Post Trip Lead In

This is a blog that I wrote as I ferried a Piper Saratoga II HP (photo below) from Portugal to Australia. It was mostly intended for friends and family and written predominantly on an iPhone so I promise neither a rivetting read nor typographical perfection.

To read in chronological order, start with the July 2012.

To get a map overview of the entire journey that can be zoomed in for detail, the following link will open in Google Maps.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://vk2us.id.au/NavagationStuff/tonysFlight.kmz&hl=en&ll=4.740675,67.324219&spn=110.574509,240.117188&om=1&t=m&z=3

Grounded in Palermo

Some photos

The Wrap

The Rough Stats
15 flying days
13,000 nautical miles (about 25,000km)
12 countries landed in
20 countries airspace traversed
95 hours flown
4900 litres of fuel

What I Lost

One shirt
One pair of sunglasses (subsequently found)
About 25 meals
About 5 kilograms
About 25 kilos from my hip-pocket
Some misunderstandings about some countries
A case of heartburn that had been troubling me for some time

What I Gained

A beautiful plane
95 hours of guided experience on how best to fly her
Exposure to challenging metereological conditions
Lessons in how to fly through international borders
Confidence that comes from the above experiences
Passport stamps that I would never have otherwise got
The opportunity to meet a variety of interesting people
A story that not many people can tell.

The Thanks

First thanks must go to the lovely Donna from whom I have robbed three weeks of precious holiday time.  There are not many wives who would tolerate a husband as diverted to a task as I have been.  I hope I can repay the time with some great flying holidays over many years.

Jan Wells (the HappyFerryPilot) must be the next.  Jan is an excellent man to have on such a journey - light (so you can carry more fuel), experienced, skilled as a mechanic, concerned about my hip pocket, good company in a small cockpit, and able to get done whatever needs to be done to complete the job safely and in as timely a manner as possible. 

Isabel and Mario in Santarem who were hospitable and really helped in Santarem to manage the transfer for us (including dealing with the spanish authorities) and get us off the ground.

Guiseppe (Pepe) and the other guys in Catania who did everything he could to try to help us diagnose the nose gear troubles.

Eckhardt and Paul in Empuriabrava who worked quickly for us to complete the diagnosis and repair of the nose gear trouble and let me hang around to learn something about the airframe structures.

Sonny and Woot in Utapou who kept us out of the Bangkok Hilton and showed us a fantastic time in Patthaya.

The Brand brothers from Horsham Aviation who accepted a lot of calls and emails from me during the day and night about the plane and are in the process of giving great service for the certificate of airworthiness.

Mike from White Rose Aviation who tolerated early calls from me and otherwise ensured that we had all the needed country and landing clearances.

Pete Vernon for the loan of his Spot which provided so much excitement for my dedicated followers.

The blokes from Schon Air, Karachi.

The CASA guys, Gary Arnold and Jurgen, who did what they needed to do quickly and efficiently for me, despite being on leave.

All the handlers and everyone else who contributed to the success of the project.

I have loved it.

Arrival

A crispy pre-sunrise arrival at the Coober Pedy airport made for some special photos and a smooth departure on runway 22. The heater was soon put to good use.

Blessed once again with good tailwinds, we quickly caught up with a low pressure trough that created showers and a good amount of broken clouds between 3500 and 8000 feet.

No matter. VH-SMY climbed easily over the top and we flew in good conditions over Andamooka, Lake Torrens, the south of the Flinders Ranges and Waikerie.

About 50 miles out of Horsham, near Nhill, we found a hole in the clouds and made a big circle down through the hole to the underlying rain showers which we used to bathe the plane.
A strong wind found me bouncing the plane down the runway in a not overly alarming manner and we pulled up without difficulty on the last stop on our epic.

Tony Brand was there to meet us and we soon escaped the bitter breeze and showery weather by pushing the Saratoga into the hangar.

Jan was quickly onto the tasks of removing the ferry tank system and HF radio but we dragged him away from the tasks for a lovely lunch with Wendy and Tony.

Tony lent me the use of one of his cars to make the run into Melbourne and I am soon to take the red rodent from Tulla to Sydney. Who knows, perhaps this will be the last time.

Is this an anticlimax? Sure feels like it.

Approximate Track miles:    602
Hobbs time:       4.2
Fuel uplift in Coober Pedy:   200 litres
Fuel price per litre:   $2.32

Easy flying

Today was an easy day's flying. Although it was 7 hours in sometimes turbulent conditions we didn't have to speak to a single person and the radios were generally silent. The joys of Australian desert flying.

