Dawson City, Yukon. The Kasilof musher had yet to arrive but was enroute on the trail.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sled dogs from the air
Aircraft replaced the dog sled in Alaska as the preferred means of getting around the state but once a year they get together in cooperation as the aircraft serves the dog sled. Hauling supplies, ferrying dogs to care facilities, monitering the progress. Hats off to the pilots who work hard to bring us the photos from a perspective on high.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Getting around in the early days
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Navigating about Alaska was so much more challenging in the early days. The cockpits of even larger planes were sparse compared to modern aircraft. Instrumentation was compass, radio direction finders, fuel gauge, airspeed indicator, flight attitude indicator at the most, some not even that much. Today it is GPS, inertial navigation systems...things that our cell phones are supposed to disrupt. Maps had many blank spots, no google maps or satellite imagery. Pilots flew into area known only in their memories or information passed from pilot to pilot. And the weather channel and FAA were not available, you had to study the sky yourself and make the best judgement you can. There are acronyms like IFR(instrument flight rules) but early pilots joked that it meant "I follow rivers" Don't take technology for granted, navigation was different then-why were we amazed that Amelia lost her way when they relied on celestial navigation, dead reckoning, and gut feelings. Flying is safer they assure us, maybe so, maybe not. does your air crew know what to do if they lose use of technology?
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