The Flight Service Support System Behind Alaska’s “Last Great Race”
In the deep Alaskan snow, the FAA’s Flight Service specialists helped deliver supplies and coordinate air traffic for pilots in support of the Iditarod.
The legendary Iditarod race has captured the imagination of thousands of people every year since 1973. It begins in Anchorage and courses through more than 1,000 miles of the most remote and challenging landscapes in North America, concluding in Nome in western Alaska.
A lesser-known component of the Iditarod are the support systems behind the scenes that keep the iconic race compelling and safe. One of those support systems is the Iditarod Air Force — comprised of 31 volunteer pilots with a combined 420,000 hours of flying experience — who donate their time and aircraft in support of the race. Supporting more than 40 mushers and their dog teams, Air Force personnel conduct numerous air operations to keep the dogs fed and healthy, to evacuate injured dogs for proper care, and to move tons of supplies through the roadless interior of Alaska throughout the race.
Alongside the Iditarod Air Force, Flight Service specialists inthe FAA’s Air Traffic Organization are positioned at checkpoint stations in remote parts of Alaska and provide essential services before, during and after a race that can last 15 days or more. This year’s Iditarod began March 8, with Norway’s Thomas Waerner winning by crossing the finish line at 12:37 a.m. on March 18.
FAA specialists provided flight services and weather briefings along the route as Waerner and competing mushers faced epic amounts of snow. The specialists helped pilots deliver nearly 125,000 pounds of dog food and 391 bales of straw, and transported 45 veterinarians, 44 communications volunteers, and 101 race judges to their destinations — to name just a few of their tasks.
“The Iditarod is a well-rehearsed event,” said Jim Betts, air traffic manager of Kenai Flight Service Station (FSS), which sends specialists to the checkpoint station of McGrath, a remote village located in central Alaska. “Dog food and bedding drops along the trail [start weeks early]. Volunteer veterinarians, pilots and checkpoint staff sign up to be a part of the experience a year in advance. These folks do their very best to make sure things are as routine as possible.”
According to Iditarod Air Force Asst. Chief Pilot Wes Erb, “Our McGrath hub services the race checkpoints from Rohn to Shageluk and typically bases around 10 aircraft flying hundreds of missions for two weeks in support of all the logistics required to make the race happen.” The Air Force flies hundreds of individual missions totaling more than 1,500 hours over a typical race.
Two specialists from Kenai staffed the McGrath FSS from March 6 to 17, 2020 in order to support Iditarod, transient and local air operations. During that time, as many as 1,500 aircraft contacts were logged at the remote airport. The specialists provided airport advisory services, augmented weather reports, provided weather briefings, conducted search-and-rescue communication searches, filed flight plans and issued instrument flight rules and special visual flight rules clearances to aircraft entering and exiting the McGrath airspace.
When asked about the value of having FAA specialists in McGrath present during the Iditarod, Erb said: “I would like to offer my sincere and deep appreciation for the tremendous help the McGrath FSS provides to us during this challenging time. The McGrath FSS provides critical weather updates that allow us to make safe decisions as to fly or not, as well as handle numerous special VFR requests when conditions deteriorate, allowing pilots to safely navigate back home.
“All the while, they manage the countless numbers of transient pilots following the race by providing accurate situational awareness for traffic conflicts,” he added. “The airspace around McGrath is undoubtedly much safer due to their professional skills brought to bear on the chaos that sometimes ensues during the race.”
Air traffic controller Mark O’Connell has worked from the McGrath station. “It was a great experience to work with the Iditarod Air Force,” O’Connell said. “Their professionalism and courtesy helped make local operations flow smoothly at McGrath. Many pilots came up to the facility to meet us.”
Additionally, ATO System Operations manages 230 Alaska-based weather cameras providing supplemental weather information to general aviation pilots, including those pilots hauling food, veterinarians, supplies and dogs along the Iditarod Trail. Camera access is publicly available through avcams.faa.gov.
O’Connell added, “It’s rewarding to see firsthand the impact to safety and efficiency we help facilitate in flight service stations in the Alaskan bush, not only for the Iditarod but every day in other remote facilities. It’s a great responsibility and one that I’m proud of to be able to positively impact safety in the flying community here.”
August 20th marks the 100 year anniversary of Flight Service and the creation of what has become the modern FAA. To learn more about their history and impact on aviation throughout the national airspace, check out more articles about Alaskan aviation below or go to https://www.faa.gov/about/history/fs100/.
