alius locus, alius mihi

We Made It!

2008-05-20T11:14:28Z

KCRQ, or McClellan-Palomar Airport, thirty miles north of San Diego. 'DunnaRunna' made the trip from Hawaii, laden with her 320 extra gallons of avgas and some 460 kilos over-weight. The trip was a long one. Some 13 hours all together. I have to admit to 'falling asleep' at least twice, and missing two waypoints, but given the flight path was virtually a straight line, the deviation due to curvature of the globe wasn't dramatic. Makes me wonder how ferry pilots do what they do, hour after hour, with the drone of engines their only intrusion into a serene environment.

From California, it's down the Baja Peninsula, across Mexico to Cancun where we'll be having a day or two off. Then it's island hopping across the Carribean to the Caymans, Jamacia, Dominican Republic, St Kitts, and finally, Carriacou Island. I'm hoping that White Island appears in the Flight Sim scenery. I'll also be searching for some good Carribean scenery, so we'll see what eventuates, but by Saturday, June 7, I hope to be swinging from a virtual hammock on my own virtually resplendent island paradise of White Island.

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On Our Way

2008-05-13T11:24:22Z

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.

pearl.jpg

leavinghilo.jpg

onourway.jpg

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?

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French Frigate Shoals or 'How I fucked up another flight plan'

2008-05-05T08:01:57Z

The Vocal Version

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.

Leaving Green 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.

Frigateshoals

So, I figure, another radio call from the idiot Aussie and flight out by a kindly AvGas supplier and I'll have VH-NDC in the air again, bound for Lihue, as originally intended. So here we sit, the Shrike & I, awaiting that kindly flight from Kauai with a couple of drums of AvGas. Good thing it's not an unpleasant place weather-wise at the moment.

Kauai

Anyway, once we fuel up and get underway, it's off to Lihue Airport, and then on to Hilo where VH-NDC will undergo the fitting of a suitably sized ferry tank to enable the journey to San Francisco. Pity about the passenger fittings, but I suppose I can have the seats, etc. forwarded by freight to be re-fitted again in 'Frisco. See you in Hilo.

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