Flying in the early hours [Alaska Airlines Flight 69]

[serviceceiling 135]

And here we are, looking through the HUD and breaking through the clouds down on our way to Ketchikan. Back in flightschool my instructor always preached "trust your intruments" and since then they have never betrayed me.

 

 

At around 500 feet the runway lights popped out of the fog and I disconnected the autopilot, taking the machine back in my own hands. We touched down with confidence - "speedbrakes up, reverse green!" and slowed down to a safe speed.

 

 

 

We made it, without any strong winds on final for which Ketchikan is well known for.

 

 

The parking brakes were set and it was time to relax for a while before we fly back to Juneau. New passengers were boarding our aircraft and the FA's were busy with their daily routines. Meanwhile we recieved the latest weather report for Juneau, which predicted some heavy fog - typical for those early morning hours. However it was quite acceptable in order to perform our flight on time. 

 

 

 

The boarding was completed, the aircraft fueled up and I briefed my co-pilot for our departure which was basically just straight forward with a right 180° turn short after.

 

We were pushed back and were busy with the respective flows and checklists. Taxiing up the sloped taxiways in Ketchikan is always something special and requires a lot more thrust than usual. 

 

 

 

Finally we lined up, received our clearance, applied takeoff thrust and thundered down the runway, lead by the bright bright lights.

 

 

 

"80 knots - checked" , V1 - rrrotate , positive rate - gear up!" We climbed out and broke through the low cloud ceiling just to admire the gorgeous morning sky. 

 

 

 

Afer the 180 we were heading towards Juneau, enjoying every second of this short but beautiful early morning flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were reaching our cruising altitude of 34.000 ft. and I was mentaly preparing for the RWY 08 approach in Juneau, which is even quite challenging in perfect weather conditions. 

 

 

 

After a couple minutes of cruise we were already descending.

 

 

During the descend a 90 knot tailwind was making it hard to lose speed and altitude at the same time.

 

 

...so we spread our feathers a little bit in order to slow down and stay on profile. 

 

 

Soon we found ourselves in a cloud-sandwich.

 

 

The visibility remained almost 0 down to the Sister Islands but luckily we have our "magic box" to see through the heaviest fog.

 

 

Then suddently I saw the lead-in lights of RWY 08, kicked out the autopilot and did my best staying on profile and aligning onto the final runway course on short flinal. 

 

Once again we touched down with confidence and slowed down quickly - that was one interesting approach and I definitely felt my adrenaline. 

 

 

Taxilights off - APU avaible.

 

 

We set our parking brake, finished our shutdown flows and checklists and left the building. It was 9AM and Elvis has left the building. B)

 

 

 

The End.

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I hope you guys enjoyed this little flight report, which I originally wrote and posted in German on a German Forum but decided to post a shorter version of in English by request from a member on this Forum. Any feedback, questions or comments are appreciated!

[klm251 62]

Awesome pics!!!

[Aamir 2,907]

Awesome shots!

You should post in the screenshots forum though, they'd love to see this stuff!

[A320FAN 370]

Stunning pics!

[mrtk311 34]

Good one!

[luscombeguy 4]

Nice pics. Oh by the way, did you notice the wreckage of a previous ASA69 flight that had a not quite successful outcome a few hrs earlier. :(