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.