Last July 2, the day after the ’00 IDPA Fly-in at San Martin, Calif., ended, members gathered at South County Airport to bid bon voyage to Kent and Morna Power, headed for Alaska in their Cessna 210. A few days later word came that they had arrived safely in Anchorage. As a result, Kent is believed to be the first deaf pilot to fly from the Lower 48 States to Alaska. Here is his story.

By Kent Power

We left South County for Bellingham, Wash., a Class D controlled airport, after a sad farewell at San Martin Airport, for we had had such a wonderful time at the fly-in. The flight from Bellingham from San Francisco took six hours. It was a beautiful day all the way.

The next morning we thought Canadian customs would inspect our plane before we crossed the border, but they didn’t. [Ed. Note: Canadian customs normally will allow a U.S. registered airplane to overfly Canadian territory without a customs check provided the airplane does not land at a Canadian airport.]

We flew over Vancouver, B.C., with permission to fly over water about 15 miles off the coast all the way up British Columbia under a low cloud ceiling, about 1,000 to 2,000 feet MSL all the way. We reached Juneau, Alaska, without stopping for fuel or to rest--a 5.5 hour flight. The views--mountains with ice caps and glaciers--were fascinating.

The mountains and islands that greet the aviator approaching Juneau.

Before leaving Bellingham I was told to switch my transponder from the VFR 1200 code to squawk 1631 instead when we reached a point 15 miles south of Juneau. On the approach to the Class D Juneau International Airport, I immediately saw the tower controller give us the green light signal, and we landed.

Kent Power and his Cessna 210 after landing at Juneau Airport. Note the control tower in the distance.

After we put the airplane to bed, the airport manager welcomed us and took us to a motel where we spent the night. The next day he also lent us the FBO’s courtesy car, in which we took a tour of the city and even saw the Fourth of July parade.

Lots of float planes bobbed in the harbor along with many cruise ships, which are greeted on the waterfront by a statue of Patsy Ann, the famous deaf dog, who died in Juneau in 1942.

At this time of year Juneau enjoys 20 hours of daylight and only 4 hours of night every day, and the tide falls 20 feet every morning.

Later in the day we went to the Flight Service Station to open our flight plan to Anchorage. The manager and staff were very helpful and interesting and gave us a tour of the facility, showing us their radar and computer equipment.

The flight to Anchorage took three hours, also under cloud ceilings. I did another light signal landing, this time at Anchorage International, the first Class C airport where I have ever landed. There was no problem.

The peaks and glaciers visible to the pilot flying from Juneau to Anchorage.

Merrill Field near Anchorage International is a very busy airport, with many planes and seaplanes tied down. We spent two nights in Anchorage, during which we rented a car and saw the sights.

We stopped at the Anchorage Deaf Center, where Jag Dawadi, a deaf student pilot, works as a mental health specialist for the state. He travels all over Alaska by commercial jet nearly every week to help any deaf person with a problem that needs solving. It was also very interesting to hear Alan Stewart at the deaf center tell about the history and culture there.

Kent meets Jag Dawadi, a mental health counselor for the deaf, in his office in Anchorage.

That far north enjoys 23 hours of daylight--we didn’t get used to that!

After our two-day stay we departed for Barrow, crossing the Arctic Circle and flying over seemingly a thousand lakes, and stayed overnight in that small town where there at the time was no night at all. People there tend to be mixed Eskimo and white of Russian descent. Barrow’s airport is uncontrolled. It is 1,100 miles from Barrow to the North Pole, and I wanted to fly there, but my aircraft has a range of only 1,200 miles.

So we left Barrow for Fairbanks, a four-hour flight, and stopped on the way for fuel. Fairbanks, a Class D airport, is in beautiful country. It was a military operations area during World War II, with a 5,132-acre installation that is still the world’s largest land-based rocket range. The FSS warned me not to fly over it at any time because of active training.

The next morning we took off for Juneau, a 3.5 hour flight. It was a beautiful day, and we flew back to Bellingham from Juneau in 6 hours, stopping for fuel. At Bellingham we refueled and flew straight to Portland, Ore., overflying the Seattle Class B airport at 12,500 feet. In Portland we stayed overnight with Australian friends.

The next morning we flew home to Phoenix, Ariz., refueling at Las Vegas, Nev. It was a 7.5 hour trip.

The whole round trip took about 53 hours, with our Cessna 210 running beautifully all the way. We wish we could have stayed in Alaska longer. Our only disappointment was that we did not glimpse whales in the ocean, but it was the wrong time of year for that. Most whales were migrating to Hawaii at that time.

We recommend that all deaf pilots make the trip to Alaska, spending two or three weeks there. They won’t regret it. Alaska is beautiful--and I haven’t mentioned the wild animals. It’s not that expensive; fuel is about $2.25 to $2.45 per gallon, and the cost of living is much the same as in the Lower 48.

Because the Alaska trip was without problems of any kind, I am thinking about flying to Australia via Mexico, South America, Antarctica and Tasmania if I can get financing or sponsorship. If not, my plane will be shipped to Australia from Long Beach, Calif.

I’ll finish with a reminder that I have lots of information about a three-week trip to Australia for the international IDPA Fly-in in July, 2001. Just contact me.