Author Archives: Tom George

About Tom George

Tom George serves as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Regional Manager for Alaska. He resides in Fairbanks, and flies a Cessna 185. Follow Alaska aviation activities and events on Twitter at http://www.twitter/AOPAAlaska or at: http://www.aopa.org/region/ak

Atmospheric conditions show pilots what to expect aloft

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It is a cold winter day in Fairbanks, Alaska. But some places are not as cold as others.

Temperature inversion over Fairbanks creates vivid optical effects, transforming distant mountains into greatly distorted features. Photo by Carol Lee Gho

The front page picture on the November 28th edition of the Fairbanks Daily News Miner gives a dramatic view of what is happening. A temperature inversion is holding a layer of cold in the valley bottoms, with temperatures as low as -26 degrees F. At the same time in the hills behind Fairbanks, the thermometer registers as high as +8 degrees F.

The change in air density marking the boundary of the inversion distorts the peaks of the Alaska Range, located 90 miles south of Fairbanks. Under these conditions, the normally sharp skyline– with peaks pushing above 14,000 feet– looks more like mesa’s of the south western US.

Map of surface temperatures observations show conditions as cold as -26 deg. F in valley bottoms, where hill tops register as much as +8 deg F.

During these events, local pilots know that even though it is cold at the airport, once above the surface, they can expect to be flying in warmer air. If one looks at the horizon during the climb-out, it is not uncommon to see the skyline flip-flop wildly while crossing through this boundary until solidly into the warmer air above.

Pilot Survey focuses on Mat Su Mid-Air Collision Concerns

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A little over a year ago an Alaskan industry/government working group was established to look at the rash of mid-air collisions that occurred in 2011.  To support that effort, AOPA fielded an online survey to hear directly from pilots concerning this topic.  The goal of the survey was to discover what methods pilots used to avoid mi-air collisions, and to find out how often they encountered unsafe conditions while flying in the Mat Su Valley.

The survey was emailed directly to a sample of 2,942 AOPA members who live in Alaska. In addition the Alaska Airmen’s Association, FAA and other aviation groups broadcast the link to the survey through their communication networks.  Over 600 people took the time to respond.  This will help the industry working group focus its efforts as it considers recommending ways to minimize the potential for mid-air collisions.  While that process goes forward over the months ahead, I wanted to share the summary of the survey so that you could see what the cumulative results tell us about how we operate—and what the respondents of this survey had to say regarding this topic. A summary of the survey is available here:   2012_04 Mat Su Valley Collision Avoidance Survey Final Report.    Look for more information in the months ahead as the working group starts to develop recommendations.

General Aviation Survey: Your help needed!

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Once a year the FAA conducts a survey to learn how much we flew, whether we did it IFR or VFR, on a flight plan or not, what equipment we have on our airplane, and a few other things.  It doesn’t take long to complete, and it would be a big help to AOPA and others who advocate for improvements to our aviation infrastructure.  The survey is conducted by an independent research firm— NOT the FAA themselves. The information is only provided to the FAA in summary form, no individual data tied to your N number is released.

I often sit in meetings with the FAA, National Weather Service, National Park Service and other groups, who ask, “Just how much flying does GA do?”  While the airlines and some segments of the Part 135 world report data to the government directly, this survey is about the only way we have of quantifying how much general aviation flying goes on, and documents the type of uses we make of our airplanes.

In Alaska, the FAA is conducting a 100% sample, to get better information on our activity– because we have told them that “Alaska is different.”  There is even a question asking specifically how many hours you flew in Alaska last year! Even if you completed the survey in previous years, please take the 15 minutes or so to go on line and fill it out again.  This data is immensely valuable when it comes to arguing for keeping aviation infrastructure we still use, and knowing when it might be OK to let go of things we no longer need.

The survey questions are pretty straight forward, and the answers are in your log books.  What was the total time on your airframe at the end of 2011?  How many hours did you fly for personal, business, instructional or other types of uses?  A few minutes going through your logbook and assigning flight hours to basic categories and you are ready to log on and fill out the survey.  The website is: http://www.aviationsurvey.org/  Use your N number to log in.  And if you hit a stopping point, it will save the answers and let you finish later. You have until November 30th  to participate.

