AUG 11, 14 .. MORE ALASKA BUSH PLANES ! !

On Tuesday July 29th 2014 .. Patti and I flew from Anchorage Alaska to Seattle Washington.

When the two-of-us arrived in the Anchorage Alaska International Airport on July the 29th ..

WHAT TO OUR WONDERING EYES

SHOULD APPEAR ?  UP THERE ON THE CEILING !!

A real .. full-size .. Alaskan Bush Plane !!

"Dad?" .. it said to me .. "Please Dad! Get me out of here so I can fly again!"

 Yes .. here for all of you to see .. out in concourse C at boarding gate number 8 .. live and alive up in the air an Alaskan Bush Plane.

On Friday August 1st the two-of-us then flew from Seattle Washington to Tucson Arizona to Dallas Texas and finally to Detroit Michigan .. to complete the second-leg of our trip.

I have .. with me .. one very happy traveler.

"Captain .. it looks like TWO very happy travelers!"

ON THE ROAD AGAIN ..

With Joy .. Cap and Patti ..

JUL 29, 14 .. ALASKAN ' SKI ' PLANES ..

The below photos were taken at the Talkeetna Alaska Airport.  Talkeetna is approximately 115 miles north of Anchorage Alaska.  Climbing expeditions on Mt. McKinley often originate in Talkeetna and many of the mountain climbers are flown up to the first base camp on Mt. McKinley from the Talkeetna Airport.  Talkeetna .. a small and charming village .. is well worth a visit.

One of the most famous of all Alaska 'icons' are its ' Bush ' Planes.  Allow me to quote from Wikipedia as follows ..

A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide unscheduled passenger and freight services to remote, undeveloped areas of a country, such as the Alaskan tundra, the Canadian north (or bush), the African bush or the Australian Outback. They are used where ground transportation infrastructure is inadequate or doesn't exist.

A 'Bush' Plane is extremely flexible in that one can land on the ground when configured with tires which will allow it to land on hard .. or relatively hard surfaces .. AND .. they can also land on the water and on the snow as well!  Read on .. 

These two planes are deHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers.  The Beavers are perhaps the most famous of all of the 'Bush' Planes.  For all you have ever wanted-to-know about them .. please 'Google' .. deHavilland Canada Beavers.

You can see that the planes in these two photographs are considerably smaller than the deHavilland DHC-2 Beavers.

The wheel-equipped 'Bush' Plane .. can be and are .. re-configured into 'Float' Planes.

I am NOT an aviator!  But I imagine that landing either a 'float equipped' plane or a 'ski equipped' plane onto a concrete runway utilizing its wheels could be a real challenge!  Below is another deHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver.

WANTED: IF PER CHANCE a real  ..honest-to-goodness .. experienced Alaskan aviator is reading along here .. which I truly doubt .. but if you are .. would you be so kind as to post a comment below at the end of this post telling all of us IF it is as difficult as I imagine it must be to land 'float equipped' and 'ski equipped' bush planes on concrete or other hard surfaces. 

Look at the size of its floats as compared with its small tires. 

Landing a 'Float' Plane IN THE WATER would not be so much of a big deal in my mind .. after all .. this is where they belong!

I mean really!  Isn't Alaska a beautiful place !

OK !  Lastly .. our same 'Bush' Plane can be configured with skis which will allow them to land on the snow!

Below are more photos of 'Ski' equipped 'Bush' Planes than you ever-wanted-to-see !

Again .. I am NOT an aviator !  I can not quite fathom how these amazing aviators land their planes with floats and / or with skis on concrete or other hard surfaces !  But they most certainly DO JUST THAT ..

Here we go ..

LOOK AT MY SKIS DAD !!

Can you imagine landing a 'Bush' Plane on a concrete runway with skis affixed to your landing gear! 

You must look really closely at the above and the below photos to see that even the small rear wheels have their-very-own skis.

Yet another of the famous deHavilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers.

Look at the size of his skis!

DO YOU ALL WANT TO GAZE UPON BEAUTY ? 

HERE BELOW IS BEAUTIFUL ! And I am NOT an aviator! 

You are looking at an absolutely spotless .. Pratt & Whitney Canada .. 450 HP NINE-CYLINDER RADIAL AIRCRAFT ENGINE!

Now we move to one of the .. REALLY BIG GUYS .. in terms of Alaskan 'Bush' Planes ..

When deHavilland Canada completed their development of the 6 passenger DHC-2 Beaver they moved up to the 10 - 11 passenger DHC-3 Otter.  In terms of our pickup trucks .. the Beaver is more like a half-ton pickup and the Otter is a one-ton ton pickup.

In the below photo is a deHavilland Canada DHC-3 Otter .. if you will .. please notice his cute tail-wheel ski!

