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Leg #56 SAWH - YSRN

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EHM-2097 Andrei:
Although this leg begins over the same "flatlands plus lakes" landscape as the last three did, its second half lets develop good hope that this may finally be over.

The destination airport too is rather friendly: a concrete runway with PAPI lights. Thus approach could be conducted with a jet, but takeoff from a short gravel runway is another thing. Personally I choose to make this the maiden voyage for the brand new EuroBusiness PC-12.

When airborne, cross the Wollaston Lake to the west and look for the airports on its western side (Collins Bay – KYKC and Hidden Bay – CKL4). There is also a road visible on the western shore of the lake but this is of no interest for our route.

Instead, locate (again) the "next big lake" west of Wollaston Lake and aim for its northern tip. Before reaching this Lake the Points North Landing airport (CYNL, a.k.a. "Points Nowhere" for the connoisseurs).
 
The map shows a nice road going our way but there is none to be seen in the scenery, so after Point North here we are looking for lakes again. The next one to spot is further to the west, a large, roughly round lake with less (if any) islands inside, unlike most of the lakes we crossed in the last legs.

Fly to the northern tip of this lake, then head straight north.

After a while, further north, another large lake appears, having two distinct "parts": a southern one, long and narrow (again!) and a northern one, which is much wider. As soon as you have these features identified, head to the middle of the lake (that is, where the two "parts" join).

This is Black Lake. Caution, the map shows a large Island close to the middle of the lake, but do not look for this feature, as it does not exist in the scenery. Instead, look for a river flowing from this lake to the northwest.

Follow this river and shortly you will see the Stony Rapids airport (CYSF). If you did so, congratulations: although there are still many miles to fly in this leg, at this point all orientation problems are over.

Follow the river (which, by the way, is named "Fond du Lac") further west. The large Athabasca Lake appears ahead (that is, downstream). Just before reaching the lake, the Fond du Lac airport (CZFD) appears.

There are more airports on the lakeshores but these help little for orientation. One way or the other, the destination is situated near the far corner of the lake so I suggest flying right over the lake to cut corners.

As you get close to the western tip of Lake Athabasca, note an island that is approximately cross-shaped. This is the best point to start the descent and approach, because Fort Chipewyan airport (CYPY) will appear shortly after on the north shore of the lake. Turn right to join a long base leg and put the aircraft down.

EHM-2097 Andrei:
Yellowknife airport awaits us with a nice concrete runway and ILS, it is time to bring on the jets! Although I promised to use the Fokker 70 exclusively for this kind of legs, this time I tried the new Challenger 850.

This leg is easy to navigate; there are only two pitfalls to avoid.

The first difficulty lies just northwest of the airport. The Slave River, which drains the Athabasca Lake, receives a tributary – the Athabasca River. Coming from CYPY, it is important to read this terrain feature correctly and follow Slave River to the north, not Athabasca River to the south.

This pitfall is easy to avoid, by just taking enough altitude by the time you reach this point in order to have a good sight of the surroundings. If necessary, climb in a loop after takeoff in order to do so.

Further north, following the river downstream is piece of cake. Halfway to Great Slave Lake, there is the Fort Smith airport (CYSM). This is good to break the flight monotony but not actually necessary as a waypoint.

When the (Great Slave) lake appears in sight, aim for the point where the river flows into it. Southeast of this point lies Fort Resolution (CYFR), which you should clearly see as you fly by.

Here is the second and last possibility to miss the way during this leg. Note that the lake has three arms, to the west, east and north. Prom the point where the Slave River flows into the lake, you should get "into" the northern arm of the lake, but close to its eastern shore.

Depending on the weather settings, this may be impossible to plan before actually reaching the lake. In this case, just be on the lookout for the far shores, as soon as you see these you should guess where the northern arm of the lake is.

The destination airport is situated next to a bay in the eastern shore of the northern arm. In order to comply with the 100% visual navigation, it would be nice to spot and identify the airport first, and only then tune any radio navigation aids, including the ILS receiver.

I must admit that I "cheated inadvertently", because the ILS frequency happened to be the same I had used earlier that day, so I just saw the needles doing their job before tuning anything.

One interesting aspect to note is that, by each leg flown, by this point we have traveled back north. We are here at the same latitude as CYKG, that is the first stop on mainland Canada. Thus the daylight may have become an issue again, especially in the winter.

However, this is about to change. Starting with the next leg, we will be again flying south, never to return at this latitude.

