Originally Posted by
Safety
I've flown about 1000hrs of backcountry/wilderness in the Rockies, always wondered how Alaska might compare. Alaska pilots would come down and fly some of the wilderness strips in the Rockies and say things like, "this is nuts, too dangerous". All the while, I figured Alaska would be more dangerous. Maybe it's just how we're trained and what we get used to accepting.
Alaska has 2 worlds in aviation. Western Alaska and the rest of it. So a lot might depend which landscape they flew. I flew in the Rockies before coming to Alaska and in a lot of ways I can agree with you. In Alaska we rarely have to deal with density altitude. Like today at 5500' out west of anchorage the density altitude was -1000' where in the Rockies it would be 8000'. As far as flying a cub to a random riverbed I would rather do it down south. The water is clearer and always flows the same direction and the dirt strips have smaller rocks. At the same time I saw some places in western Colorado I would think twice on landing at whereas in Alaska I would do it under the same conditions. All depends on comfort zones and what guys are used to I guess.
At this point I've come to realize most the old timers up here would never make it flying down south due to the fact they can't communicate with anyone outside their buddies on the radio or can't fly instruments for ****(granted it's kept them alive up here so maybe it's the way to go here who knows. Anyway They take pride in making Alaska seem "scary" and keeping a legacy up here which keeps others from coming. Makes my resume look better so I will go with the flow on this one lol.
Granted the flying here is tougher than any cfi-airline guy will ever imagine but at the same time it's not rocket science.
I kinda miss the Rockies a bit so I might have to take a trip thanks for the reminder haha
Thanks for listening to my ramble it was a long day up here and my brain is all over the place.