Patti sat in our truck .. watching me snap these photographs and giggled as she realized that I was intrigued with these tail-wheel-skis!  Patti said to me .. "What do you think would happen to the plane if .. during a landing or a take-off .. the rear wheel did not have a ski and could 'dig-into-the-snow'!" .. "Um-m-m-m .. 'pucker-marks' in the seat of the plane?" (Oh Captain! How are your readers over in India going to figure out what on this good earth you mean by comment?  I will be seeing you all .. God Willing .. in late November!)

Here is a close-up of his tail-wheel ski !

Big Plane .. Big Skis !

One last look across the Talkeetna Alaska Airport !

"Dad! Oh Dad! You Promised Me Dad!"

"Yes ! I sure did promise to show your photo to my followers !"

He is NOT a 'Bush' Plane !  He IS a hot-shot radical specialized aerobatic stunt plane!

Alone amongst the other mere 'Bush' Planes (in HIS opinion! )

Like they used to say in-the-movies ..

That's all folks ..

Smiles from Cap and from Patti ..

In a few hours .. Patti and I will be .. God Willing .. flying south to Seattle Washington to visit friends for a few days.  Then on Friday August 1st we will fly east to Detroit Michigan to spend three months in-the-east.  On November 12th .. Patti and Godzilla and myself will .. the three of us .. fly to Hong Kong to eat Singapore Rice Noodles.

JUL 10, 14 .. WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS ??

"Well 'Zilla .. what-on-earth is this 'rig'?" 

"I KNOW that it is half-of-a-pickup-truck 'Zilla!  But what on earth is it for?"

O.K. I will start very basic here my friends.  What do we have below?

FANTASTIC !  Above is a FLOAT PLANE .. and in the far distance (in the above photo) to the left under its wing is another FLOAT PLANE.  See it back there?

AND below we have another FLOAT PLANE.

 
O.K. .. being FLOAT PLANES they all have .. taa-daa .. are you all ready here?  They all have ..

FLOATS ..

And the floats are removeable .. the floats come-off the FLOAT PLANES and then said FLOAT PLANES become ..

BUSH PLANES ..

And now .. taa-daa .. here is the answer to what-on-earth is the 'rig' at the top of this post!

The floats MUST be removed and the floats must be moved around .. and ..

VOILA !  Below is our answer !

I do NOT know the proper name for this 'rig' .. so I will just call it a 'Float Mover' ..

OH YES !  YES SIR !  The above 'rig' has many MANY relatives !

"What's that 'Zilla?"

"NIFTY!"

I thought so too!  For you see .. until a few days ago .. I myself had never-in-my-life seen these 'rigs'.

Now you all know .. THE REST OF THE STORY ..

With Joy .. Cap ..

On a more quiet note .. 'Zilla is experiencing some real health challenges right now .. so any of your prayers sent his way will be appreciated. 

MAY 24, 14 .. THE ALASKAN FLOAT PLANES WELCOME SPRING ..

Below are two reminders of the last of the winter ice that you saw in my previous post.

The winter ice has now fully melted and Spring is here!

Many .. but not all .. of  the Float Planes based here in Anchorage Alaska are now in-the-water!

I find the below photo very pleasant to look upon.

Anchorage Alaska is a very beautiful city.

Oh My!  Miss Spring .. we sure are very happy to see your pretty face!

Some of the Float Planes have their very-own small-lagoon!

As you can see in the below photos .. a few of the Float Planes remain land-locked. 

"Come on Dad! Get me into the water Dad! The weeds are already growing around my pontoons!  In a week I will be surrounded by a jungle Dad!" 

"Me too .. I want into the water!"

On the left side of the below photo .. note the small utility storage shed behind the Float Plane.

On the right edge of the below photo is another example of a Float Plane utility storage shed.

Some of these small utility storage sheds are miniature works-of-art!  This shed's Float Plane is out flying.  Do you see his Float Plane's small lagoon on the left behind the shed? 

As Patti and I were beginning to drive away from the Float Planes and head-for-home .. I thought that I heard one of them out in the water!  I grabbed my camera and I jumped out of our car and was able to capture the below photo!

The below photo is a shot of one of the most famous of all of the Alaskan Bush Planes .. be they outfitted with floats for the water or wheels for the bush or skis for the snow ..

WOW!

A de Havilland Canada DHC-2 BEAVER!

Just feast-your-eyes upon this beautiful aircraft!

All of the smaller Float Planes were whispering to each other .. in hushed and reverent tones .. 

"There goes a de Havilland Beaver!" .. "Isn't he absolutely  magnificent!" ..

I felt honored to capture him .. production ceased in 1967 and they are getting to be 'rare' birds!

Much Joy .. Thanks So Very Much for hanging-in-here with me!  .. Cap ..