EHM-2097 Andrei:
Bored of flying over flat land? Good news! With this leg, the terrain is about to change. Dramatically. Here begins a two-leg crossing of the Canadian Rockies, all the way to Alaska.

Nice concrete and PSPI equipped runways at both ends of the leg make it ideal for a jet. However, if you like (like I do) to fly low into the mountains, a propeller aircraft is more realistic. Personally I used the brand new Eurobusiness PC12.

Remember that Yellowknife is located next to the northern arm of the Great Slave Lake. After takeoff, the first objective is to get out this northern arm, then follow the lake to the end of the lake, where the Mackenzie River flows westwards.

From here, following the Mackenzie River is quite straightforward. The first visible landmark is Ft. Providence airport (CYJP), close to the lake. At this point a false river arm splits to the left, but only to join the main river downstream. You may follow any of the two.

The flight along the river should continue uneventfully. On the left bank there is a small airport at Jean Marie River (CET9).

The next important waypoint to locate is Ft. Simpson, where the Mackenzie receives Liard River as a tributary. Liard River is visible from the distance. At closer distance, you should be able to spot the two airports in the area: Fort Simpson Island (CET4) to the west, along Mackenzie River, and Fort Simpson (CYFS) to the south, along the Liard River.

From here, our route follows Liard River to the south (upstream). In the beginning, this is simple and straightforward. Besides, as we advance southwards, the mountains become visible to the west. The river gets closer and closer to these.

At some point, as we get really close to the mountains, the river receives a tributary flowing straight out from the mountains. There is also an airport here, Nahannie Butte (CBD6). It is important to identify this point in order to avoid following that tributary, instead you must follow Liard River further south.

Orientation becomes a little easier as a road appears on the eastern bank of the rivers and follows it too. Flying over the river and the road, we get soon to Ft Liard airport (CYJF). Note that further south, the River has a very large bend (and receives another tributary, from the south, quite in the middle of it). Depending on the height you are flying, it may be possible to spot on your right the next bend of the river and use the "shortcut" directly to it.

From this point on, we fly over the mountains (or into the mountains, depending on the height). After a while, a road appears on the southern bank and follows the river upstream. This road is important in order to find the "main" valley, v\because there are less road intersections than secondary valleys.

A road bridge marks the spot where the city of Liard is located, but this does not appear in FS. Neither does the airport shown on the map, but the bridge by itself makes for a good landmark.

Follow the river and road upstream (there is a power line too, going in the good direction). A couple of river bends can be cut if you fly high enough to see the river in the distance, but keep in mind you should get where the road goes.

The leg destination, Watson Lake airport, is located slightly north of the main river, next to a lake (which is, of course, Watson Lake). Be sure to look for these on your right, especially because at this point the valley becomes larger and flatter.

The approach itself is not a demanding one; the proximity of the lake provides plenty of room to maneuver at low height.

EHM-2097 Andrei:
What goes up should get back down. After climbing into the Rockies from the east, now it's time to get down on the other side - that is Alaska. However, this only happens after some more climbing.

Normally the departure and destination airports are not very demanding ones, but personally I experience a heavy terrain and scenery anomaly at PAOH: the terrain is not flattened enough for the airport so the runway is half floating a few feet above the land surface, half sunk into the nearby hill. This makes the landing so challenging that I decided to "cheat" by flying the Cessna 172 for this leg.

After takeoff, fly towards the main river (southwest) to find the road and power line we followed in the preceding leg. A bridge located where the road crosses the river eases this task. After some time, the road unfortunately disappears but the power line is good enough to follow along the river.

Another power line crosses "ours", but further west these follow the same direction and eventually join. Where the power lines join, there are also three lakes, forming an almost straight line, perpendicular to the river, on our right. The spot is important because here the power line leaves the main valley, and so do we. There is also a red-and-white antenna marking this spot.

As the valley gets narrower, the power line climbs on the nearby hills rather than follow it. Whether the more advisable tactics is to follow the power line or the valley itself depends on your height and (intended) speed. The best is to keep both of them in sight as you fly.

The valley gets wider again as we climb to the mountain saddle. At this point, the Pine Lake airport (CFY5) as well as the lake itself should be visible on your right.

After the saddle, the power line descends on the other side into another valley. Again, it is possible to follow the power line or the valley. Both lead southwest, then west. At some point, the valley heads south and the power line northwest. This is an important waypoint and, again, it is marked with a red-and-white antenna.

