Days  -300 to 0

For a few years my dad and I talked about flying to Alaska and we finally decided to do it in summer 2004.  My dad lived in Biloxi, MS and I in Madison, WI, so we sprung for two sets of world aeronautical charts and we both studied the charts in preparation for the trip.  Actually, my dad did more of the planning, having been 1) a navigator in the Air Force and 2)  retired (more free time).  I got a lot of good advice from my friend Howard who had flown there the year previously.  He pointed me to this great resource, the "Alaska Airmen's Association Logbook: Flying your Airplane to (and in) Alaska" (I'll refer to this hereafter as the Logbook).  It's entertaining and full of good information.  I also found the AOPA website (members only link) useful.

According to the Logbook, the safest route for a first-timer is to fly VFR (visual flight rules, that is, in conditions where you can see where you are going) following the Alaska Highway.  By following the highway, you assure that you are near civilization in case of emergency, and there are many possible places to land (including the highway) in case of emergency.  According to the Logbook, you shouldn't plan to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules, using instruments in the plane to tell you your orientation, which you need if you are in clouds) because the minimum en route altitudes are high and would put you in icing conditions.  So I didn't buy IFR charts, and that turned out to be a mistake.

Pilots flying to Alaska and remote regions of Canada are required to bring survival gear.  A few years ago, a gun was required, and I think that rule was changed before our trip but I was confused by the guidelines so my dad went ahead and procured one.   I had backpacking equipment and my dad had boating/fishing equipment so it was pretty easy to divide up the gear:  I brought the camping equipment and my dad brought the gun, fishing equipment, and signalling devices.   We were required to bring 7 days worth of food for two people so my dad brought about 75 PowerBars.  Those actually came in handy when we ran out of my home made chocolate chip cookies.