Great video, very thourough. I'm one of the A11 approach controllers and I would like to point out something that was neglected in the video. There is an important note at the bottom that a lot of pilots miss. The note says to remain below 2500 until advised by ATC. This means that even once you've completed the procedure, the restriction still exists. If a pilot cancels flight following and exits the class C, they relieve the restriction. However, if they continue with Flight Following and wish to climb above 2500, they need to specifically request the climb. 90% of the time, it is not an issue. The remaining 10% of the time, it can cause a giant mess if a departing VFR aircraft climbs without permission. They end up inside the main departure coordidor for heavies turning east off 33 or climbing into military arrivals. It is very easy for the approach controllers to miss this unannounced climb due to the congestion in that area and the data tags all being on top of one another. So as the heavies begin turning, we can easily not realize that the C172 has climbed up, without permission, and caused a separation issue (especially with wake turbulence). It is such a commonly missed note and so frequently deviated from, that most A11 controllers are hyper-vigilant about it... but the potential for disaster certainly still exists. If you ever see fit to release another video on this subject, I would LOVE to see this restriction reiterated and explained. We can almost always accommodate the climbs by pilot request (especially by the time you get north of Goose Bay) but we need to be afforded the opportunity to plan for it and adjust traffic flow accordingly. Keep up the great videos and spreading of knowledge. Please feel free to reach out to A11 if you'd ever like a tour or to discuss procedures. Personally, I never grow tired of discussing these things with local pilots. I'd way rather spend 10 minutes talking a student through it, while they are on the ground, than to deal with the frenzy of chaos caused by their unfamiliarity in the air. ATC is here to help, not out to get you... but once you deviate and bust our separation... our hands become tied and paperwork ends up becoming involved. It is the last thing we ever want to see.
All these years flying in and out of Merrill, I’ve used the standard departures maybe a hand full of times. They will usually give you a deviated departure towards eagle river / birchwood, unless the cartee is active. When it’s open they have you go south to Tudor before you turn that direction. For those of you who don’t have adsb for going over the class C and aren’t too hot on crossing the inlet at 600’. :-)
@@diaryrecorded5524 oh I don’t about that. You just request what you would like to do from tower, as long as it makes sense they usually give you permission. I’m honestly surprised they don’t have a procedure to go that direction, as you’ll hear it pretty often as a request.
Pretty thorough discussion and sounds like it would be fun to fly. Just a tip for future videos, in my opinion, that mouse clicking sound is cool the first time or two but quickly becomes quite distracting. It is kinda loud and sharp as well, especially for headphone users.
Great review John. Merrill is my home airport and it can get intimidating even for experienced pilots. And great advice to let Merrill ATC know if you're unfamiliar. I've heard them help a few pilots depart and arrive over the last couple of years and they were very good about it.
I went to Alaska many years ago and flew a C152 out of there (local sightseeing). Fun times for sure. I asked the CFI who accompanied me why he wasn't flying bush. He said he wanted to see the age of 30. ! ohhh geez..
But how do you get atc to talk to you like they would IRL? is that a thing on there ? You have to have knowledgeable people available online or something right? I’ve only tried it once but wasn’t sure how to find the right people … not sure how hard that is but thanks ahead of time for any response to this ❤
Would love to know Merrill atct’s take on flying across elmendorf and just dropping in from the north in coordination with elmendorf tower when the restricted areas are cold and approach allows it. I’ve done it half a dozen times and even at night when it’s slow I don’t think I’m earning too many fans in atc. What’s your experience with this if any? Also the “should” phrasing in the bryant segment satr is interesting. Lastly it is common to experience frequency saturation on Merrill tower while near pt noname or MacKenzie after receiving a handoff from approach with flight following. I personally remain clear of the D until I get a callsign acknowledgement even if that means orbiting west of noname, not a fun place to be a flying roadblock and I’ve wondered if you could just keep going by LoA if approach hands you off? Vice versa on the westbound flight following with a late handoff from tower prior to entering the class C on an altitude deviation north of mid channel?