From this point, the most straightforward option is to follow the river to the south, and then west as it flows into Teslin Lake.

A second option implies a 50-mile detour, but provides 100% safe terrain recognition. Personally I had to choose the latter option as I experienced more heavy scenery problems: I "lost" all rivers while larger water bodies only display as huge squares (I think it would look like poor graphics even in FS98 or such).
T
his problem made Teslin Lake to look in FS very differently from the map. Due to the same problem, none of my further indication will refer to water bodies or shoreline shapes (because in my case all were just "square").

The detour follows the power line until the airport of Teslin (CYZW) gets in sight. From that point, it is possible to follow the lake southwards, even if it is poorly displayed in FS. At some point, which I could not identify due to the lack of actual rivers displayed, the detour meets the shorter route referred to earlier as "option one".

At this point, orientation gets tricky. The objective is to climb south of the lake, and then descend in a valley to the right following a river that eventually flows into the ocean.

One way to do this is follow the right shore of the lake and valley, looking at the peaks further right for the first valley that goes down instead of up towards these.

Another way is to follow the lake direction past its end (be it properly displayed or not), paying attention to another valley approximately half left of the lake one. As the two valleys split, there is a prominent peak in-between. Follow the lake valley up to this peak, and then turn right; shortly after, a saddle and the valley descending to the other side will be clearly in sight.

Any valley descending to the west is good to follow, as these valleys end up more or less at the same spot. Fly low into the valley to have fun, or higher for a better orientation.

Note that within this intricate labyrinth of valleys and high peaks, it is easy to mistake "up" and "down" directions and follow a wrong valley upstream instead of downstream.

Well, in fact it happened to me. This is not a dramatic event provided you notice it early enough to have room for a quick climb and U turn. In fact, after turning back, just do the same, which is follow the valley downstream, chances are you will not miss the correct valley again at the same spot. At least, I did not.

As the valley gets closer to the ocean, it also gets wider. Note that the exact spot where the river flows into the ocean is not easy to spot from a distance, because the islands further west have roughly the same aspect as the mainland. As you get there, however, it is impossible to miss it.

As you reach the ocean, follow the shoreline to the northwest until you get to Juneau. Both the town and the airport (PAJN) are clearly visible. Most chances are that you followed the Taku River down to the ocean, in which case Juneau is really close so be sure to have a good look to your right as you follow the shoreline.

From Juneau, proceed west to cross the Scull Island (roughly north-south oriented), then the southeastern tip of the following island. From here, turn left to cross the isolated Sister Islands and eventually head for the northern tip of the following island (as you look forward).

Head for the hill near this cape and the destination airport will be soon in sight. If you do not have any scenery trouble, proceed with the approach as you wish.

If, like me, you have this kind of problems, then only runway 5 is usable. With the airport in sight, join a downwind leg (left hand or right hand pattern, as you wish) and turn after the PAPI lights get red. Keep in mind that these lights are slightly above the ground surface; so be sure to descend a little below the suggested glide slope. And also pay attention to these trees next to the runway.

With these scenery problems, it is definitely the most difficult landing up to now. As one touches down, the runway gets no longer visible so it's difficult to check whether one is correctly aligned or not. I expected to see the "crash" message any time, which fortunately did not happen.

EHM-2097 Andrei:
I have to confess… I got lazy on this one, no more detailed route description. By the other hand, after many legs of subtle navigation while crossing all of Canada, this leg is almost too easy. Any route would just follow a path among easily recognizable islands.

In fact, for me most problems in this leg were due to scenery dysfunctions. I needed several attempts before successfully taking of "my half of runway at Hoonah". At least, I think it was successful as the runway was not visible from cockpit height.

And while airborne, I still had my (lack of) shoreline problem for about half of this leg. I suppose this one is caused by some add-on scenery I did not properly (un) install, because I already flew in this area some time ago and the terrain was OK.

If you have no scenery problem at PAKT, a jet is just fine for this leg. I had to use the PC12 again because anything faster had no chance to take off.

My route was east of Chichagof and Baranof islands, across Kuiu Island, then east of Prince of Wales Island. The only catch is to properly identify the slot between Gravina Island and the mainland, where Ketchikan is located, and descend accordingly (especially if you choose to fly high).

Well, this is easy but it won't last. In the following legs we have to cross the Rockies back so expect more difficult mountain legs.

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