Greetings From Juneau

On July 3rd. KeeWee and I "Snuk out" and headed up to visit our friends in Juneau, Alaska. We tried out the new Kenmore Air shuttle flight from Oak Harbor to Boeing field in Seattle. Kenmore Air is best known for their float plane service in the Pacific Northwest flying DH Beavers. Recently they decided to start flying between some of the smaller North Western Washington cities using Cessna Turbo Caravans. For a 9 passenger airplane it's amazingly comfortable and roomy inside, and being a high wing design, visibility for passengers is not blocked by the wing. The weather was clear and sunny, and our path took us over the Seattle shoreline at 2500 feet, so the view of the docks, the buildings, and the Space Needle was excellent.

Just as we were on final approach into Boeing Field, I caught a glimpse of a B-17 taking off on the parallel runway on our right. There is a B-17 and a B-24 that tour the country every Summer, and the B-17 I saw was most likely this one.


From Boeing Field we took a shuttle van for the 15 minute ride to SeaTac airport, and boarded an Alaska Airlines 737-400 for the 2 hour flight to Juneau. Although hazy, the coastal mountain range was spectacular for the entire flight.

Since visibility was good, they flew "Up the Channel" to reach the Juneau airport and land. That means flying at low level above the water and getting a really close look at snow-capped mountains on both sides of the airplane! Just before reaching the Juneau airport, the plane makes a quick jog to the left, then you are on short final to land. You cannot do a long straight in approach into Juneau from either end, as there are mountains in the way!

The blogging hardware and internet access at Mr. Completely's "Blogstation Juneau" is somewhat limited, and I don't have a way to get pictures posted from here, but I'm taking lots, so I'll get those posted when I return from Juneau.

Hope you all had a great Independence Day, we sure did!