Woke up early this morning to the sounds of hail hitting the outside skin of the Honda, and also the smell of bacon and eggs, Sarah had been up around an hour before me, “How do you like your egg’s Mel”, as she noted I had woken from my slumber……. Now, thinking there was good reply to the question she posed, I thought it best not to deliver it, instead, I replied, “Any way they come out will do fine for me”, and thank god it's not fish..... She looked at me as though she was expecting something else, so I quickly hid my head beneath the covers again, thinking, if only.
I lifted the blinds on starboard windows, and the weather looked really bad, not sure if we can take off unless it clears within the next hour. With everything packed and stowed away, I ventured outside and ran across to the tower, submitted my flight plans, and asked for an update on the weather, “Seems like there could be a window in around 50 minutes mel”,….. Knowing how efficient Sarah was in preparation, I knew we would be ready if the opportunity arose.
Racing back to the Honda, I relayed the message, ……… got a ticking off for bringing in some snow, all over the carpet……… jeeps….. this is like being married…. Nothing more to do now, but wait, ran up the engines, final checks, everything ok……. Now, where is that break in the weather.
Peering through the screen, I couldn’t see more than 20 yards, just the green flashing light from the radio tower now and again.
Finally, the radio crackled into life, it was the tower, …… “You have your window, a 15 minute break in the clouds”, ……….. if don’t make this one, it wont be until first light tomorrow…………….” I spotted another light aircraft starting to taxi, he was smaller and lighter than us, if he makes it up, then we can too…..
Both Sarah and myself, looked at each other, and nodded……. “Let’s go for it.”, .. don’t fancy hanging around here for another 24 hours.
Even as we started pushback, I could feel it gusting……… Can’t blame RD for this mess……. We taxied round, and found our way to the runway, visibility was a lot worse than I expected, I was not sure if we should even attempt this…………. Even Sarah was looking nervous……
My hand went for the throttles……………………… Blighty... here we come.
Awoke with a start at 02:30, what the hell is this I rhetorically asked myself? There is a bit of sunlight beaming right into my eyes and since I am still lying in bed, it must be time to get up. I think they planned it this way, there is aluminum foil on the windows and it looks to have a small tear right where it will allow a brilliant beam of light into the pillow region of the bed and the curtains don’t cover it. Morning routine ensues, I’ve got to push for the 04:30, far too early for me to be awake and up… Oh well, for Maddie though, the flight must go on, dang… My head hurts, right arm is stiff, right knee is really hurting this morning.
Coffee and a de-brief from the folks in the shop, they say the plane is better than new, all the things that were in it are still in it.
One of the A&P Mechanics, I think he said his name was Jim, even made a joke about the weapons safe… “Don’t know why you would be carrying a Barrett Model 95 and a Barrett M468 in the locker but we can only imagine, doesn’t the Ammo reduce the range a bit?”
I quipped back with “The less questions you ask about what is being carried the better of you will be, and I hope you cleaned it after you fired them and left money for the replacement ammo, it isn’t cheap or for that matter free, I’m sure you understand.”
“Well, we cleaned them; I didn’t think to ask for money to replace the rounds.”
I asked, “How many and of what?” Jim stumbled a bit at first, then finally said “five rounds of each”…
I said, “Great, so the fixing of the aircraft is free then and your time was well spent.”
Jim got all kinds of upset, “So you are not going to pay us for fixing the airplane, just because we played with your toys and lost a couple of pieces!?”
“Do you realize how much work went into fixing that busted ass piece of *beep* we drug off the runway? A new right wing, two new engines and props, all the supporting structure that had to be checked and replaced, that was two months worth of work!”
I looked him square in the eyes and said, “Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle, the missing pieces are the ones that matter the most, right? I am not going to pay you for fixing the plane unless you replace the ammo, ammo that you stole from me really and the funny thing is that you would have only had reason to remove the safe to fix the aircraft, not c r a c k it open. And now you have the balls to be mad at me for your guys cracking my safe and shooting my weapons, using my ammo and not replacing it? How stupid are you!? Doesn’t matter… I’m going to walk for the pre-flight.”
