Rereading Robert Wright’s article in the July 2019 issue (“North To Alaska”), in which he was following the British Columbia and Alaska coast, he writes that the latter part of the trip was “mostly on top” from Skagway to Cordova. For someone who is frequently advocating risk management, it is hard to understand his reasoning for flying without visual reference to his surroundings over uninterrupted mountainous terrain and ocean channels, with virtually no safe spots to put down for many hundreds of miles. I guess in his 50-plus years he has never had an engine failure or need for a forced landing. Having this happen IFR over the mountains or VFR on top, his ADF, GPS, IFR ticket and whatever other technology he has will do him no good.
We in Canada have a much more restrictive protocol concerning VFR over the top (as distinguished from VFR on top), and for good reason. I know Mr. Wright had filed IFR to Cordova, but that still doesn’t give him a way out in the event of an engine failure and having to blindly descend through cloud in the mountains.
