Clear for landing — Flight ends a little too smoothly for pilot’s liking

Takeoffs and landings in a small plane can sometimes be a challenge in the wintertime, especially when there is snow covering the runway. With a little practice, I have found that my softest landings are ones on a runway with 3 to 6 inches of fresh snow covering the pavement. If I do it just right, I won’t know that I’m on the ground until the plane starts to slow down below flying speed.

A couple fellow pilots invited me to join them for a picnic at Snag Lake last fall. They assured me the ice was plenty thick, and if I could take off and land at Soldotna’s airport, I could land and take off from Snag Lake. I followed them north and was No. 3 landing on the lake. They were absolutely correct. Landings and takeoffs from the lake were like landing on a mile-long, snow-covered runway. I can do this! We had a great picnic, too.

The next weekend I gathered my ice fishing gear, loaded the plane and headed for Snag Lake to see if there really were any rainbows under the ice. During the week, the gale level winds had blown virtually all of the snow off the lake. The temperatures had been below zero all week, so I knew the ice was still solid enough to support the plane and its occupant again. As I lined up to land on the superwide runway, something was very different.

Approaching a touchdown, my brain told me I was about to take a bath. I could see aquatic vegetation and the lake floor flashing past under the wing. I was about to settle into this aqueous mass and take a very cold dunking. How can this be?

I then realized that the plane was slowing and I was already in contact with the glassy smooth and crystal clear surface of the lake. I had somehow landed on the water but hadn’t sunk yet. As I taxied to the place where I wanted to fish, the water was so clear that I could see submerged stumps and unknown dark things passing by underneath. I awaited the sinking of the plane into the water. When would it start? I finally taxied up on a small patch of remaining snow, somehow figuring that if I couldn’t see to the bottom of the lake, I would be safer. Is that silly or what?

Stepping out of the plane, I found myself a little apprehensive of stepping off the snow patch for fear of sinking into the crystal-clear water, only to find it was crystal-clear ice. Could something that clear hold my ample girth? I wasn’t sure. It was spooky, to say the least.

I drilled a hole in the ice and it was 18 inches thick — plenty thick! As I waited for the fish to visit my tantalizing menu, I kept feeling like I was floating on the water surface, awaiting the gentle waves. The fish were big and hungry, but I’ll save the fish story for another time.

Departing Snag Lake gave me the exact same apprehensions as landing. I kept thinking about what it would feel like when I sank into the water I could see through so clearly.

Once I was airborne again, I kept telling myself that there was no reason to worry about landing on the glassy smooth ice and that I would return for another ice fishing trip. I did return several times, but each time my brain told me I was going for a midwinter swim.

David Wartinbee, Ph.D, J.D., is a biology professor at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus and a pilot.

Bears visit airport — Soldotna pilots find tracks inside fence

By Jenny Neyman
Redoubt Reporter

Two brown bears apparently took an interest in aviation Thursday night and led themselves on a tour of the Soldotna Airport.

Pilots found bear tracks around their planes Friday, and the city maintenance department was called to investigate. Doug Schoessler, maintenance manager, followed two sets of what he figures were brown bear tracks, one large and one small, but didn’t see the bears. He thinks it’s a sow and cub.

“I saw two spots where they came under the back fence. They’d kind of dug through the trees under the fence,” he said.

An Enstar crew has been working on a gas pipeline outside the fence. They also saw bear tracks but didn’t seen the bears, Schoessler said.

The smaller tracks stayed mostly out by the fence, while the larger bear was bolder.

“They definitely walked through some of the planes right by the hangers there, but were mostly in the spots that were not populated by anyone. But the bigger one definitely walked around by some the airplanes and didn’t seem too shy,” Schoessler said.

No damage was reported to planes or other equipment. There aren’t any food sources or garbage left out at the airport to attract bears, Schoessler said. They may have been looking for game.

“I saw a lot of rabbit tracks. That was what I kinda wondered, if they were coming in looking for rabbits or not. But I didn’t see any kills or any anything other than tracks,” he said.

Whatever enticed them, the bears seemed to have let themselves out the same way they got in — by making a hole under the back fence.

“They walked right by that one gate that had a big gap under it, but they didn’t even try to get under it. I think they try to find their private areas,” Schoessler said.

There’s a stand of trees in the roughly 200-acre fenced enclosure, but maintenance workers didn’t see any sign of the bears.

“We tried to make some noise over that way to drive them out, but it they were in those trees at the east end, they were just sitting tight. But I don’t think so. I think they got out.,” he said.

Moose occasionally find their way into the airport fence in the winter and have to be driven out, but bears are uncommon.

“A long, long time ago they had some issues with bears, but I’ve been there five years and I’ve never had anything since I’ve been there,” Schoessler said.

Bears could pose a threat to humans at the airport, but the larger concern with any sizeable wildlife is the hazard they pose to planes landing or taking off.

“Moose or bears or any of those things, if a plane hit them, it’s not a good thing,” Schoessler said.