World Tour 2 - Leg 62 - Hakodate to Asahikawa

I was planning at what to do when 2 nervous men approached and asked me if I would carry them to Asahikawa. They told me they are in a relative hurry and that, instead of landing at the main airport, they wanted to land at the strip in the middle of the city, which is grass and of the exact same takeoff distance of the Baron. So, after such a challenge, I said yes without questioning more. And since we left so early, I even had time to do some tourism over iconic mounts of Hokkaido.

Right after taking off, I flew over the Hokkaido Homa-ga-take, one of the most active volcanoes with its last eruption at 2000.

From there, I crossed the Uchiura bay towards Lake Kuttara, a caldera lake containing the best water quality of Japan.

Then I visited Lake Toya, another caldera lake with a recursive island inside, that is said that never freezes.

Clouds here were dense, but my next waypoint was easily seen. Mount Yotei, another active volcano, very similar to Fuji. However, the last known eruption happened circa 1050 BC.

And from here I went to Sapporo, the fifth most populous city in Japan, very well known for holding many sports events such winter Olympics.

I followed the VOR to leave Sapporo towards Asahikawa and I generated again a virtual RNAV fix, based on Asihakawa VOR to find the grass field at the city. However, as I suspected, the strip was covered with snow. The good thing is that the asphalt airport is very close, just at 15 nm, so in case of problems, I can land there. However, I managed to land easily on the first try, thanks to the lack of crosswinds, to be honest.

My passengers paid really well and left as soon as I landed. And I found a package that has to be delivered at Kushiro, which is perfect to escape from the bad weather and to approach the end of Japan.

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Technical details:

 

RJCH RJCA

MIHARA KIKYOU OHNUMA KOMAGATAKE KUTTARA TOYA YOTEI IKEDA OTARU SAPPORO TOBETSU TAKIKAWA ASAHIKAWA

Distance: 190 nm

Average GS: 250 kt

Altitude: 9500 ft

METAR:

RJCH 281000Z 01003KT 9999 FEW030 BKN170 M01/M05 Q1021
RJCA 280627Z 25009KT 6000 -SHSN FEW006 BKN020 BKN035 M03/M05 Q1020 RMK 1ST006 5CU020 7CU035 A301