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Don Sheldon, probably the most famous "bush" pilot, ever, his exploits on Mt McKinley are the stuff of legends, and on this flight, I've tried to recreate a little piece of his experience's
This flight its self, is simple, it depends on "seat of the pants" flying skills, as do most "Venture's" flight's, and a bush plane you know well
In testing this flight, I used the Aerosoft Beaver ski, and freeware Maule ski..(Don, mostly used a Supercub)..ski versions are not essential (wheels will do) but they add to the authenticity, plus I found them more stable, when doing maneuvers on the groundOkay, to start the flight, lets get to "Talkeetna" Alaska (PATK)...you can jet in, from wherever you are, Talk' has 3500 ft runway, so no probs...just a 100 yards yards away is Talkeetna Village Strip..AK44...1600ft rw...this was Don's base, from here he operated as "Talkeetna Air Service"...scenery of his hangar, is available at avsim "fsf_talkeetna.zip" also his cabin, 7000ft up the mountain, and its still in use! "sheldon_v2.zip"
Your now settled in to your bush plane, on the Village
Strip, take-off with the Talkeetna river, at your tail, a heading approx 340dgs,
soon as your airborn, you'll see Mt McKinley on your left, turn towards it, on a
heading of about 300 degrees...in fact you'll see three peaks close together,
(weather permitting) from left to right, they are, Mt Foraker, Mt Hunter, and on
the right, the big-un, McKinley, that's our target
Our aim, (we are dropping supplys, to climbing party's) is to make two
glacier landings, in different spots, the landings will be at a minimum of
8000ft, I found two good landing spots, one at 14000ft+, and another at
11000ft+, both on the side of the mountain, that your approaching
The ride up, can be, a little rough, any cloud will clear, normally at about
7/8000ft (I have seen it near the top, but seldom)
Aim for the 14000ft+ landing first, when you achieve that height, you should
see a large glacier, towards your center/right, this is were your skills come
in!
Your in thin air, your plane will be performing sluggishly I have flown and enjoyed this flight so many times, my "virtual" home is now
Talkeetna, well, its where the action is, and it's only about 50 miles to the
big stores in Anchorage! Enjoy! Screenshots of McKinley-Screenshots
Print flight and map-Here Info about Don Sheldon-Here
Back to PAJN Ventures Main Page! Email Barry at
PAJNVenture@aol.com
Your about to
land uphill, in thin air, keep your speed up, 50+ knots, keep your nose up,
(your not dropping in on your local dirt strip, at stall speed!)....aim to touch
down as gently as possible
But now you have the height, you can take your time,
cruise around the mountain, till you find a spot your happy with, land as many
times a you like, try "touch n go's" downhill!....you can have a load of fun
here!....dont worry about crash landings, keep practicing, after a good session,
its time to head back to Talkeetna...hdg approx 130 degrees....its all downhill,
and a nice real easy landing, compared to what you've now, become used to!