The highlight was flying over Ayres Rock. Jan hadn't seen it before and he took some great photos.

We made it to Coober Pedy for fuel in the expected 7 hours and considered pressing on to Horsham on the same day but ultimately decided against it. A mistake as it turns out since just after we checked in the Brand brothers sent me a text inviting us for roast dinner at their house. Next time maybe.

Some Wrights Air Pilots, Liam and Michael, had been good enough to shift enough of the resident Coober Pedy dust from the back of their ute to carry us into town. John's pizza restaurant (famous in cbp) for dinner proved very satisfying.

With one more flying morning left, I am starting to feel that sense of loss that comes after big events. Although I can't claim a particular sense of pride in my own achievements since I have been helped so much along the way, I guess the project is sizeable and the completion of it is a privilege few can claim.

But I must resist the urge to be retrospective. I will save that for a dedicated photo wrap up.

Approximate Track Miles:    960 NM
Hobbs Time:         6.9 hours
Fuel Uplift in Broome:     276 litres
Fuel price:      AUD $2.78

The pub in Broome

Seldom has Tooheys tasted as good as it does for me in Broome. Suddenly I feel at home. Confident. Exhilarated.

Less than 2 days before I am reunited with my lovely.

Approximate Track miles:    698
Hobbs time:                        5.7
Fuel uplift in Bali:                400 litres
Price per litre:                     AUD$2.63

Indonesia to Bali

Long flights over water in single engine piston aircraft are generally considered unattractive due to the lack of options if the fan stops turning. If you follow one of those towards land with high mountains and clouds you could be thought certifiable. But I can honestly say i really enjoyed today's flying.

I took on the 6.5 hours of flying in the left seat which was all in visual meteorological conditions and Jan set up the HF radio about which I know very little.

The water flying was uninteresting but the volcanoes on Surabaya and Bali climbed magestically out of the clouds to make quite a scene. Once again we were routed easily around them and into Bali airport and our handlers after some delay got us into a hotel near the airport.

One more day and we'll be on home turf. I am very excited about that!

Approx Flying:     904 NM
Hobbs time:         7.1 hours
Fuel uplift in Singapore:   240 litres
Price per litre:       AUD$2.37

It's starting to feel close now

Things are starting to feel normal again after the middle east, and Indias. Suddenly Radar and radios all appear to work and, as a result we pilots are able work less hard. Flying across Thailand, Malaysia and into Singapore, the Air traffic controllers all knew where we were and where we wanted to go.

We flew through some pretty busy airspace including Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The controllers had plenty of big planes to manage but also handled us beautifully including vectoring us skillfully in low visibility conditions to join downwind for runway 03 at Seletar.

Singpore organisation was well evident. We didn't have any handlers and the processing stuff was completely finished in 20 minutes.

As an ex-resident of Singapore, I would have enjoyed the opportunity of staying in the city and catching up with friends. But such a luxury does not fit with our mission which is to get home ASAP. So I am staying in Upper Serrangoon, which has the closest hotel to Seletar, in a room where three of the walls are full mirrors. Hmmmm. I wonder if I am going to get much sleep. Donna, don't you be making the Banfields blush again ok?

Jan shouted me delicious Singapore hawker food for my birthday. I forgot how good it is.

Denpasar Bali tomorrow.

Chittagong to Utapao

We landed in Thailand with me having expressed concern about coming to Utapou without prior permission. Chittagong ATC would not clear us to U-tapou because we did not have the needed prior permission. Jan said it would be fine and it certainly seemed that way until we got to landing in utapou where we were greeted by uniformed naval officers asking about why we were in utapou rather than Chiangmai as our flight permission indicated. Apparently VTBU is a naval airport and us landing here is the equivalent of us landing in Richmond Air force base without permission. Generally not good form.

I get pretty nervous around men in uniforms with weapons and I feared a night in the Bangkok Hilton. But Jan again came to the rescue with Thai language skills, respectful bow, and apparently a reasonable explanation.

Jan in debate with the Navy

It also helped that Sonny was around. Sonny is a businessman who is an aviation nut. He owns 7 planes located in Laos and Thailand. He is also well connected locally and he and his men quickly had us through the naval process.

It turns out to be a fantastic outcome. The reason we wound up here is because Jan did some work for Sonny rescuing his Cessna 310 out of the USA where it had been stuck under the control of a crooked ferry pilot. He also wants Jan to do some extra work for him including fixing a twin otter in Laos and ferrying another 310 out from the US.

