervisor and meteorologist at Baseops International in Houston, "so you always have to pay attention to the patterns, because things can change very rapidly. Alaska has its own aviation page on the [NOAA] Aviation Weather Center website separate from the Lower 48 due to the unique conditions."
Weiss went on to describe the differences in winter weather between Anchorage, situated along the "Turnagain Arm," a fjord that empties into the Gulf of Alaska on the southern coast, and Fairbanks, located inland in the Tanana Valley, nearly 300 sm to the northeast. The two cities are separated by the Chugach mountain range. "At Fairbanks, it will be much colder, as Anchorage is closer to the water. Typically, at Anchorage, it averages 25° [F] and 10° at night. At Fairbanks, it is much colder, as the mountains trap cold air, and it can get down to 50 below zero."
Credit: SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT
