Bravo Zulu: Wandering the Blue Skies

Saturday, July 28, 2012

07/27/12 Homer Alaska

At the Salty Dawg Saloon for some hot dogs and beer.

A cool and unique pub. The interior was covered with dollar bills each with its own story to tell.

Homer's local brewed beer. Light easy going taste with an extremely hoppie flavor.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

A near tragedy today when one of the planes in our group crashed on take-off from Fairbanks. Both escaped serious injury but were hospitalized. James and I waited in Fairbanks until we were sure everyone was OK then left for Homer on an IFR flight plan. The flight took us 3 hours. Good weather until we reached Homer which was under a low cloud cover. Started an instrument approach but broke out on final.

Mt. McKinley and IFR flights

Flying by Mt. McKinley today which is the highest Mountain in North America. It is very unusual for the top to be visible because of clouds. We were at 11,000 on an IFR flight plan.

IFR, or Instrument Flight Rules (as opposed to Visual Flight Rules, VFR), are rules governing the procedures for conducting instrument flight. IFR flying governs flights under conditions in which flight by outside visual reference is not safe. We fly by reference to instruments in the flight deck, and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals. It is also a term used by pilots and controllers to indicate the type of flight plan an aircraft is flying, such as an IFR or VFR flight plan.