Sonny took us to his self developed Balinese style complex of a home and very generously invited us to stay there. All the rooms had spectacular views over the Pattaya valley with indoor and outdoor bathrooms. Some had separate private pools, including the one I stayed in so I was not shy to make use of it. It was truly spectacular and undoubtedly as good as the best resorts that Donna and I have ever stayed in.

Sonny and his wife took us to a classic Thai outdoor seafood restaurant of the kind we often ate at in Malaysia and Singapore. Excellent food.


Approx Track Miles:   780 NM  
Hobbs Hours:              5.5
Fuel Added Chittagong:     200
Price per Litre:             USD $3.40 

In Singapore now. More later.

I love my plane

Today's rainy and cloudy weather exposed me to more fantastic features of my plane.

I am a VFR pilot. This means I can only fly clear of cloud and in visual conditions where I can get a fix on a ground feature. VFR pilots are taught to be terrified of bad weather. This is genarally for their own safety. It is said that a VFR pilot in non visual conditions will live for less than 3 minutes. The reason is that humans rely on visual cues to get a sense of balance and if those visual cues are not present, your mind will convince you that you are in an unusual position. Once that happens, you will fly your plane into a position where it is incapable of staying aloft or, more often, fly it completely controlled into the side of a hill or some other object incompatible with flight.

Thunderstorms are another scary phenomenon for small planes. You can be sucked up or pushed down, hailed upon, iced or otherwise get yourself panicked enough to be unable to fly.

Today was a day spent in non-VFR conditions and skirting around thunderstorms. Satellite image is included of the weather prior to takeoff.

I hasten to add that Jan is an IFR pilot, meaning that he has been trained to ignore the visual cues and to focus on the instruments. And it is these instruments with which I have fallen in love. VH-SMY has a great GPS system which gives a display when there is lightning ahead so you can turn left or right to avoid the worst of storms before you are in them. And when you are in cloud you can set the autopilot and it will not even know about the visual cues much less be seduced by them.



Yellow Marks showing lightning

Jan flew today and I ran the radios and navigational instruments. I was not unhappy with my efforts which included using the pilots of QF10 as a relay to speak to Dakhar Radar control when we were out of range. Thanks to those pilots if they ever read the blog.

I was quite surprised about the fertility of central India. I don't know why but I always had the impression that India was a dryish country. From the bits I saw of it today (through the cloud), it seemed green and full of rivers.

Chittagong is an experience probably well enough missed by most tourists. It is one of those colourful but crowded developing towns. The 25km drive from airport to hotel took a full hour. The roads are chaotic, the beggars plentiful and the sewers and storm drains combined. I loved the experience of walking around for an hour or so. Everyone is in business, most of them on a tiny scale. 5 cucumbers to sell? Set them up on a plate on the side of the road and you're away. The artisanal trade culture is strongly evident. Our stroll passed the shoe maker, machinist, boilermaker, blacksmith, and numerous other craftsmen within a 1 km stretch.

The risk if getting completely lost was huge but our navigational skills managed to get us back to the hotel.


Approx Track Miles:   730NM  
Hobbs Hours:              6.2
Fuel Added Nagpur:     400
Price per Litre:             USD $3.20

A day of flying in cloud

There was a trough spanning right across our path today. For those interested, troughs are often associated with low cloud, rain and wind.

Our weather information isn't exactly precise but after a close review of the satellite images and other websites, we decided to make a go of it.

First up was refueling at the local flying school if Karachi called Schon Air which is owned by an ex airforce pilot and run by his London and Richmond, VA legally educated son, Manu.

Jan decided it was a good time to change the oil in the plane and we took a good look at the engine at the same time, which was a bloody good thing. The newly installed Gami fuel
Injectors had worked a little loose and needed tightening. This was accomplished under the watchful eye of the chief engineer of the flying school while I talked music and politics with Manu.

We departed on a standard dangi 2 alpha departure and were quickly in cloud in which we remained for most of the flight. Light showers rained on us from time to time but it was generally free of turbulence or other troubles.

Nagpur is a wonderful green oasis compared to the desert we have been staring out at. It is humid but pleasantly cool. The local handlers have been friendly but the refueling process, which we were told would take 45 minutes, actually took 3 hours. The pump they had was firstly absent. Then it came but it was broken. The repair involved torn plastic being wrapped around the thread of the old pipe to make it fit the thread but not until greasy rag, and other assorted materials were first tried.


Having paid $1200 to buy the fuel, I was not leaving without it.

Now we are sitting in Nagpur immigration office. This has taken 1 hour of unbelievable questioning, passport analysis, and discussion. Karachi did not stamp our passports on the way in or way out. The fact that we have gen decs stamped saying that we were there appears not to matter. I would say that the pages of my passport have been turned on no less than 35 occasions by three different blokes.

