Chapter 3

The Cessna Stationair 206 was a sweet little single engine airplane. It held six passengers and its load capacity was a little over 1400 pounds. The plane was used by Howell mainly for jumping between jobsites, as the range was only about 730 nautical miles at cruising speed, which equated to 830 statute miles. The flap down, power off stall speed was 54 knots. The Stationair had a ceiling of a little over 15,000 feet. The 910 feet it needed for takeoff made it suitable for the short runways that are found in remote sites. The Stationair could land in 735 feet. The cruising speed is listed at 142 nautical miles, which calculates to a little over 163 statute miles per hour. Nautical miles can be converted to statute miles by multiplying nautical miles by 1.1508.

Cessna had done an excellent job designing this airplane. With the six leather seats and the interior appointments the plane was posh enough for corporate use yet rugged enough to be a company workhorse. Floats were an available option if you decided that you wanted to land on water. Howell had never equipped the plane with floats and Ron never did like the idea of landing on water. The cabin had soundproofing installed and was relatively quiet. At close to $400,000, fully equipped, it was definitely not for the weekend flyer. The avionics were suitable for adverse weather conditions and cross-country flying. The plane was perfectly designed for what Howell used it for. As with anything, you had to use the right tool for the job. You defiantly would not want to use the Stationair for coast-to-coast trips on a daily basis.

Ron had to agree with Brenda, the Kingair C90B would have been better for this trip. Raytheon had bought out the Beech Company and were in the process of slowly retiring the Beech name. The Kingair C90B was a twin-engine turboprop and had a longer range. The range of the Kingair was listed at 915 nautical miles as compared to 730 for the Stationair. The Kingair was faster and had a higher ceiling. The wingspan of the Kingair was about 50 feet to the Stationair's 30 feet. It was like comparing a Buick to a Mustang. Both are fun to drive and each has their place in life. The Kingair was better suited for this trip but the FAA demanded scheduled maintenance for excellent reasons. It was not like you could pull over to the side of the road if the engines quit.

Ron and Cal went over the flight plan together. The first leg of the trip would be to Metlaka on the coast of Canada's province of British Columbia. They would refuel and takeoff for Dawson in the Yukon Province. After refueling at Dawson they would travel west to Valdez for refueling and then a quick hop to Anchorage. The plane could have made one less stop but Ron and Cal were both cautious pilots when they were responsible for other lives. Ron liked to have adequate fuel to take care of any changes due to weather or other problems. He was sure that Brenda would bitch every time they had to land.

The engine had been running at idle while they reviewed the flight plan. Cal asked again if Ron had filed his flight plan and Ron nodded that he had. Ron called the tower for permission to taxi to the runway. The control tower operator gave the Ok and gave Ron the wind conditions and weather in the immediate area. He released the brakes and started to taxi toward the runway. Ron could occasionally hear a moan from Carl; the Controller indicating that he was not happy being on this airplane. The permission was given to line up on the runway and Ron lined up the Cessna and asked for final permission for takeoff. Permission was given and the Cessna started to roll down the runway.

The Cessna increased speed and Ron pulled back on the wheel and felt the plane starting to lift. Ron used less than 1000 feet of runway before the airplane became airborne. He climbed at a rate of about 800 feet per minute, not pushing the airplane. He requested and received permission to climb to 10,000 feet and was given his heading. At 10,000 feet Ron leveled off and proceeded to cruise at 140 knots. At this altitude the plane would have to fly between the mountain ranges.