Unlike some of the tests you take in school, this is all multiple-choice and fill in the blank.  No essay questions and no one to critique your spelling.  Perhaps the longest section of the survey is the string of questions asking about the equipment you have on board.  After clicking the “NO” button for a while when it comes to questions about TCAS, ADS-B, auto pilots and other goodies, this might give you an excuse to consider upgrading so you can answer at least one of these questions with a “YES” next year!

Book Review: The Bishop’s Boys

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What was the world like when the Wright Brothers make the first sustained, powered flight?  Most of us are familiar with the year (1903) and the place (the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk), but what allowed Wilbur and Orville to accomplish this feat? How did they succeed where better funded efforts had failed?  The Bishop’s Boys: A life of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Tom Crouch, answers those questions and literally transports the reader back to the decades before and after the introduction of powered flight—setting the stage for the airplanes we enjoy today.

This story is not a quick read, unless you do nothing else for a couple days straight.  The 529 page account is broken into three sections. The first introduces us to the Wright family–particularly Wilbur and Orville’s father, Milton, who had a profound influence on their lives.  Milton was a dedicated church man, who rose to the rank of Bishop in the Church of the United Brethren. In this capacity, he spent much time on the road. Also a devoted family man, he corresponded frequently with his wife and children, providing a rich source of material frequently quoted in the book.

The second section introduces us to the public’s interest in powered flight, which was bubbling over at the end of the 1800’s in the US and Europe.  We meet the leaders of the aeronautical movement, men including civil engineer Octave Chanute, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Langley, and Otto Lilienthal, the German engineer and aviation enthusiast.  Lilienthal had completed almost two thousand flights in sixteen different models of gliders in a five year period prior to 1896.  The exploits of these individuals, and more, made headlines in the popular press which fanned a fever already in the back of the Wright Brother’s minds.  It was the work of these pioneers that Wilbur and Orville turned to as they started their own investigation into the secrets of powered, heavier than air flight.  While the concepts of lift and drag had already been identified, even initial formulas derived to calculate them, the genius of the brothers was their decision to focus on how to control an aircraft in flight. The famed December 17 flight at Kitty Hawk is today identified as the milestone we associate with the start of powered flight, however put in context of the times,  the aircraft that flew that day was but a prototype that continued to evolve over the next several years toward the first “production” aircraft.

Wilbur Wright instructing a student pilot in Pau, France, passes over an ox cart.–1909.

The final section of the book covers the post Kitty Hawk period. While continuing to improve upon their aircraft design, Wilbur and Orville increasingly had to deal with the political and business world to gain acceptance of their invention.   The brothers attempted to cloak themselves in secrecy to protect the patentable aspects of their work, at the same time trying to sell their invention to the government and to interests in Europe.  The years that followed became the “patent wars” with more time spent in court defending their invention, and less in the shop doing what they did best—solving technical problems to advance aeronautical science.

While written in 1989, the book feels timeless. The author tells the story as it happened, with inclusions of quotes from the letters, news reports and documents of the day. The bother’s focus on developing a way to control an airship in all three axes (roll, pitch and yaw) set them apart from others attempting to achieve powered flight.  Fortunately for us, a wealth of documents and photographs survive–and are liberally sprinkled throughout the book.  This isn’t just a story for pilots.  Crouch, who happens to be the senior curator for the aeronautics department at the National Air and Space Museum, also describes the social and political issues of that era. He goes into some detail on the patent war that stifled aeronautical creativity and innovation, and the controversy between the Wrights and the Smithsonian Institution. Tied to a major dispute over claims of the historical significance of Langley’s efforts versus the Wright’s accomplishments, this feud of almost thirty years duration came close to costing us our ability to look up the Wright Flyer that hangs prominently in the Air and Space Museum today.

When I next crawl into the pilots seat of my own aircraft, it will be with a much deeper appreciation of what the Wright brothers—and the other pioneers of their times—did to bring us the gift of flight!

Jessica Cox inspires Alaskan Youth

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Last week Jessica Cox made a whirl-wind trip through Alaska, and inspired young and old alike.  If you are not familiar with Jessica’s story, she was born without arms but hasn’t let that stop her not only from living independently, but achieving her dreams.  She does with her feet all the things we do with our hands. But there’s more. She also drives a car (without special accommodations), and fly’s an aircraft—an Ercoupe—as a Light Sport

Jessica Cox addressing 200 students at Hutchison High School in Fairbanks, AK

Pilot.  Jessica’s real gift is the ability to share her story with others, in this case teenagers, and motivates them not to be bound by their own perceived limitations.