Any rate, we are here now.

Approx Track Miles:       725
Hobbs time:                    5.3
Fuel Added Karachi:      200 litres
Cost per Litre:                USD$3.50

Sliding alongside Iran

The coolest thing about today was what could have been but was not. Our track from Bahrain to Karachi took us to within 5 miles of Iranian airspace.

Now you might not have heard but the Persian gulf is a pretty militarized area. The radios were filled with chatter from American pilots "on tactical". We don't know what that means but we presume it means that they don't disclose where they are going to ATC or, for that matter, us.

So as we are motoring along over water very nicely thanks, the ATC controller comes onto the radio with a friendly American accent to give us a heads up. "You're passing by some aircraft carriers to your south so don't be surprised if they send someone up to check you out". I was absolutely buzzing with the possibility of a fighter jet sliding alongside and spent a solid half an hour just scanning the ocean for signs of the carrier.

Unfortunately, neither the carrier nor any jets were sighted.

So the day was a relatively calm (at least from after takeoff) 7 hours. The takeoff was marred by a long delay waiting for fuel and the fact that I had forgotten to take a wad of cash (in excess of $10,000USD) out of the hotel safe.

We unfortunately arrived in Karachi 15 minutes before Ramadan broke so we had to wait for prayers to be completed before we could leave the airport.

At the hotel, it seems a good chunk of wealthy Karachi turned up for the Ramadan breaking feast so we went along for the ride. Good food, buffet style, outdoors with a 4 horned goat and a fake castle for decoration. This coupled with the loud music and the lucky draw meant it was at least entertaining.

Weather is the next item on our list of things to worry about. Asian monsoon season is nearby.

Approx Track Miles:     932 NM  
Hobbs Hours:               7.6
Fuel Added Before:      402
Price per Litre:             AUD $4.32

Saudi and Bahrain

Long day in the seat today. We managed to get away at around 8am for the flight along the edge of Israel and across Saudi Arabia. Honestly, there is only so much sand a bloke can look at.

We crawled our way up to the required 13000 feet which I will tell you is as high as I have been in a small plane. At that altitude hypoxia can be an issue but we were fine.

For the most part, we flew through dusty haze though a 30 second shower did just enough to make sure that some Saudi dust will come back to Australia. There were thermals making the trip a bit bumpy - some might call it a lot bumpy but it was fine for me.

Crop Circles in the Desert

The best bit of the trip was the descent over the water past the city of Bahrain and into the humongous airport. There was amused dialogue between the tower and some kind of Boeing waiting for us to land. Tower says "Boeing xxx after the landing aircraft. Um have they landed? I can't see them". Boeing says "I can see them. It is a Seneca. They are about to land". "ok line up after the landing".

It is hot here but handling was efficient and we are happily checked into the Novotel after an air-conditioned car ride. The contrast between al Arish and here is marked. There are NO old cars here and most of the buildings are finished.

I looked for evidence of David Trayners constructions but was not able to identify anything specific.

Tomorrow's plan is Karachi, a stop necessitated by a lack of Avgas at Mumbai.

Approx Track Miles:   1,174NM  
Hobbs Hours:              8.9
Fuel Added Before:     260
Price per Litre:             USD $5.12

Iraklion to Egypt

For the first time on this trip, Jan sat his considerable skills in the left hand seat. He has been keeping a careful eye on me as I have flown for the past week but today we decided it was his turn to fly and my turn to take photos.

The process of arrival and departure is never particularly straightforward. We have ground handlers arranged by White Rose Aviation. They meet us on the tarmac and make sure we get our fuel and park in the right spot. Then we are handled through customs and passport control and driven to a hotel.

The departure is the reverse but we have to add time for flight plans and payment of handling fees.

This morning we were collected from the hotel at 630 am local but did not depart until about 9 am. In tomorrow's heat we are aiming for earlier but fearing it won't be that easy.

Al Arish is a very interesting place for a bloke from Sydney. It is right on the border with Israel. Tanks line the street. Our 1971 mercedes taxi was escorted front and back by the police blaring horns and at a pace I feared the brakes would not handle.

The town barely holds back the desert from slithering into the Mediterranean. I walked the best part of 7 km to the market past hundreds of half built homes with women shepherds herding sheep around. Every kid wanted his photo taken and I was a source of amusement for them. I suspect tall foreign tourists are a bit unusual.

Long day tomorrow to Bahrain.

Approx Track Miles:    523NM  
Hobbs Hours:               4.8
Fuel Added Crete:       348 litres
Price per Litre:             AUD $3.50