At 9:00 a.m. Friday the 13th, 2011, I took off in my Cherokee Warrior II to try my first Beach Landing. My plan was to meet John Bouker of Bristol Bay air at Protection Point, about 34 miles south of Dillingham, Alaska. John was transporting one of my parishioners, Bernina Venua, and several of her friends, to this remote beach. Bernina wanted an Alaskan adventure, which included taking pictures of the several varieties of birds.
We headed out from Dillingham and eventually arrived above the Point. After circling the beach for about ten minutes, I realized the tide was too high to see the beach. I returned to Dillingham and talked with John. He informed me that "the tide would not be low enough to land until 2:30 p.m."
I fired my plane back up at 2:30 and was about 10 miles behind John Bouker. Since I had never landed on a beach before, I wanted to watch where John landed first and then get a report. I watched him land, and when he took off again I called him up on frequency 122.9. We talked for a couple of minutes before I decided to try to land.
Besides making sure the tide is low -- rather than high -- before landing, John gave me some very helpful beach landing tips:
-- Don't land on what looks like dry beach -- it is soft and one might get bogged down. Try to land on the wet surface because it is packed down more.
-- After landing, do not taxi around. Stop where you are, let people out, etc., get back into the plane, and take off. Taxiing around will increase the risk of getting bogged down and really stuck.
-- Be sure the wind is right. Beach landings are very tricky. Most of the beaches are slanted and have an uphill or downhill grade.
-- Weight and tires are important as well. John had larger tires but a lot of weight. I did not have much weight, but very small tires.
With all of this information swirling around in my head, I decided to do a touch and go. Here is the video.
You can also view the video here.
I was very happy and excited when it was all done. I have been wanting to try a beach landing since I have been flying out here for the last six years. I finally got up enough confidence -- after close to 700 hours of flying -- to give it a shot. It was absolutely exhilarating.
I had several more videos but out here in the Alaska Bush, using the satellite, it took me four attempts and two days to finally load the above two and a half-minute video.
Fly safe out there.
Father Scott Garrett is the pastor of Holy Rosary Mission in Dillingham. His unique mode of transportation is a 160 Cherokee Warrior, which he uses to fly to the many remote areas within his parish. With the unpredictable weather of southwest Alaska, Father Scott's schedule is always written lightly in pencil.