I stood up with much pain and began to walk for the door, and as soon as I was outside I heard something hit the inside of the small work shack that I had just come out of. At that point I know the pre-flight was going to be short, so short as to be non-existent.
I ran the remainder of the distance to the Maddie, I kicked out the chocks and pulled the engine covers as quickly as I could, I dropped the aft door, climbed inside and dropped the covers, scrambled into the cockpit and lit the Maddie up.
As soon as I had the engines cranked I scooted back aft and closed up the entry door.
I hopped back to the flight deck and began to taxi… I drove across the grass to get to runway 6 and as soon as I got there I pushed full throttle and began the take off roll.
I caught out of the corner of my eye that the small shack was now awash of people, the ones I had just been talking to standing outside and they looked quite angry. Then again so was I, and I wasn’t paying total attention to the aircraft.
I lifted off, retracted the gear, retracted the flaps, and then checked in with control. Before this they were barking for me to identify myself as I had suddenly and unannounced showed up on the radar.
I tried to calm them down by filing an in flight IFR flight plan to MMDO and that seemed to take.
The flight it self was uneventful, Crossed out of BC into Alberta for a bit then into Montana, Idaho, and then points south into Mexico.
20 minutes out of Durango I was with ATC and they started me on the descent phase of the flight.
I was 5 minutes out and at 8,500 feet and I decided it was time to dirty up the airplane and drop the gear, I reached over and grabbed the gear handle and gave it a solid push down, I heard the hydraulic pumps come on, then the strangest sound… they quit. I was taken aback for a second, I cycled the gear handle back to the up position, again the pumps came on and pulled the gear in, and the handle went from red then went out. I cycled the gear handle again to deploy the gear, the pumps came on, the indicator went red… and it stayed there!
Great! I’ve got hung gear! ATC hits me “Mike Alpha Delta Echo Echo you are cleared to land, runway 3 visual”
I can’t land on soft gear, where is the manual, I don’t remember how to pump the gear down manually!
I can’t even begin to explain how much I thought this was a “gotcha” for not paying the folks at Dawson for fixing the plane, but I didn’t really have enough time to think, I was at 8,500 feet descending and in line to land.
I gathered up what little strength I had and grabbed the manual gear handle and began pumping with all my might, I was still trying to fly the plane as well. 2 miles @ 6000 feet and I still had a red indication on the gear handle, more pumping, more pumping, more pumping. Back to the yoke for a correction to course, one mile and 3,000 feet, indicator is still red.
I honestly just gave up, I shut the plane off… I knew I could glide it the rest of the way. I feathered the props, turned everything else off and decided that I was just going to be along for the ride.
I turned to be parallel to the runway but over the grass, and brought the Maddie in. I started to laugh out loud when I thought that GS is really gong to have my ass since I have scratched his paint in two different countries.
Then at the last minute, literally last minute of flight before touch down, I turned back to the runway and I figured that I would risk the tantrum of GS.
I brought the plane down so soft that there was not even a squeak out of the tires, which to my surprise were extended just enough to keep the props off the ground and allow the airframe to roll.
I hesitated to apply the brakes, but just gave them a tap and they functioned! I felt the weight transfer when I did it again, all was good with the brakes and I had wheels!
I rolled to the far end of the runway and turned off; I reported the condition to the tower and called for a tug to be towed in.
I think I am nearly done with flying this airframe at this point.
(Edit: My graphic card and sound card are taking turns puking on the event, I have no pictures because of them)
Captain Sarah flew us back to Kulusuk . After finalizing the aircraft rental, we hopped aboard a small shuttle bus that drove us the short distance to the Hotel Kulusuk and rental cabins reserved for the Maddie Flight Crews. After seventeen deliriously wonderful days of roughing it out on the ice in complete solitude, the moment I stepped under the rush of hot water spewing from the showerhead in my little cabin, I was glad to be back among the civilized world after all! Using a scissors, I hacked my beard growth and shaved the remainder with an old double edged Gillette razor. After cauterizing with a styptic pencil the dozen or so razor nicks, I slapped on a good stinging aftershave and threw on some fresh duds. I combed back my wet hair and packed up my duffel and personal equipment and trudged over to the hotel to close out my lease on Cabin # 4.
