Flying above the ARCTIC CIRCLE - NO ROADS lead to this place | Alaska: Part 11

[Laughter] old sourdough Lodge 23 almost 1 a.m. [Music] this is my third week in Alaska visiting my buddy Chris Palmer from the online ground school angle-of-attack we've spent the last couple of weeks filming nothing but amazing flights and day trips if you haven't seen parts 1 through 10 of this Alaska series definitely check it out link is down in the description my time in Alaska is starting to wind down but there's one more place Chris and I want to go before I board the plane back to Texas Bettles is a remote village about 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle and that means around the time of the summer solstice the Sun doesn't set and I can't leave Alaska without experiencing this we are at 12:05 a.m. and there's Sun right back there it's just incredible Chris also has a good friend that's an aircraft mechanic in Bettles and he can show us around this super remote village in part 10 Chris and I left town Keaton northbound for metals but we needed a lunch stop so he landed at summit Airport for a bite to eat in this part we make our way to our final destination with a fuel stop in Nenana Alaska but when two pilots see an abandoned airplane we must go explore welcome to part 11 all right we have landed in Nenana Alaska very very quiet Airport but nice long paved runway and then it's got a twenty five hundred foot grass runway and then a water runway next to that we're gonna get some gas here and there's actually an abandoned airplane over there it looked like a dc-3 it's all beat up it's in the shrubs it's overgrown stuffs grown around it but we can't leave here without going to look at it this looks like an old fuel pump well clearly something bad happens nose gear claps maybe but it looks like it smashed up there you know yeah it almost looks like this might have been used for rescue like they they cut it look like jaws of life right here yeah and then peeled it up all the control cables elevator and trim cables just watch your step trial Khan's rudder pedals all the yokes and everything are gone everything every little knob couple mixture knobs up here it's been completely gutted wonder what happened to it look at the tail number if I now yeah I'll have to find the find the registration number somewhere and and check it out see what see what happened to it but yeah everything's gone actually the seat rails are still here yeah but they they sawed off the seats yeah the seats were right here the rails are still there it's crazy navigator radio operator station these all these giant BNC connections yeah garden garden fuel pump switches they're like rusted shut panty ice remember 8 - Fox alpha Wow look at that there's a there's a wing right here here's part of the gear so this wings upside down it looks like and then the engine the cells right there and then I think that's the other wing over there and the engine nacelle it's not like the gear were extended it just forced them up into the fuselage even more as they slammed down the Douglas c-54 the part of Fairbanks carrying 3000 gallons of heating fuel for Nixon Fork mine and route the number two engines started running rough the pilot elected to shut it down and returned the Fairbanks during the shutdown procedure the engine caught fire the fire extinguishing system was activated the crew attempted to divert to Nenana Municipal Airport but a forced gear-up landing had to be carried out in the tundra the left wing was consumed by fire - got two people on board no fatalities probable cause caused the failure of an engine cylinder during cruise flight which resulted in an in-flight fire and subsequent emergency gear up landing on snow-covered tundra a factor in the accident was the failure of the fire suppression equipment to extinguish the fire really really incredible it looks like it was a more or less violent impact just from all the damage the airplanes behind me here and then kind of just in the bushes over here is all the wreckage I guess they they just kind of piled it up over here but really cool had no idea this is here I just saw it as we were landing and as we were taxing and I was like we're not leaving until we go check that out no it's yeah it's cool no it's a wrecked fuselage I looked down at my leg and there were five mosquitoes on me because I'm in my Steve Irwin shorts so we're gonna go back to the airplane get out of these bushes and start heading there's a mosquito on my arm I'm gonna start heading up to Bettles after we departed Nenana we went about an hour and a half without seeing a single trace of humans on the ground it was absolutely untouched wilderness we do have some survival equipment onboard the aircraft but perhaps the most important pieces of gear are our GPS trackers and communicators chris is using a track plus and I'm using a Garmin inReach before we took off I selected a handful of people from my contacts and my inReach sent them an email with a link to an online map at any given time there were five people that knew our location and where we are going and I can send and receive text messages through satellite as well if anything were to happen I could push the SOS button and search-and-rescue would see our GPS distress signal and come find us to me this is a priceless tool to fly with pretty remote yeah we don't seen anything out here for a long long time Oh [Applause] [Music] absolutely nothing out here that's crazy I have seen a road not a cabin not a road not another hour not another person yeah settles traffic stock 243 uniform turning on final runway 2 . metals 5:30 [Music] that's 40 [Music] all right flaps up where you from again John Austin Texas Texas yeah one of two vehicles that did start and as of today it did again [Music] Rob lives here in Bettles and he's gonna take us over to the cabin we'll be staying at so we can load our stuff in and get settled then him and his wife are gonna drive us around and give us the Grand Tour of the village so this is the main office you guys can come here in the morning or at night if you go in this door when the freezers are that doors unlock 24/7 inside is a full convenience store oh my gosh there's rocky road there's breakfast sausage there's eggs cheese sour cream canned stuff ice cream like a Philly cheesesteak microwavable whatever and if you buy anything just put your name and what you bought on a piece of paper on the desk and then you'll get caught up in one it's just a pay-as-you-go sort of thing which is dangerous cuz I got a fuel bill there it's a mile long I have no idea Orion pattern check that place out oh man this is spotless I love this this is amazing [Applause] [Music] old chicken chicken legs and thighs pork ribs tater tots whole grocery store in here Vettel's grocery store burritos leave that really cheesesteak DiGiorno pizza let's zoom all that stuff it's flown in yep you know all gets blown in mostly we've got a passenger van with enclosed like the trailer okay somebody drives it seven hours up the Dalton Highway to pump station five and then we fly 20 minutes over to Prospect Creek you see on the mattress so we flat 20 