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JoaoPaz · (This post was last modified: 11-30-2025, 02:38 PM by JoaoPaz.)

Flight detailed here -> https://ops.alaskanwinds.world/showthread.php?tid=214

[You're standing in the hangar at Willow Airport, 0730 local. I'm leaning against the Super Cub's strut, coffee in hand.]
Alright, listen up. Today's flight is straightforward - you're taking the Cub down to Wasilla for a supply run. Generator parts, groceries, the usual. Into Wasilla you'll take some rental fishing gear to return to the shop.
You'll probably be departing runway 31 here at Willow - that's gravel, remember, so keep that stick back during rollout or you'll be picking rocks out of the prop. Rotate around forty-five, and you'll climb like a homesick angel! Turn southeast and stay at fifteen hundred feet initially, following the Parks Highway - it's your friend today, again, parallels the whole route.
You'll pass Nancy Lake about five minutes out - pretty area, State Recreation cabins all over the place. Keep going southeast, you'll cross the winding Little Susitna River about five minutes later, and less then 10 after that to Wasilla aiport.
Landing Wasilla, northeast approach. It's paved, thirty-seven hundred feet, so you'll have plenty of room. Complete pattern if into Rwy 4, make your CTAF calls on one-two-two-point-eight - it's busier than here, watch for—

[Phone rings. I pull it out, check the screen.] Hold on.
[answering] Yeah, this is—oh, hey Sarah. What's... wait, slow down. He forgot his what?
[listening, expression changes] Okay. Okay, I understand. Heart medication, yeah, that's not something you mess around with. You're at Cabin Three? Eastern shore, right. No, no, we can get it to you. Give me...
[checking watch] ...give me an hour, maybe hour and a half. We'll do an air drop, a bag with bright streamers, right over the water near your cabin. You'll need to grab it from the shore or take the canoe out.
Yeah, Metoprolol, I got it. We keep emergency stock here - you know how it is. We'll get it to you.
No problem, Sarah. That's what we do. See you in an hour or so.

[hangs up, looking at you]
Change of plans. Nancy Lake Cabin Three - her husband forgot his heart medication when they flew in yesterday. Beta blocker, he needs it today.

[walks to wall cabinet, pulls out waterproof canvas bag with orange streamers, small medical kit]
Emergency stock. We keep basics here - Metoprolol, epinephrine, antibiotics, the essentials. Bush operations reality: nearest pharmacy is Wasilla, nearest hospital is Palmer. Sometimes an hour matters.
So here's the new flight: depart runway 31, climb to fifteen hundred, head southeast. Nancy Lake is now your first waypoint, not just a landmark. You'll orbit the lake once - full circle, announce on one-two-two-point-nine, check for boat traffic. Then set up for a drop run from the north, one-fifty feet over the water, sixty knots, roughly parallel to the highway. Drop the bag on near the cabin. Orange streamer, she'll see it.
After the drop, climb to fifteen hundred, continue southeast to Wasilla. Same approach, same landing. Pick up the supplies we originally planned, we'll figure out the return flight later.
Questions? No? Good. Get that medication loaded and get airborne. Clock's ticking.

PAUO, Northwest