MFC0011 Tongass National Forest Exploration

This trip will take us from the Ketchikan district Northward into the Tongass National Forest for some exploration to many of the seabases found in the TF area.

The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest national forest in the United States at 17 million acres (69,000 km²). Most of its area is part of the temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, itself part of the larger Pacific temperate rain forest WWF ecoregion, and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass National Forest, which is managed by the United States Forest Service, encompasses islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords and glaciers, and peaks of the Coast Mountains. An international border with Canada (British Columbia) runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains. The forest is administered from Forest Service offices in Ketchikan. There are local ranger district offices located in Craig, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell, and Yakutat.

 Along the way we’ll be exploring the interesting landscapes of this area as well as most of the RTMM scenery locations from airstrips to villages to cabins to shelters, to ruins, to lighthouses/light stations to name a few. Be prepared as this excursion introduces intermediate stops: one or two stop-overs within a single flight leg.  Make sure you get the tour download so you will know which locations are stop-over locations for each leg.

The flight plans have a three digit suffix. 6A0 or 6A1 or 6A2 which translates to the Tour Flight Leg Rating Conditions:

6=Max landing rate is -600fpm.

A=Autopilot permitted

x- 0, 1, 2: The # of Stop-overs in the flight leg. IE:

 (0=No stops, 1= 1 stop over, 2= 2 stop-overs in a flight leg).

This trip is a mix of land and water moorings so you will require an amphibian. Again, the Twin Otter has lots of power and is very maneuverable: a great aircraft to fly. I am planning to use that one in an amphibian version but you can use your fav bush amphibian or helicopter. Oh, one more thing, the RTMM scenery required to see all the locations and POI is almost to the point that you require all of the RTMM add-on scenery pieces. (We are working our way north so make sure you get all the pieces in so you can see all of it but this trip visits hundreds of RTMM and TF locations so best get all the pieces in.