Who was the last person you offended?
Submitted by May.
My wife. I'm always offending my wife. That's just me, I guess, and she is who she is, which is easily offended. I speak plainly, and more so the older I get. She doesn't like to hurt feelings, so she doesn't. It's said that opposites attract.
Just in case you're wondering what's happening in my "Running Away" fantasy flight from Australia, to my $3m island in the Caribbean, here's the latest.
As you might recall, at last mention we were stranded on Frigate Shoals, awaiting a couple of drums of AvGas. Well, it arrived and we left Frigate Shoals just prior to midnight and landed at Lihue, Kauai around 80 minutes later. After a check over and refuel, it was off to the 'Big Island', Hilo International and a week's downtime where VH-NDC - now named 'DunnaRunna' - would undergo a major engine overhaul, removal of passenger seats and installation of two 160 gallon Turtle Pac collapsible fuel tanks, giving 'DunnaRunna' an endurance in excess of 14 hours, worst case. The tanks are rentable and given that FAA regulations require removal of ferry tanks immediately upon arrival at first port of call inside continental USA, why buy them outright? FAA approval for fitment of these tanks is required, obviously, especially given that the aircraft will be some 434 kilograms over maximum gross weight at takeoff.
The flight plan from Hilo depends upon weather and given last weekend's aviation weather and satellite scans of the western Pacific Ocean, the optimum time for departure was Sunday, 11 May. We left just after 6:00am local time. The trip is a tad over 12 hours, but we did pick up a 17 knot tail wind about two hours out at 12,000'.
Back in the real world, my weekend was a busy one. I had to abandon and save the flight four hours out of Hilo, to be picked up again this coming weekend. The plan takes us into Carlsbad, McClellan-Palomar Airport, California. Were I actually piloting 'DunnaRunna', I'd be taking a few days break in Carlsbad before heading off on the next leg. I wonder what there is to do in Carlsbad?
Yes indeed, Vox'ers. A t least those of you following my fantasy journey from my hum-drum existence to one I'd much rather be enjoying. Money not withstanding. Last post, as you'll recall (Ye Gods....I sound like an episode of 'Lost In Space') I'd landed with fumes in the tanks on Green Island, sixty nautical miles short of my destination of Henderson Field, Midway Island.
After over-nighting in the back of the Rockwell Aero Commander, I presumed that a radio call to Hawaii for fuel might result in a shipment of AvGas sufficient to get me to Lihue airport on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. I also estimated - in my early morning funk - that three 44 gallon drums would do the trick. Bugger that early morning funk. I underestimated by about an hour's worth of fuel, which resulted in my landing at French Frigate Shoals, 1 hour and a few minutes from Kauai. It's a crushed coral strip used by tourist carriers to view the atoll & out lying reefs. 3000' long it's easily within the sphere of the Shrike, but as you can tell from the photo, there's nothing on it.
Just a brief note to alert Aussies to something I stumbled on yesterday. A social networking site aimed at Aussies.
buzz.org.au. It's interesting and seems well laid out. Have a gander.
But at least I'm dry. Actually, both of us are dry. Me and the Aero Commander 500S. Today's leg, from Wake Island to Midway Island, kind of fell victim to a lack of attention which almost resulted in a virtual swim. Autopilots are wonderful things, but the pilot still needs to pay attention to the flight plan. Fuel ran short as a result and I wound up calculating that I'd be 60 nautical miles short of my destination when the engines sucked fumes. Even a long, slow power-reduced glide didn't help all that much.
So, just on sunset, I put the aircraft down on Green Island, with about six minutes of fuel left. It's a tiny spec in the middle of nowhere, but it does have a navigation facility and a crushed coral strip. You can ever see it in exquisite detail on Google Earth. KMZ file here.
The entire Midway group belongs to the US Department of Fish & Wildlife, and up until March this year, had been closed to aerial traffic since 2004. There's an inhabited facility on Midway itself where avgas is undoubtedly available. I suppose the necessary fuel could be shipped to Green Island by boat. A short hop to Midway itself, top up the tanks and then onto Hawaii where the plane will need to undergo the modifications to the passenger cabin to accommodate a long range ferry tank which will get me to the US mainland.
It's good to live an alternate existence. I wonder what a trip like this would cost me in the real world?
My AC500S, which I've 'repainted' and registered VH-NDC, is currently at Amata Kabua International Airport - a rather grandiose title - on Majuro Atoll. The capital of the Marshall Islands group. If indeed the collection of far flung coral atolls has a capital.
Majuro International a la FS2004
This means, of course, that I have to re-plan my route. Seems that I now have to divert to Wake Island and then to Midway Island and then on to Kauai Island, Hawaii. All legs are within the aircraft's range, albeit extreme range, but it's a hell of a work around. Had I realised sooner, I'd have modified the model to install a ferry tank in place of the passenger cabin, however, in the spirit of realism, that's not the kind of work I could reasonably expect to have done in the Marshall Islands. Hawaii, yes, but Majuro Atoll.....??
I'd planned to modify the model once I'd reached Hawaii anyway. There's no way the aircraft could make the leg from Hawaii to San Francisco without a ferry tank.
Parked for the week. Long weekend coming up
Whose house (besides your own) were you in last and why?
I don't go into other people's houses. Why the hell would you want to go into somebody else's house? Weird!
