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

Outbound:
• EuroAirport - Amsterdam / J KLM E190: NO CATERING
• Amsterdam - Brussels / Y KLM F70: SUITCASE OR NOT?
• Brussels - Amsterdam / J KLM E190: WHERE IS THE CREW?
• Amsterdam - Seattle / J DL A330: [http://flight-report.com/en/report-12531.html]SOMETHING ABOUT PARADISE
• Seattle - Anchorage / F DL B737-800: WORST FLIGHT EVER
• Anchorage- Fairbanks / F AS B737-400: STAND BY DRINKS HER BEER
• Fairbanks - Prudhoe Bay / Y AS Dash 8-Q400: Here.
• XXX - XXX :

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:



Christmas soon:



Empty apron:



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:



Quiet today:



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



Another Everts Air DC6 that just landed:



Dash 8-Q400 heading to ANC:



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



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] :

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0625.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0626.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0627.JPG[/image]

Sun is rising, it is 11:15AM and it is just amazing:

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0628.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0629.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0636.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0639.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0643.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0645.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0646.JPG[/image]

ATR 72-200F:

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0649.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0650.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0651.JPG[/image]

And the highlight of the day, a Curtiss Wright C-46, flying since 1942!!

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0652.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0653.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0654.JPG[/image]

More recent, a B1900 Air Cargo Express:

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0656.JPG[/image]

And the Curtiss taking off:

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0657.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0658.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0659.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0660.JPG[/image]

I was really happy to have seen those oldies.

Shortly before boarding, I head to my gate:

[image]https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0661.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0662.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0663.JPG;https://photos.flight-report.com/media/photos/vJcSi0kT9O/DSC_0664.JPG[/image]

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:



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:



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 :)