{"id":5084,"date":"2020-08-29T22:59:47","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T14:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/?p=5084"},"modified":"2021-06-06T06:57:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T22:57:55","slug":"20200829as","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/29\/20200829as\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight Log of Alaska Airlines Flight 104 and 4 from Anchorage to Washington DC via Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

After spending a week visiting Alaska, this post was about the flights back to Washington DC from Anchorage, with an overnight connection in Seattle.<\/p>\n

\"Moose<\/a>

<\/br>Moose Statue<\/br>How the airport showcased the state\u2019s remoteness.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Alaska Airlines ran a buy-one-get-one-free promotion in August 2020 to boost load factors in response to COVID. Coupled with already low prices for flights between Alaska and lower 48, my friend and I took advantage of that and spent a week soaking in the wonderful sceneries of Alaska.
\nThe promotion excluded travel on Friday and Sunday. Aiming to spend a full week in Alaska, we chose to fly back to Seattle Saturday night, and then back to Washington DC Sunday morning. The promotion allowed this, and with less than 12 hours of connection, I didn’t have to pay for checked bags again.<\/span><\/p>\n

After hiking Lazy Mountain in the previous post, I met up with my friend and we reached Anchorage Airport about 2 hours before our flight. After grabbing some food in the terminal (unfortunately half the restaurants were closed), it\u2019s boarding time.<\/p>\n

\"Vietnam<\/a>

<\/br>Vietnam Airlines B787-10 (VN-A879)<\/br><\/p>\n

A passenger plane used for freight operations. I was puzzled why Vietnam Airlines would send a “-10” 787 despite they had the lighter 787-9, which shares identical Maximum-Takeoff-Weight (MTOW). The flight from Vietnam to Anchorage should obviously be MTOW-limited.<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Skylease<\/a>

<\/br>Skylease Cargo B747-400F<\/br>A sign of Anchorage as one of the world\u2019s busiest cargo airports.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Quite to our surprise, the flight AS104 back to Seattle was pretty full (apart from Alaska Air\u2019s blockage of middle seats). Most people onboard seemed to be mid-to-old-aged men seemingly just finishing their fishing vacation. <\/p>\n

\"Taxiing\"<\/a>

<\/br>Taxiing<\/br><\/p>\n

Passing the hanger of Ravn Alaska Airlines with its fleet of Havilland Dash 8. Ravn Alaska ceased operation in April 2020 and filed for bankruptcy due to COVID pandemic.<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n

It felt strange to me that we took off from runway 25L, the one of pair farther to terminal. I thought for parallel runways takeoff was conventionally from the closer runway, but probably the staggered runway configuration unique to Anchorage warranted such operation.
\nHere’s GPS tracking:
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