My experience has taught me there are three key areas you should focus on for this trip: aircraft maintenance, pilot skills, and forward-thinking decision-making.

In my first column regarding this trip, I wrote about all the preventive maintenance I did on my aircraft prior to leaving. I not only replaced things that perhaps didn’t need replacing, such as the exhaust system, but also moved up the scheduled condition inspection by a month. Doing this allowed for a month of flying without any invasive maintenance and gave me a chance to ring out any changes and repairs I made during the condition inspection. Even if your inspection isn’t due prior to your trip, I would recommend performing a thorough inspection within one to two months of departure. That means having someone else look at your airplane while it’s all opened. Go through a bunch of “what if” scenarios about each of the systems as it pertains to fuel, oil, avionics, ignition, etc. It’s a lot less stressful wondering about the maintenance when you are slogging it out in IMC over the water and picking up ice. The last thing you want to hear is an engine miss because you didn’t take the time to clean, gap, or replace the spark plugs.

A round trip from the southeastern United States will be about 55 hours, so I always carry a case of oil and change it in Anchorage once we arrive. A quick drain on the engine makes for a quick process without changing the filter.

I assure you there are times when your mind will wander and go to the dark side. Mine did when we were out over the gulf in icing and solid IMC for 2.5 hours. It was then that I remembered that when I installed the Garmin G5 as a backup, I couldn’t afford the backup battery, so I told myself I would get it prior to this trip. Guess what? I forgot. Now I’ve never had a complete in-flight failure of the Advanced Flight Systems electronic flight instrument system, but there’s always a first time for everything, right? I immediately connected the Sentry ADS-B receiver ADHRS (air data, attitude, and heading reference system) to my iPad running ForeFlight and calibrated it, and the stress factor went down.

By the way, when you are VFR and sightseeing, which is most of the time, you are in the food chain. We did see grizzly bears, and they are big. So are the moose — and moose kill more people than bears in Alaska. So, don’t skimp on the maintenance. This is going to be an expensive trip, and it will get even more expensive if you must get something fixed in Alaska or wait on parts. Those scenarios would dampen the fun factor.

Let’s address pilot skills. To help you open your eyes on the scope of flying in Alaska, look at a map and place the state of Alaska over the Lower 48. It will cover a good chunk of it. Even if Alaska were cut in half, it would still be bigger than Texas. That size speaks to the large number of potentially different weather patterns in Alaska. With large snow-covered mountains surrounded by cold waters, the weather can change dramatically in short periods of time.

Here are some thoughts on preparing. First, while the whole trip can be done VFR, I do not recommend going without an instrument rating, along with being proficient on instruments. Find a good instructor and practice approaches to minimums, in actual conditions if possible. Find a safe area in your location to fly in some marginal conditions and at low level. Practice making turns without losing any altitude at low level. While doing all of this, load your airplane up to gross weight, as it will be for most of your Alaska flying. Make some flights at max endurance, max weight, and max time, landing with minimum fuel. Sometimes there’s a chance that you may fly for two hours and must turn around due to weather, so you want to understand your aircraft under those conditions. The idea is to remove any of the potential stress issues ahead of time in case you are placed in circumstances that may require your best pilot skills.

If you don’t have a fuel flow meter, consider getting one. If you do have one, make sure it is calibrated correctly. Understand the maximum distance you can fly with the proper mixture setting and max fuel. On one group flight we had an RV-6 come to a dead stop on the runway with the prop stopped, announcing he was out of fuel. I can only imagine the pucker factor on the last half-hour of the flight, but he never mentioned the fuel situation to anyone. His mistakes included not topping off the fuel tanks at the prior stop when everyone else did and leaving the flaps down for half the trip until someone pointed it out. Always top the tanks for legs other than sightseeing.

For the sightseeing trips, especially for flying up the glaciers, I recommend only carrying half fuel, and leave as much of the baggage out of the aircraft as possible, except for survival gear. Never remove that from the aircraft. In fact, make sure you and your passengers understand where it is located and brief them on its contents prior to the trip.

The last needed skill has to do with forward-thinking. Remember during pilot training how we were always waiting for the instructor to simulate a failure? I assure you, that state of mind comes in real handy in Alaska. It starts with flight planning days ahead of the trip and any sightseeing while there. Always file flight plans, even for the daily sightseeing trips. No sense being in the food chain any longer than necessary if you go down. Carry a personal locator beacon as well. If part of a group, consider team preflights. Starting the engine with the towbar attached can ruin the trip.

Don’t rush to go sightseeing on your first day if you haven’t been there before. I find Merrill Field in Anchorage to be the best place for information. Go into the manager’s office located at transient parking and you will find maps on the walls. They are also available at the FAA website and will help you understand the radio frequencies and procedures in the local area. Alaska is an extremely busy tourist area. There are airplanes everywhere, and a lot of them are flying. You are expected to fly in certain directions on the glaciers and make position announcements. Many of the reporting points’ latitude and longitude are available on the website, and you can download them.

Talk to the locals, especially the tour pilots. They will give you hints on where the winds and bumps could be located. With ADS-B, don’t hesitate to call other aircraft while airborne. Most people are super friendly and responsive.

Another thing to pay attention to is smoke from fires. The fires are large in Alaska, and the smoke can limit visibilities to a mile or less. Take the time to call the flight service station for briefings while in Alaska. I find the briefers to be very helpful.

I like to load my flight plan into ForeFlight the day prior and then upload it into the aircraft. That way I can keep my head out the window looking for other aircraft and see the reporting points coming up on the moving map. Practice that at home before you leave as well.

Make sure to download or take the Alaska Chart Supplement, as many places have VFR arrival and departure procedures that you are expected to know. I found that downloading it into ForeFlight made in-flight access easy.

If you go, have patience. You will have spent a lot of time and money to get there. Take the time to enjoy it. You will never forget it. Just remember to not push the weather. The funeral will be on a sunny day.

Vic Syracuse, EAA Lifetime 180848, is a commercial pilot, A&P/IA mechanic, designated airworthiness representative, and EAA flight advisor and technical counselor. He has built 11 aircraft and has logged more than 10,000 hours in 74 different types. Vic founded Base Leg Aviation, has authored books on maintenance and prebuy inspections, and posts videos weekly on his YouTube channel. He also volunteers as a Young Eagles pilot.