For the two-and-a-half days Jessica and her husband Patrick were in Fairbanks, I had the pleasure of transporting them to a variety of speaking engagements, which included two charter schools, the Boys and Girls

After Jessica’s presentation, two girls try to tie shoelaces with their toes.

Home of Alaska, Hutchison High School, and a public lecture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.  The biggest event was a banquet presentation with youth from a variety of groups including Boy Scouts, Civil Air Patrol Cadets, a high school Marine ROTC group, 4-H club members, and more.

Jessica does an outstanding job of using her own personal story to convey important lessons for youth. I won’t steal any of her thunder, but these include figuring out how to do what those of us with arms and hands consider trivial—like fastening a four point seat belt harness in the pilot’s seat before her first flight lesson.  One has to look at each new challenge and, as she says, “think outside the shoe.”  She also touches on the need for persistence, such as having to take her driver’s test more than once to convince the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles to issue her a driver’s license.  But perhaps most

During a interview with TV reporter Tom Hewitt, Jessica demonstrates putting on a headset.

importantly, not to let yourself (or others) tell you what you can’t do—like learn to fly an airplane.  AOPA is happy to reinforce that notion with programs such as the AV8RS, a free online membership for teens interested in aviation.

Jessica’s visit didn’t just “happen.”  The dynamo behind the scenes

Dee Hanson documenting Jessica’s presentation at Star of the North Secondary School in North Pole, AK

that brought her to Alaska, is Dee Hanson, Executive Director of the Alaska Airmen’s Association.  Dee

brought Jessica to Alaska in 2010, knew the power of her message, and wanted to make sure it got to youth in other parts of the state. In addition to Fairbanks, Jessica made appearances in southwest Alaska at Bethel and Napaskiak, and flew to the Yukon River community of Galena.  Alaska Airlines and ERA Alaska helped sponsor the visit, along with long list of businesses, aviation groups and individuals.  But without Dee investing hours of her time putting this package together, this campaign wouldn’t have happened.  Hats off to the Alaska Airmen’s Association for making this investment in the youth of Alaska.

And a big Thank You to Jessica for fitting us into her busy schedule.  I look forward to her next visit.

Looking for Volunteers with Spot or Spidertracks units in Alaska

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In the past few years devices that combine the technologies of GPS and satellite communication have become popular, with increasing use in the aviation community as an alternate way to either track your flight, or call for help.  A little over a year ago AOPA and the Alaska Airmen’s Association started working with the Alaska Flight Service Program, to explore the possibility of integrating devices such as SPOT and Spidertracks into the flight plans we file.  The idea that a distress call, including your current location, could go straight to Flight Service, and be forwarded to search and rescue, seemed like an improvement on today’s procedure of waiting for a flight plan to become overdue, especially if your ELT failed to function during the landing.

The idea was well received by the FAA who then started working on the many details needed to develop procedures.  Initially Adam White, President of the Airmen’s Association, and I, along with a couple of Flight Service staff members who own one of these devices, generated some “alert” messages, to evaluate the system.  Now, after a season of testing and refinement, the Alaska FSS is to the point of needing a few more pilots to participate in the “beta-testing” phase of this system.  To be clear, Flight Service does not track any aircraft, but has the ability to receive an alert or help message when activated by the pilot.  Upon receipt of a help message, FSS will validate it against a flight plan, and forward the necessary information, including your location, to search and rescue authorities.

Currently, we are looking for about a dozen pilots who:

  1. have either a SPOT or Spidertracks unit
  2. are willing to establish (or update) a Master Flight Plan with their home Flight Service Station and,
  3. would be willing to participate in controlled tests to help Flight Service exercise the system.

We hope to find a few people in each of the three AFSS regions of the state (served by the Juneau, Kenai and Fairbanks Flight Service, or one of the satellite facilities in other locations).

If you are willing to be involved in the program, please contact Tom George (tom.george@aopa.org) or Adam White (president@alaskaairmen.org) for more details.  We hope this testing will go quickly, and allow Flight Service to offer this new service to all interested pilots across Alaska!

Spotlight on GA in Alaska on Monday, Sept 17: Show your support!