minutes Prospect Creek loaded up in the 206 or the beaver in the rear Wow and all that and we got lettuce and cheese and whatever you'll be doing in a second topspin violent here yeah I mean we try to bring our own stuff but there's everything that you might have my [Music] freakin middle of nowhere and their stuff here and it all revolves around the airport and the people are cool and you can get drinks anytime a night on an IOU [Music] bird got no 200 in it and this is a fairly local point in the block so I get Lucia by training that I want saves us our drinking water your drinking water your cooking water I mean you can cook with the water out of the sink I just wouldn't wash any white clothes with it I will say this is not my best camera work because my top priority was to live in these moments here and not just live it through the viewfinder of a camera this time Chris and I weren't really mentally prepared for how remote this place really is and it's incredibly interesting to see how they do even simple things that we take for granted a normal life like getting the groceries there Rob and his wife treated us to dinner at their place and then we all hopped in the truck so they could show us around the mosquitoes out here in Bettles Alaska are pretty bad but I'm wearing a lot of repellent and I've got the head net on here the hood and a hat I got there like all over the camera and the mic right now but the lighting is gorgeous it's absolutely still out here we are at 12:05 a.m. and there's Sun right back there it's just incredible above the Arctic Circle we're about 35 miles north of the Arctic Circle [Applause] absolutely beautiful Oh Bettles Lodge old sourdough lodge and old sourdough Outfitters is here which is all has to battle so exactly call that okay either most of those are just and er a journal was in the Alaska without a junkyard so all the power in evansville if metals is all runoff and generators about 24 hours a day so there's a business called AT&T Alaska power and telephone and we'll run past there Raquel with my friends so believe it or not you know we are a city therefore there is a post office oh my gosh stop this yep it's open five days a week the mail comes in on the Wrights flight the rights charter flight gets given Eric Fox of the lodge he brings it over here she checks it in and then it's available for people together so you can actually know that your mail is here before your mail actually it gets to you know delivery or not that you just have to go to close enough to get it now we're in Evansville Weaver's past Hazel's place one of the elders lives there they have a little clinic which is this little blue building right here there was one person geez where PJ works yep showers that are like two dollars and fifty cents a shower or something if you wanna grow a shower from city of fo oh yeah it is 23 I don't know what they almost want to end [Music] but then I looked down and saw like 80 on my leg yeah and then it's kind of a problem after that jeez dude what do you think I'm happy I don't care [Music] all right it's 1:30 in the morning and it's not getting darker than this this is it this is about it that's about as dark as it's gonna get up here in the Arctic Circle I think he said we're about 35 miles north yeah of the Arctic Circle in Bettles Alaska we got the Grand Tour from Rob and as and his wife that's just awesome this is it's so fascinating seeing how like a little village like this operates exists how it exists people are still like pioneers here like natives still live here yeah and that yeah it's just it's crazy so anyways yeah Alaska it's 1:30 in the morning and that's as dark as it's gonna get we are let's see June 27th so we're six days after summer solstice so we've already had the longest day of the year but this this is darkest is gonna get them the Sun just barely went behind the mountains back there and then here in a little while it's gonna come be coming back up over the mountains sliding that way it's crazy and here's our little cabin in our little humble cabin and here's our cabin good times crazy crazy I don't know what to think I don't know if it a loss for words me too but I'm glad we came here at first I was like you know there's not gonna be anything in Bettles and now we're gonna stay at this cabin maybe find some food they have a long way people in this village eat or something and then and then we're gonna head back I couldn't ask the lady that rinsed this out I asked her if it has electricity but I mean they have some amenities here they do yeah but but Evansville and Bettles both run on a 24-hour generator right yeah so she it's just crazy Robson anyways mosquitos are starting to eat us that time the other side so anyways I'm blown away so see ya this place is incredible it's simple and it's an entirely different way of life than you'll find everywhere else this is just one of the many villages like it in the huge state of Alaska but places like this hold a deeper meaning when you experience being here for the first time everything has to get flown in the food mail supplies fuel airplane and car parts everything there's no road access and that changes everything now if you consider a place like Anchorage it's a big booming city it's not far removed from the situation at Bettles everything is just taken care of for you you don't have to think about where the food is coming from or how it's gonna get there or how are you gonna get a part for your car I may not be making much sense because what we were thinking while in Bettles is hard to articulate but the bottom line is this type of experience really makes you appreciate how easy modern life is and we wouldn't have been able to come visit Rob and see this awesome place without general aviation in part 12 we depart Bettles back to Lake hood so I can catch my flight back to Texas after two and a half weeks in the 49th state after crawling our way through some worsening weather and having to make a u-turn because of it we finally get back to Lake hood and Anchorage Alaska and we close out this Alaska series subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss part 12 if you like this video then be sure to give it a like and share and if you'd like to support this channel you can head over to aviation 101.com slash store and shop merch and gear there until next time I want you to stay happy healthy current and proficient and we will see you in part 12 the series finale fly safe [Music]

Channel: Aviation101

Views: 127,655

Rating: 4.9532166 out of 5

Keywords: bettles, remote, arctic, circle, village, flight, training, flying, cessna, 172, cessna 172, skyhawk, n2423u, alaska, seldovia, short, runway, gravel, mountain flying, flight vlog, angle of attack, aviation, general aviation, aviation101, cfi, private pilot, landing, takeoff, atc, air traffic control, intercom, audio, recording, hd, 4k, cinematic, pilot, pilot life, pilot vlog, paho, homer, vfr, seaplane, dhc-3, de havilland otter, summer soltice, brooks range, pabt, alaska series, chris palmer, josh flowers

Id: 4PKiND0_twI

Length: 22min 23sec (1343 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 26 2019