It’s that time again hooligans! This month’s Bush League Backcountry Fly-In finds us back up north in Alaska visiting Kodiak Island. SlantAlphaAdventures (Rob) has put together a great route exploring an outstanding scenery package by LPNils that you’ll be returning to long after this event is over. There’s unimproved airstrips, seaplane bases, helipads and more (lots more actually) scattered around the island.
Bush League Basics:
- Everyone is welcomed! Whether you’re an expert or beginner with flying simulators, radio communications, or navigation, etc., you’re invited! We’re a friendly bunch and enjoy learning from each other.
- All of the scenery elements and recommended aircraft are based on X-Plane 11.50.
- The starting airport will be Kodiak Airport (PADQ). We’ll then head north, circling the island counterclockwise, finally ending up again at Kodiak Airport.
- You can fly whatever aircraft you’d like, however, we’d like to suggest a small, STOL capable plane as some of the airstrips are very short. Helicopters are welcome too!
- Most of the pilots enjoy navigating via pilotage, i.e. “looking out the window” and comparing it to the sectional chart. The sectional charts available from www.skyvector.com will be very helpful.
- We encourage you to join the VATSIM network and use the CTAF frequency of 122.8 to announce positions. Several CSL files are available to correctly render other aircraft.
- We’ll also use the Downwindsim Discord voice channel for the pre-event briefing and during the flight for non-ATC related chit-chat.
- As always, the main goal of these flights is to have fun. The event is intended to be VFR, so you are free to configure your weather and time of day as you see fit.
Flight Information:
The event takes place on Monday, October 5… 8:00pm EDT All pilots should plan to meet at Kodiak Airport (PADQ) for a short flight briefing at 8:05pm EDT (0005z, Oct. 6) with departures around 8:15pm EDT. Here’s the route:
- PADQ – Kodiak Airport
- PAKD – Kodiak Municipal
- 4K5 – Ouzinkie
- ORI – Port Lions
- PALB – Larsen Bay
- PAKY – Karluk
- PAKH – Akhiok (optional)
- 6R7 – Old Harbor
- Return to PADQ
SlantAlphaAdventures has also (in true Bush League fashion) provided a game to play along the way. At six of the aforementioned airfields, you will find a piece of the puzzle. Take notes and try to solve it! Upon return to Kodiak (PADQ) you may submit your answer to SlantAlphaAdventures via the private messaging means of your choosing (Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, or email). The correct answer describes something else you are sure to have found during your journey. If you are stuck, the clue at PAKH may give you a hint on how to solve the puzzle. At your option you may choose to include that stop in your journey, to save you from backtracking if you get stuck at the end. Good luck!
Scenery Addons:
Kodiak Alaska v1.3 from X-Plane.org (this scenery requires several libraries, read the file description at the .org)
AK Kodiak BL.zip (adds Bush League banners, and of course, the food truck!)
As usual, I HIGHLY recommend Ortho4XP scenery for the area, tiles +56-155, +56-154, +57-155, +57-154, +57-153, +58-154, +58-153. I’ve had good luck with ARC imagery, zoom level 16, and Viewfinderpanoramas for the DEM. I’d recommend these settings for these tiles of Kodiak Island.
If you get stuck or have a question, drop a message on the DownwindSim Discord bush-flying text channel. We’ll be happy to help and we look forward to have you join us on the Bush League Backcounty Fly-In Series! Watch out for the bears, they can be “overly friendly.”