Review of Horizon Air flight from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, AK in Economy

QXE

QX - Horizon Air

Flight taken on 11 December 2015
AS 2817
Esteban
1,727 · 160 · 2 · 1

    In between:
  • XXX - XXX
  • XXX - XXX
  • XXX - XXX
  • XXX - XXX
    Return:
  • XXX - XXX
  • XXX - CDG
  • CDG - EuroAirport / Y AF E170
After three wonderful days, chasing northern lights in Fairbanks (result at the end of the report) it's already time to head … further north. First stop, Prudhoe Bay.
That's Fairbanks Airport, a little cute airport in fact. I really like it.
The arrival hall can be spit in twice when there are international arrivals. Mostly in summer:



L'extérieur :



Check in area and the escalator leads to the airside part of the airport:


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Christmas soon:


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Empty apron:


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The first surprise of the day (sorry I messed the picture a bit as I was not next to a window as it took of), this DC6 from Everts Air Cargo who still operates oldies. More information here: Fleet Everts Air



People say that the A340 has a slow climbing rate, check out the DC6 :)
All boarding gates are empty for the time being. There is a new Starbucks in FAI, which opened the week before:


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Quiet today:


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General aviation and charters to the Arctic Circles are handled in front:


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Another Everts Air DC6 that just landed:



Dash 8-Q400 heading to ANC:


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Artic Air is leaving to Coldfoot. I took one of those flights last year, if you are interested in this old report, link is
HERE


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Ravn Alaska taking off to Prudhoe Bay with a Dash 8-100:



Follows an aircraft I never heard about: a Voplar Turboliner, also called Beech 18, more [url=https://www.google.com/search'q=Volpar+Turboliner&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8] [b] HERE [/b][/url] :[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0625.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0626.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0627.JPG[/image]
[text]Sun is rising, it is 11:15AM and it is just amazing:[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0628.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0629.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0636.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0639.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0643.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0645.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0646.JPG[/image]
[text]ATR 72-200F:[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0649.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0650.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0651.JPG[/image]
[text]And the highlight of the day, a Curtiss Wright C-46, flying since 1942!![/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0652.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0653.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0654.JPG[/image]
[text]More recent, a B1900 Air Cargo Express:[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0656.JPG[/image]
[text]And the Curtiss taking off:[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0657.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0658.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0659.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0660.JPG[/image]
[text]I was really happy to have seen those oldies.
Shortly before boarding, I head to my gate:[/text]
[image]https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0661.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0662.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0663.JPG;https://static.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0664.JPG[/image]
[text]Here's the cabin: (having a light load allows lots of pictures!)
Boarding is launched with absolutely no priorities as we are only 7 passengers bound to Prudhoe Bay with only one that has it as final destination, the 6 others, including me, have a connecting flight.



On time push back, here's another Curtiss I don't think this one will ever fly again:



Before takeoff, the seat pocket content with the safety card and the seat pitch:



Take off and a few FAI shoots and Fairbanks' region:



Standard AS catering:


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Plenty of aerial shoots, the light was just perfect:



The sun that just rose is already setting again, wonderful scenery:



We are following the Dalton Highway, which is the only road to Prudhoe Bay:


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Landing gear is down, we are about to land in SSC with a pretty heavy fog:



We landed a few minutes early, and my two hours layover in SCC starts here.
To conclude, here after the reason why I went to Fairbanks: Northern Lights. To see them it's a question of luck. To get to see them it should:
- Be night
- No or little moon light
- Clear sky
- Solar activity (the sun activity drives the aurora activity)
That evening all bullet points but the clear sky were checked. At around 11:00PM the sky begun to clear up and at the same time there was a bit of activity. Within minutes, the clouds disappeared and the show started. It was amazing, lights lasted for 3H and we watched them for the whole 3H, even with a -30° outside temperature. It was just amazing!



Thanks for following! Stay tune for more north soon :)

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Horizon Air 6.8

  • Cabin6.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew10.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi5.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering6.0 / 10
Departure airport

Fairbanks - FAI10.0

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access10.0 / 10
  • Services10.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness10.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, AK - SCC10.0

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access10.0 / 10
  • Services10.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness10.0 / 10

Conclusion

It was a great flight, with only 7 passengers for 2 crew members it really felt private.

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Comments (2)

  • Thanks for sharing this report with nice plane and Northern Lights spotting!

    The FAI airport looks quite decent and functional which I did not expected before.

    Glad to hear that you have a flight with only 7 people on the plane! And the plane looks clean and new.

    Look forward to your next trip!

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