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AOPA President Craig Fuller, along with Pete Bunce (GAMA), Tom Hendricks (NATA) and Ed Bolen, (NBAA) are all heading to Alaska to recognize the role general aviation plays in Alaska.  On Monday, September 17, they will join Alaska Senator Mark Begich and Alaska DOT Commissioner Marc Luiken in a brief celebration paying tribute to the role GA plays in the state.  This is part of a national campaign to recognize the value we provide to the country both in terms of the service provided and economic benefits.

In Alaska, where 82% of the communities are not connected by road, GA takes on a vital role. Individuals use airplanes like pickup trucks to get places and move things around. Search and rescue, game surveys, access for camping, backpacking, hunting and fishing often involve ga aircraft.  Contractors that build  things and technicians that maintain our telecommunication infrastructure fly to get to the job site.  Helping the public understand the role aviation plays is important to achieve the long term support we need to improve our airports, keep aviation infrastructure healthy, and improve aviation safety.

Come over to Signature Flight Support, in the South Airpark at Anchorage International Airport at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning to participate in this event.  And if you would like to have a chance to visit with Craig Fuller, come by at 8:30 a.m. and enjoy a hot continental breakfast from Diannes Restaurant.  Details may be found on the GAMA Invitation.

I hope to see you there!

General aviation aircraft like the venerable Grumman Goose are part of the fleet that transported people, food, and gear to parts of Alaska without airports. My first trip in one was as a 19 year old emergency fire fighter, from Minchumina to Wien Lake, where we waded ashore to fight a forest fire.

Web Survey on Alaska “practice runways”

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AOPA has launched a web-survey to solicit input from pilots who used any of the “practice runways” that were marked in Alaska this summer. For details see AOPA’s story. For more background on this project see earlier blog post.

If you used one of the runways, please take the survey!

A vertical view of Ski Strip 2 at Fairbanks International Airport. The 2×4 ft rectangles define a 25 foot wide “practice” runway. Marks along the runway are spaced 100 ft apart to give a measure of landing/take off distance.

Visiting our Canadian friends: the Atlin Fly-In

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This article is re-printed from the Alaska Airmen’s Association Transponder.

Looking down the flight line at the Atlin Fly-In

The last day of June saw the birth of a new northern aviation activity that I hope to see continued for many years: the Atlin Fly-In.  Organized by a gung-ho group in Whitehorse, this three-day event was a fun-packed combination of aviation and local activities at the historic community of Atlin, British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the 65 mile-long Atlin Lake. About half way between Whitehorse and Juneau, but on the dry side of the coastal mountains, this is a scenic location for a flying, camping and all-around fun place to be.  Fifty aircraft from all directions made the trip to Atlin, with close to 100 people enjoying the weather, scenery, food, events and chance to interact with other aviation minded folks.

Getting there is half the fun

After filing our eAPIS report, and calling Canadian Customs, my wife and I departed Fairbanks on Friday, June 29, in our Cessna 185. We were flying with Canadian friends and colleagues Bram Tilroe from Edmonton and Bob Kirby from Calgary, in a Piper Dakota (you will read more about the purpose of their trip in future reports).  Skirting rain showers, we headed down the Alaska Highway. Our first stop was at Beaver Creek, just east of the border, where we painlessly cleared customs before continuing down the highway toward Whitehorse.  Conditions were not so nice along Kluane Lake and around Haines Junction, but picked up the closer we got to Whitehorse.  After refueling both ourselves and the airplanes, we continued down the valley to Atlin. We felt right at home landing on their gravel runway, taxied past an impressive array of aircraft, and parked along the old runway which would be home for the next three days.  The GPS track later showed we had covered 644 nautical miles.  The Fly-In was also billed as a camp-in, as there are not many commercial establishments in Atlin, a community of about 300 residents. After pitching our tent, we took in the variety of aircraft, ranging from big tired Cubs and Cessnas to a number of low-wing Piper products, even a Mooney. For accent, a beautiful Staggerwing Beech and a resident Skyvan, a handful of float planes tied down at the lake, and at a couple helicopters added flavor to the mix. This is a serious flying community!

Taking in the aircraft at Atlin

This was organized!

