North to Alaska

[Justinf]

Honestly was so close I may as well have been the co-pilot.
(the first couple of seconds of this is the wrong way up)

[video=youtube;QoUNqh1yxiw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoUNqh1yxiw[/video]

 

[ozjuice]

I'm totally with you about the very small planes.......Do not like them at all!

 

[love_the_life]

We boarded first and went straight to the front to sit just behind the pilot, a very young man in his early 20s. The Diazepam had kicked in now and I wasn't nervous.
View attachment 93253

View attachment 93254

That's the pilot? He looks all of 12 :shock:

I suppose you were lucky - you had 2 engines. We were in single engine planes in South Africa and the first flight was like being in a washing machine without the water, very rough. At least we had a pilot and a co-pilot though.

 

[Justinf]

That's the pilot? He looks all of 12 :shock:

I suppose you were lucky - you had 2 engines. We were in single engine planes in South Africa and the first flight was like being in a washing machine without the water, very rough.

I reckon he was early 20s. Still, he was much more qualified than me to fly the thing.

 

[love_the_life]

That's not saying much. Blind Freddy would be more qualified to fly a plane than me.

 

[Justinf]

After a fun landing, we got out of the aircraft and had a few moments to take some pics.
God it was cold. It was hovering around -25 degrees celcius.









We were herded into a minibus and taken on a 'tour' of Coldfoot which last all of 10 minutes which included a stop to visit some husky dogs, which we'd already seen the day before.

 

[love_the_life]

A bit brisk then? :shock:

 

[Justinf]

A bit brisk then? :shock:

Just a tad.

 

[Justinf]

We stopped for our pre-packed lunch at the truck stop, which was a very simple place, but I would imagine in summer the outdoor deck would be a very nice place.



Coldfoot Post Office.

 

[Justinf]

back to the plane and it was about now when I decided that if I didn't do this now, I never would.
I actually considered stripping off right down to my boxers, but I was worried that my feet would be too cold.
So I compromised and stipped off the top half and put one of my footy jumper on.
Bogan stuff hey?!!!!??!!!
People were watching me wondering what the hell I was doing when I was taking my gear off.
Don't be fooled by the sunshine. It was bitterly cold.











It was around now where I was spotted by a small group of Japanese tourists. Well that started the biggest rush ever. They all wanted photos with me. There were seven of them and they didn't want a group photo, they wanted one by one pics.
Keep in mind it's -25, I'd been in that damn singlet for probably 90 seconds already, which was 85 seconds too many to start with.
I tried to keep my fans happy, but I got through two of them and then just said that they will have to get a group pic because I simply couldn't stand out in that cold for much longer. They didn't seem to understand, but thankfully I finally got through. They procrastinated too long in and I ran back to my daypack to put my clothes back on.
They were disappointed, but what the hell do you do when you are half naked and it's 25 below?
Ah, the price of fame.

 

[get me outta here]

This is a surreal dog photo. He/she's a beauty.

View attachment 93366

 

[Justinf]

This is a surreal dog photo. He/she's a beauty.

Those eyes!

 

[drron]

That's not saying much. Blind Freddy would be more qualified to fly a plane than me.

I once had ideas to learn to fly.I went up with one of the local instructors.He asked me to land the plane.I thought he was joking but no.Did pretty well for a novice with only 1 small bounce.
A couple of weeks later he came to see me professionly.Turned out he had severe untreated glaucoma and was legaaly blind.There ended my flying ambitions.

 

[Justinf]

Time to hop back onto the plane and into some warmth. My fingers were frostbitten I'm sure of it (not really, but they were numb).
We sat at the back of the cabin this time to give the others a go at flying further up the front, however the views were no less spectacular.

 

[Justinf]

 

[Justinf]

 

[Justinf]

apologies for making you scroll through all these photos, but I thought I may as well post them.
I know you all want my selfies, but trust me, these are more attractive.

 

[Justinf]

The famous Alaska Pipeline.

 

[Justinf]

 

[Justinf]

Before long we were making our descent back into Fairbanks.