Getting to it

The process of getting the plane registered in australia and ready for me to fly has been a bit of a saga.

Before the plane can be registered by casa, it must be deregistered by all other civil aviation authorities. Currently, this plane is on the Spanish register. This means that the director generale d'aviacion civile (DGAC) must do his thing and tell CASA that he has done it. Now I am not in control of that process and everyone knows that the things out of your control create the most stress.

The sellers, Isabel and Santiago are trying to get it all done and, near as I can tell, are doing their damnedest to make it happen. It seems to be a myriad of papers, documents, payments to both the Portugese government as well as the Spanish government. Bureaucracy is the same around the world. It really shouldn't be so hard.

Sitting here on the plane in Dubai (waiting for air traffic control to sort out some issues), the most recent news from Isabel is that she has been told by DGAC that they have all documents needed. The boss just has to sign the paperwork and casa will be advised. Isabel's words, "a ten minute job for anyone which will almost certainly take much longer than that.

Departure from Sydney on Emirates Airlines went reasonably smoothly except for a disagreement about whether I was going to be permitted to take my lifejacket with me. An officious witch went about her business denying me the right to take it, claiming dangerous goods about which "she had training". I told her that I did not believe the jacket was a dangerous good and that I would really prefer not to blame her if I drowned in the Indian ocean for wont of a lifejacket. She smiled wryly and refused my request to speak with an operations manager. She was the top and as far as I was going.

I talked to Australia post about delivery options and they couldn't guarantee it. So I resigned myself to mailing it home and buying one in Portugal, if possible.

Over dinner, I googled the situation to see if the information I had been told was accurate and, sure enough, the international air transport association rules say you can take a personal lifejacket. So back I go to aust post, fish out my mail bag, and head on back to officious witch armed with evidence. My first question... "can you tell me, are Emirates memers of the IATA?". Slightly querulous look accompanies the reluctant "ummm yes". Triumphant, I hand over my iPad with aforesaid rule and say "I really don't want you to feel guilty about me drowning. Are you sure I can't take it?". Two blokes then get involved, some debate, but finally they give me the nod with the warning that there is no surety that security will let it pass. Security did need to do a bit of head scratching but in the end they just checked with the airline who gave it the nod and that was that.

No subsequent issue in Dubai. They cared more about my belt. Ridiculous.

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So i am still sitting in the plane in Dubai one and half hours after boarding! I think this inauspicious start may be indicative of this trip. Hanging around in airports waiting for stuff to be sorted out. Geez I hope not.

Anyway, hopefully by the time of landing in Portugal (in 7 hours or so) I will know whether CASA has received what it needs from DGAC.

Even once that happens, CASA needs register the plane and only after that, I can get the special flight permit. But how is this for service?  The guy at CASA who issues the flight permit is going on holidays but he emailed me today to say that he can issue the permit from home while he is on leave! That is service. I promised him I would write to his boss.

Anyway, sitting here today I am suspecting one more day of delay. A departure now looks like 20th.

I am destined today for a small town outside Lisbon called Santarem. Near as I can tell, it is a suburb of Lisbon - a 50 minute train ride from main airport.

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Man, sitting here is sooo frustrating. I just want to get there.

Fortunately, I have been able to ping a few emails around with the (very) good lady wife and a few others while waiting, to say nothing of writing this post.

Talking of what a good woman my wife is, I know of not many who would tolerate their husband shooting through without them on a 3 week journey of adventure. Hugs and kisses for Donna. Hopefully the travel after my returning will be reward for her.

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1 hour 45 now. This is ridiculous. Major international hub. The Singaporeans would be apoplectic if their airport stopped for so long.

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We finally departed 2 hours late. The pilot flew at 39000 feet across the Arabian gulf to Doha and then across Saudi Arabia. Even at our altitude red dust was prominent and affecting visibility. I wonder how Jan and I will cope with it at 10000 ft or less.

I have spent the plane time reading manuals for the garmin gps gear and autopilot systems in my plane. I have a lot to learn and fortunately plenty of time to learn it.