The event was organized by members of the Canadian Pilots and Owners Association (COPA) based in Whitehorse.  COPA encourages the establishment of local units called Flights, and the Yukon Flight 106 http://www.copayukon.com/) happens to be the Whitehorse group.  An energetic and very organized member, Jean Michel Sauve, and a small committee from Flight 106 did the legwork that made this event a pleasure for the participants.  But maybe that is just the Canadian way, eh?

If you didn’t wish to cook, arrangements had been made for locally prepared meals, which provided an instant social occasion, and the opportunity to meet other participants.  The food was provided, for a donation, by local establishments, who set up and cooked in hangars at the airport.  Picnic tables owned by the COPA Yukon Flight, had been trucked down from Whitehorse, making a dining facility.

On Saturday, the tables served as a class room for a talk on mountain flying by veteran Whitehorse pilot Rick Nielsen, and local Atlin pilot Jamie Tait.  This orientation to the local area was the lead-in to a fly-out to the Llewellyn Glacier, Juneau Icefield and Taku River, with a landing at a remote strip.

An evening program included a talk by glassier pilot Andy Williams, who flew a Helio Courier for the Kluane Lake Research station, supporting projects deep in the St. Elias Mountains. Tim Cole, the COPA Regional Director for the Yukon and BC, gave an extensive update on COPA activities.

But it wasn’t just about airplanes.

The Taranhe, which plied the waters of Atlin Lake starting in 1907, and site of the annual high-tea.

Similar to Dawson, Fairbanks, Eagle and other northern communities, Atlin is a gold rush town.  An offshoot of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, mining still plays a significant role in the area.  Like many surviving gold rush era towns, there is an interest in history.  The Tarahne is an old lake boat that used to haul people and supplies along the lake, but today is drydocked, and in the process of being restored.  Once a year, in true British tradition, a high tea is held on the boat. A fund-raiser for the restoration process, locals and visitors alike don their 1890’s attire and come aboard.  For women that didn’t happen to bring a suitable hat, they were available to use for the occasion, for a small donation. We went, and met some fascinating local residents—and had a great time!

Sunday was Canada Day. A pancake breakfast (with REAL Canadian maple syrup) was served downtown, which also provided a ring-side seat for the Atlin Canada Day Parade.  Leading the procession were a sharp looking group of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in full dress uniform.  The Mountie in the second row looked familiar—oh wait, that is our fly-in organizer, Jean Michel, in the uniform of his day job!

The Canada Day Parade in downtown Atlin

Sunday afternoon following the parade it was back to the airport for another aviation activity.  COPA has a program similar to the EAA Young Eagles program called COPA for Kids, where they provide free flights to youth, to introduce them to general aviation.  COPA Kids was a hit in Atlin, with flights provided for 30 youngsters.  While that may not sound like a huge number, remember, this is a community of a little more than 300 people. On a per capita basis, that beats the pants off of any other event I am familiar with.  The local Lions Club provided lunch, both for the kids and the fly-in participants, another example of community involvement.

To wrap up the Fly-In, a banquet was held in a hangar at the airport. In addition to great food and a three piece band to provide live music, a raffle for a host of goods and services was conducted.  The raffle along with a live auction for a travel package of hotel, RV, car rental, and air travel raised something over $5,000. The raffle and auction provided the income to cover the costs of the fly-in leaving a healthy surplus, which was donated to a local Atlin youth group.

Returning to Alaska

While the weather held nicely at Atlin, Monday morning saw rain and five mile visibility in Whitehorse, as we motored back north.  Neither weather reports nor forecasts looked good further along the Alaska Highway route, so we were treated to two ‘bonus days’ in Whitehorse, which also proved delightful.  If you have time spend in Whitehorse, right next to the airport is a transportation museum with a nice collection of historic aviation photos and information.  Next door is the Beringia Interpretive Centre, also worth a visit. Clouds finally lifted, and we were able to fly back to Alaska on July 4th.  We cleared customs in Northway, which was another lesson in logistics.  While we had no difficulty filing an eAPIS report, the Alcan Border Station is short staffed at the moment, and they ask pilots to clear only between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. (two hours less than the normal published times). This makes an already short window for entering Alaska even smaller. If you combine weather conditions with customs hours of operations, it makes getting into Alaska more challenging, now that Eagle has no customs officer to allow clearing there.  Folks with longer range (and good weather) can fly on into Fairbanks, or Anchorage, but that doesn’t help a lot of the general aviation community.  This is an issue we need to address if we want to see more cross-border GA activities.