If I were King for a day, I'd scrap that R-2203 altogether. The federal government claims 90% of a 650,000 square mile state. There's so many less-busy places to go do their Secret Squirrel Shenanigans. Absolutly ridiculous.
I work ATC at EDF and MRI doesnt seemed bothered by the procedure at all. Our normal procedure, as written in the LOA, is to send you to moose run golf course to hold. However, usually when we coordinate with them they just have you guys base over Muldoon.
@EricMassey748 it is a little uncommon having VFR a/c come from the north and request to transition. Technically the pilots at 6 mile lake dont have to talk to us lol. but quite a few times a week we will have A/c from Merrill do and instrument approach with us and then transition to merril after a low approach.
@@El_Piloto_de_Leche yeah, that makes sense. You guys have been very accommodating every time I’ve transitioned through. I usually call ahead to EDF even if I’m getting flight following from approach even though it seems they have the ability to coordinate that. I tried a practice approach at EDF once but I guess it was banned during Covid. The weirdest thing for me is flying the Merrill IFR obstacle departure and flying right over EDF while just talking to approach.
Hey Jon, is there a ForeFlight pack to download some of these check points? I’m also looking at flying Denali and wondering if someone has a pack for the 70 ish named points in the chart supp.Thanks
@FLY8MA, Do you have any books you recommend for learning more on navigation? I'm trying to get as much information behind me long before I go after PPL. I'm stuck in the middle of BC Canada with no aviation in the schools here or within 800km. :(
Great video, very thourough.
I'm one of the A11 approach controllers and I would like to point out something that was neglected in the video.
There is an important note at the bottom that a lot of pilots miss. The note says to remain below 2500 until advised by ATC. This means that even once you've completed the procedure, the restriction still exists. If a pilot cancels flight following and exits the class C, they relieve the restriction.
However, if they continue with Flight Following and wish to climb above 2500, they need to specifically request the climb.
90% of the time, it is not an issue. The remaining 10% of the time, it can cause a giant mess if a departing VFR aircraft climbs without permission. They end up inside the main departure coordidor for heavies turning east off 33 or climbing into military arrivals.
It is very easy for the approach controllers to miss this unannounced climb due to the congestion in that area and the data tags all being on top of one another. So as the heavies begin turning, we can easily not realize that the C172 has climbed up, without permission, and caused a separation issue (especially with wake turbulence).
It is such a commonly missed note and so frequently deviated from, that most A11 controllers are hyper-vigilant about it... but the potential for disaster certainly still exists.
If you ever see fit to release another video on this subject, I would LOVE to see this restriction reiterated and explained.
We can almost always accommodate the climbs by pilot request (especially by the time you get north of Goose Bay) but we need to be afforded the opportunity to plan for it and adjust traffic flow accordingly.
Keep up the great videos and spreading of knowledge. Please feel free to reach out to A11 if you'd ever like a tour or to discuss procedures. Personally, I never grow tired of discussing these things with local pilots. I'd way rather spend 10 minutes talking a student through it, while they are on the ground, than to deal with the frenzy of chaos caused by their unfamiliarity in the air.
ATC is here to help, not out to get you... but once you deviate and bust our separation... our hands become tied and paperwork ends up becoming involved. It is the last thing we ever want to see.
All these years flying in and out of Merrill, I’ve used the standard departures maybe a hand full of times. They will usually give you a deviated departure towards eagle river / birchwood, unless the cartee is active. When it’s open they have you go south to Tudor before you turn that direction. For those of you who don’t have adsb for going over the class C and aren’t too hot on crossing the inlet at 600’. :-)
Dang I wish I could hear your voice as you talk about this … I bet you have lots of good info
@@diaryrecorded5524 oh I don’t about that. You just request what you would like to do from tower, as long as it makes sense they usually give you permission. I’m honestly surprised they don’t have a procedure to go that direction, as you’ll hear it pretty often as a request.
Pretty thorough discussion and sounds like it would be fun to fly. Just a tip for future videos, in my opinion, that mouse clicking sound is cool the first time or two but quickly becomes quite distracting. It is kinda loud and sharp as well, especially for headphone users.
