Alaska

FAA alters, adds routes for Alaska air travel

Published

2 years ago

October 8, 2022

FAA alters, adds routes for Alaska air travel

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Ralph Gibbs of Angel Aviation first bought the flying bug when he was 19 years previous and behind the wheel of a sizzling rod.

“Actually. I used to be driving my GTO by the point my draft quantity got here up. That’s what bought me into aviation, navy aviation specifically,” Gibbs mentioned.

Gibbs loves flying for one purpose.

“My want for velocity,” Gibbs mentioned.

Now flying lovers and pilots like Gibbs could have a safer approach to soar Alaska’s skies with new GPS-guided flight routes established by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“They use newer GPS expertise and so they permit exact flight paths for pilots that permit them to fly extra direct paths in Alaska,” the FAA’s Mike O’Hare mentioned of the modifications.

The FAA has established 30 new GPS guided routes, along with updating 24 present routes to assist pilots fly at a decrease altitude to keep away from icing circumstances.

It’s a part of the Alaska Aviation Security Initiative that was launched by the FAA in October 2020. By way of the initiative, the FAA realized that improvement of terminal transition routes often called “T-routes” was one of the requested for suggestions.

The Federal Aviation Administration has up to date and elevated the T-routes throughout the state of Alaska.(Federal Aviation Administration)

“With the GPS system, the pilots can fly decrease to the bottom, beneath the freezing stage and nonetheless have the identical precision navigation functionality,” Gibbs mentioned.

“To allow them to have the identical navigation down low to the bottom, beneath the freezing stage.”

Moreover, the routes give pilots a greater concept of the place the obstacles are situated throughout their flight path.

“These T-Routes versus a low altitude L route, or a excessive altitude excessive route, these T-routes are extra exact they’ll permit the pilots to fly decrease and snake in and round these mountains decrease and etcetera,” Gibbs mentioned.

The FAA mentioned the modifications will improve security for pilots in Alaska.

“So having the ability to fly very exact routes at decrease altitudes to keep away from icing circumstances is crucial to aviation security right here in Alaska,” O’Hare mentioned.

The added security measures make pilots like Gibbs very glad.

“It makes me really feel nice. I really like flying. Security is paramount. There’s so many issues to make flying secure and that is one in every of them,” Gibbs mentioned.

The FAA additionally mentioned it within the strategy of growing T-Routes that might exchange low and medium frequency airways. That’s anticipated occur throughout the subsequent three years.

At present, 13 of the routes have been activated. The FAA plans to have one other 20 prepared by November, whereas the rest are anticipated to start use in 2023.

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Alaska

‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’

Published

7 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s first “flyball” league held its annual “Great Alaska Barkout Flyball Tournament” on Saturday in midtown at Alyeska Canine Trainers.

Flyball is a fast-paced sport in which relay teams of four dogs and their handlers compete to cross the finish line first while carrying a tennis ball launched from a spring loaded box. Saturday’s tournament was one of several throughout the year held by “Dogs Gone Wild,” which started in 2004 as Alaska’s first flyball league.

“We have here in Alaska, we’ve got, I think it’s about 6 tournaments per year,” said competitor and handler Maija Doggett. “So you know every other month or so there will be a tournament hosted. Most of them are hosted right here at Alyeska Canine Trainers.”

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Alaska

State of Alaska will defend its right to facilitate oil and gas development

Published

16 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

State of Alaska will defend its right to facilitate oil and gas development

Last week, Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi indicated he will rule that Alaska does not have authority to permit access across its lands to facilitate oil and gas development on the North Slope.

The Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources plans to fight and appeal any final adverse ruling that undermines the state’s constitutional interests in resource development.

The Department of Natural Resources has issued a permit allowing Oil Search Alaska (OSA) to cross the Kuparuk River Unit, operated by Conoco Phillips Alaska, to develop the Pikka Unit. As described in the State’s brief to the court, “the denial of such access implicates the delay of development of millions of barrels of oil and billions of dollars of public revenues.”

“The State of Alaska has a constitutional obligation to maximize the development of our resources,” DNR Commissioner John Boyle said on Nov. 22. “We have to confirm with the Supreme Court that we have the authority to permit access for all developers to ensure we can meet this obligation.”

Once the Superior Court issues the final judgement, Alaska will be able to file its appeal. This is expected to occur in the coming weeks.

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Alaska

Close encounters with the Juneau kind: Woman reports strange lights in Southeast Alaska skies

Published

24 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

Close encounters with the Juneau kind: Woman reports strange lights in Southeast Alaska skies

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – For Juneau resident Tamara Roberts, taking photos of the northern lights was just a hobby — that is until a different light altogether caught her eye.

Capturing what she’s called strange lights in the skies of Juneau near her home on Thunder Mountain, Roberts said she’s taken 30 to 40 different videos and photos of the lights since September 2021.

“Anytime I’m out, I’m pretty sure that I see something at least a couple times a week,” Roberts said. “I’m definitely not the only one that’s seeing them. And if people just pay more attention, they’ll notice that those aren’t stars and those aren’t satellites.”

Roberts has been a professional photographer for over 20 years. She said she changed interests from photographing people to wildlife and landscape when she moved to Juneau 13 years ago.

Once she started making late-night runs trying to capture the northern lights, she said that’s when she started encountering her phenomenon.

Roberts said not every encounter takes place above Thunder Mountain: her most recent sighting happened near the Mendenhall Glacier while her stepmom was visiting from Arizona.

“She’d never been here before, so we got up and we drove up there, and lo and behold, there it was,” Roberts said. “I have some family that absolutely thinks it’s what it is, and I have some family that just doesn’t care.”

Roberts described another recent encounter near the glacier she said was a little too close for comfort. While driving up alone in search of the northern lights, she expected to see other fellow photographers out for the same reason as she normally does.

But this night was different.

“I’ve gone up there a million times by myself, and this night, particularly, it was clear, it was cold and the [aurora] KP index was high … so as I’m driving up and there’s nobody there. And I was like, Okay, I’ll just wait and somebody will show up.’ So I backed up into the parking spot underneath the street light — the only light that’s really there on that side of the parking lot — and I turned all my lights off, left my car running, looked around, and there was that light right there, next to the mountain.”

Roberts said after roughly 10 minutes of filming the glowing light, still not seeing anyone else around, she started to get a strange feeling that maybe she should leave.

“I just got this terrible gut feeling,” Roberts said. “I started to pull out of my parking spot and my car sputtered. [It] scared me so bad that I just gunned the accelerator, but my headlights … started like flashing and getting all crazy.

“I had no headlights, none all the way home, no headlights.”

According to the Juneau Police Department, there haven’t been any reports of strange lights in the sky since Sept. 14, when police say a man was reportedly “yelling about UFOs in the downtown area.”

Responding officers said they did not locate anything unusual, and no arrests were made following the man’s report.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service in Juneau also said within the last seven days, no reports of unusual activity in the skies had been reported. The Federal Aviation Administration in Juneau did not respond.

With more and more whistleblowers coming forward in Congressional hearings, Roberts said she thinks it’s only a matter of time before the truth is out there.

“Everybody stayed so quiet all these years for the fear of being mocked,” Roberts said. “Now that people are starting to come out, I think that people should just let the reality be what it is, and let the evidence speak for itself, because they’re here, and that’s all there is to it.”

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