Community Involvement

In reflecting on the Atlin Fly-In, there were several aspects of the event that are noteworthy. First, pilots came from all points on the compass.  Of the fifty, ten were from the US.  Alaska pilots from Juneau, Sitka, Healy and Fairbanks were joined by a Cessna 172 from Idaho and an Austrian couple that keep a C-182 in the states, who were flying on to Alaska.  As we got talking with the Canadian participants, in addition to the locals from Whitehorse, we discovered groups of airplanes from Fort St. John, and as far south as Vancouver.  Not everyone who started out made it. A Cessna 140 had departed from Quebec, but encountered strong headwinds, and turned back when they realized that at their current rate of progress, the event would be over before they arrived.  These Canadians are a flying bunch of people!

The mountain flying seminar and fly-out over to the Juneau ice field was not only fun for those that participated, but provided an introduction to that type of flying for those not used to this terrain and local weather. While not billed as a safety program, this was an aviation educational element designed into the event.

This fly-in was also well integrated into the Atlin community.  By engaging the services of the businesses in Atlin to cater meals, and plug into the local events, the citizens of Atlin were aware that the infusion of visitors (and dollars) into their community that weekend was tied to the Atlin airport.  Hopefully, that will help when it comes time to support the airport in the future.  Having the proceeds for the fundraiser not only pay off the event expenses, but creating a significant contribution to the local youth centre, also provides another connection for general aviation to the community.

Finally, I would like to recognize the hours and effort that the Whitehorse group invested in making the arrangements, soliciting donations for raffle items and door prizes, and hauling all those picnic tables back and forth from Whitehorse! A big thank you to Jean Michel and the COPA Yukon Flight 106 for starting what I hope will become an annual tradition. You can see more details about the Atlin Fly-In, and the sponsors that supported it at http://www.copayukon.com/flyin_Atlin.html.  To have 20% of the aircraft at the Fly-In possessing N numbers was an impressive showing. The challenge I throw out to Alaskan pilots, and our neighbors in the “lower 48” states, is to improve upon that percentage next year. You won’t regret it!

Extras:

Additional  Atlin pictures from the Fly-in

Podcast covering the Atlin Fly-in by My Yukon Life podcast host Jennifer Hawkins

Alaska Creates Practice Runways to Sharpen Pilot Skills

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Knowing that you can get down in stopped in 600 feet is a good skill if you plan to land on some of Alaska’s backcountry airstrips.  And now you can practice in the comfort of a conventional runway, before taking on all the challenges of off-field conditions.  To improve aviation safety and reduce off field landing accidents, the FAA has entered into an experimental program in partnership with airport owners, and aviation user groups to create a number of practice “bush” runways within the confines of a conventional gravel runway.

 

Volunteers paint a 2′ by 4′ rectangle on the Ski Strip at Fairbanks International Airport.

The “practice” runway is created by painting a series of two by four foot rectangles to mark a “bush” airstrip that is 25 feet wide, and either 600 or 800 feet long.  Marks are spray-painted on the gravel surface at 100 foot intervals, providing an easy reference to judge your landing, or take-off distance.  Volunteer groups at six Alaskan airports are stepping up to the plate this summer to create these training aides.  And while not simulating all the conditions of a true off field situation, developing the precision to get down and stopped on a short, narrow surface is certainly a skill one wants to have mastered before taking on the other variables involved in off-field operations.

 

Kudos to the participants in this project, which include the FAA, Ninety Nines, Alaska Airmen’s Association, Alaska Airports Association, Alaska DOT&PF, Alaskan Aviation Safety Foundation, AOPA and the individual airports. In all cases, volunteers stepped up to the plate to provide the labor and equipment to do the painting.

A 25′ wide by 800′ long “practice” bush strip on the East Ramp at Fairbanks International Airport

The six airports approved for this year’s test are: Fairbanks International (PAFA), Goose Bay (Z40), Nenana (PANN), Palmer (PAAQ), Soldotna (PASX) and Wasilla (PAWS).  Once a runway has been marked, a NOTAM will indicate the non-standard markings.  Check out one of these runways near you, and take advantage of the opportunity to test your landing and take-off skills. The benefit of using these facilities is that if you don’t make it the first time, only your ego is bruised — which is a lot less costly than bending your airplane far from home!