This is a photo of the plane in Barrow. The airport was working on the ramp area and there weren't any tiedown spaces for us. I couldn't exit the airplane without the airplane blowing backwards, so I engaged a makeshift parking brake. The wind was howling and the windchill must have been near zero degrees. Hans and I decided that we weren't going to stay in Barrow and that we didn't even need to go to Point Barrow (the most northerly point). In fact, we didn't even need to see the ocean from the ground; we had seen it from the air. I ran across the ramp and snapped a photo (will be in the next post) through a chain-link fence since we didn't see a gate to even exit the airport. We could have taken gas in Barrow, but it takes 2 hours for the fuel truck to arrive and they charge even more than in Umiat plus they add a "service" fee. I took my two five-gallon jugs of fuel out of the back and proceeded to fill my tanks with frozen hands while standing on the tires of my plane that's trying to move backwards in the blowing wind. I got most of the fuel into the tanks....I'll leave it at that. All told, we spent about 20 min. in Barrow and we both agreed that it was about 19 min too long.
Preparing to land in Barrow. It already looks cold and the surface winds are easterly at 20 gusting 25.
Admiralty Bay, just east of Barrow. This stretch between Umiat and Barrow shames Minnesota in terms of the number of lakes.
We get to Umiat and I see this sign which makes me think I could walk down the street and find a gas station and a McDonalds at the next intersection. Troy the "fuel guy" drove up in his truck. Troy basically sits on the radio 24/7 and listens for incoming aircraft traffic looking for fuel. I asked him what there is in Umiat and he said, "you're looking at it". I pointed to the sign, and he shrugged his shoulders. So we took fuel and left for Barrow.
This was a very interesting ridge.
This is a photo of the plane in Barrow. The airport was working on the ramp area and there weren't any tiedown spaces for us. I couldn't exit the airplane without the airplane blowing backwards, so I engaged a makeshift parking brake. The wind was howling and the windchill must have been near zero degrees. Hans and I decided that we weren't going to stay in Barrow and that we didn't even need to go to Point Barrow (the most northerly point). In fact, we didn't even need to see the ocean from the ground; we had seen it from the air. I ran across the ramp and snapped a photo (will be in the next post) through a chain-link fence since we didn't see a gate to even exit the airport. We could have taken gas in Barrow, but it takes 2 hours for the fuel truck to arrive and they charge even more than in Umiat plus they add a "service" fee. I took my two five-gallon jugs of fuel out of the back and proceeded to fill my tanks with frozen hands while standing on the tires of my plane that's trying to move backwards in the blowing wind. I got most of the fuel into the tanks....I'll leave it at that. All told, we spent about 20 min. in Barrow and we both agreed that it was about 19 min too long.
Preparing to land in Barrow. It already looks cold and the surface winds are easterly at 20 gusting 25.
Admiralty Bay, just east of Barrow. This stretch between Umiat and Barrow shames Minnesota in terms of the number of lakes.
We get to Umiat and I see this sign which makes me think I could walk down the street and find a gas station and a McDonalds at the next intersection. Troy the "fuel guy" drove up in his truck. Troy basically sits on the radio 24/7 and listens for incoming aircraft traffic looking for fuel. I asked him what there is in Umiat and he said, "you're looking at it". I pointed to the sign, and he shrugged his shoulders. So we took fuel and left for Barrow.
This was a very interesting ridge.
1 comment:
Very descriptive. I love reading about your adventures and those two places sound like real ones. It's too bad that after flying that far it was so awful when you got there. Thanks, Gregg.
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