Great review John. Merrill is my home airport and it can get intimidating even for experienced pilots. And great advice to let Merrill ATC know if you're unfamiliar. I've heard them help a few pilots depart and arrive over the last couple of years and they were very good about it.
Mental note. If I ever fly into Merrill go IFR
I went to Alaska many years ago and flew a C152 out of there (local sightseeing). Fun times for sure. I asked the CFI who accompanied me why he wasn't flying bush. He said he wanted to see the age of 30. ! ohhh geez..
Nice explained. Hope to see more like this. 😊😊😊
What if you're up ship creek without a paddle?
Someday, Katie and I will fly Alaska..
I hear there’s a cool pilot lodge being* constructed
Haha I think I heard of a cool pilot lodge somewhere up there too 😂
I've heard that too! come visit!
Microsoft Flight Simulator is good way to get familiar with places 👌🏽
But how do you get atc to talk to you like they would IRL? is that a thing on there ? You have to have knowledgeable people available online or something right? I’ve only tried it once but wasn’t sure how to find the right people … not sure how hard that is but thanks ahead of time for any response to this ❤
@@diaryrecorded5524 yes VatSim provide Air Traffic service. You talk to real people
@@diaryrecorded5524You have to open the ATC option in the quick menu
Would love to know Merrill atct’s take on flying across elmendorf and just dropping in from the north in coordination with elmendorf tower when the restricted areas are cold and approach allows it. I’ve done it half a dozen times and even at night when it’s slow I don’t think I’m earning too many fans in atc. What’s your experience with this if any? Also the “should” phrasing in the bryant segment satr is interesting. Lastly it is common to experience frequency saturation on Merrill tower while near pt noname or MacKenzie after receiving a handoff from approach with flight following. I personally remain clear of the D until I get a callsign acknowledgement even if that means orbiting west of noname, not a fun place to be a flying roadblock and I’ve wondered if you could just keep going by LoA if approach hands you off? Vice versa on the westbound flight following with a late handoff from tower prior to entering the class C on an altitude deviation north of mid channel?
If I were King for a day, I'd scrap that R-2203 altogether. The federal government claims 90% of a 650,000 square mile state. There's so many less-busy places to go do their Secret Squirrel Shenanigans. Absolutly ridiculous.
I work ATC at EDF and MRI doesnt seemed bothered by the procedure at all. Our normal procedure, as written in the LOA, is to send you to moose run golf course to hold. However, usually when we coordinate with them they just have you guys base over Muldoon.
@@El_Piloto_de_Leche excellent, good to know, thanks!
@EricMassey748 it is a little uncommon having VFR a/c come from the north and request to transition. Technically the pilots at 6 mile lake dont have to talk to us lol. but quite a few times a week we will have A/c from Merrill do and instrument approach with us and then transition to merril after a low approach.
@@El_Piloto_de_Leche yeah, that makes sense. You guys have been very accommodating every time I’ve transitioned through. I usually call ahead to EDF even if I’m getting flight following from approach even though it seems they have the ability to coordinate that. I tried a practice approach at EDF once but I guess it was banned during Covid. The weirdest thing for me is flying the Merrill IFR obstacle departure and flying right over EDF while just talking to approach.
Well done.
You’re the man!
Makes IFR flying look a lot easier…
I thought that … probably just get IFR into there right
Hey Jon, is there a ForeFlight pack to download some of these check points? I’m also looking at flying Denali and wondering if someone has a pack for the 70 ish named points in the chart supp.Thanks
God bless you, thanks for the video! Unfamiliar indeed 😅
Great detailed information John despite I have no attention of flying my experimental airplane to Alaska.
Wish me luck tomorrow! I’ll report back if I get a number to call.
@FLY8MA, Do you have any books you recommend for learning more on navigation? I'm trying to get as much information behind me long before I go after PPL.
I'm stuck in the middle of BC Canada with no aviation in the schools here or within 800km. :(
Our free basic course is a good place to start: learn.fly8ma.com/courses/pplgs/
There is a section on navigation.
An airport in The middle of a city
Good video but the clicking in the video is very disturbing to say the least
Thanks for the feedback.
What a mess lol.