I settled into a booth in the Blue Moose Restaurant and ordered up a jug of black coffee and another jug of fresh squeezed orange juice---heavy on the pulp! I dragged out my laptop and logged onto the free WIFI connection and visited the forums at Farmboyzim's and SurClaro until Captain Sarah joined me at my booth, hauling along behind her an enormous, four wheeled rolling suitcase.
"Have you ordered?" she asked me.
"Only coffee and OJ," I replied. Our tableside waitress appeared a moment later and Captain Sarah ordered a muffin and a carafe of green tea. I ordered my usual trucker's breakfast fare.
"Sarah, a muffin and tea is not gonna stick to your ribs," I teased her. Captain Sarah gave me such a look of angst and tartly replied, "You men have no idea what it's like to be a professional woman in this market! So shut your yap and feel free to pig out like you always do!"
"I'm sorry," I replied. "I didn't mean to offend your sensibilities or personal habits or grooming or anything else! You're a beautiful young woman and I couldn't be more pleased to be traveling with you! I guess what I was trying to say is that our aircraft is pretty much devoid of any food stores since we arrived here! There's nothing aboard to eat during our upcoming flight!"
"You're wrong," announced Captain Sarah setting her shoulders firmly. "While you've been 'meditating' out on the ice for sixteen days, I've been busy seeing that the Maddie Jet has been properly maintenanced according to schedule, all onboard linens have been washed, pressed and restored aboard, and all galley equipment washed and sterilized and all food stores restocked!"
I frowned. "Did you happen to restock my Snicker's Candy Bars, and Cubans?"
Captain Sarah leaned over the tabletop and looked me dead in the eye and retorted, "No! I've stocked aboard seventeen pounds of tofu bars!" And then she laughed out loud at the jaw dropping look on my face!
"I'm Just kidding," she laughed. "Don't worry, I've got all your usual favorites stowed aboard!"
I smiled and then laughed in relief!
Captain Sarah opened one of the black leather satchels hanging from her four wheeled suitcase and brought forth her laptop computer. She flipped it open and logged onto the SurClaro Satellite signal. She reached into another pocket of her satchel and drew out a virgin DVD disk and inserted into the DVD burner on her laptop. I sipped at my coffee and watched.
"I'm burning Mel's Mission 18 characteristics and parameters," explained Captain Sarah. "We'll install Mel's Flight 18 parameters into the onboard computer system and fly the mission as he designed it!"
My eyebrows knitted together. "No way!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, way!" replied Sarah.
"But what about weather effects?" I asked. Sarah gave me that 'woman's look' and replied, "Ye of little faith ask too many questions. If I were to explain to you how it works, I would have to terminate you!'
I laughed. "Very funny."
"Open your mind, Captain Jaeg-! This is virtual reality, in case you've forgotten! We can do anything we want!"
This caught my attention and my mouth dropped wide open. "Anything at all?" I asked.
Captain Sarah gave me a coquettish smile. "Anything but that!" she said blushing.
"Rats!" I cried and snapped my fingers.
We finished our breakfast fare and prepared to head out to the flight line. Captain Sarah paid our bill with her SurClaro issued Diner's Card. I dropped a $10 US cash tip on the table for our server and met Captain Sarah at the entrance to the Blue Goose Restaurant. We walked down the small concourse to the exit door for General Aviation Parking, buttoned up our overcoats and stepped out into the crisp, early morning air at 0930 hours. The weather was crisp but absolutely clear as We walked down the flight line to where the Maddie Jet was parked. Captain Sarah unlocked the airstair and climbed aboard, while I removed the wheel chocks and carried aboard our luggage and stowed it.
In the cockpit, Captin Sarah and I went through the Pre Start checklist and radioed Kulusuk ground handling for pushback. Captain Sarah removed the DVD disk from her pocket and inserted it into the onboard CD/DVD drive. The built in console touch screen livened up and Sarah uploaded Mel's Flight 18 parameters into the onboard computer system.
And here's where everything gets really weird folks...!
After Captain Sarah installed the contents of Mel's Flight 18 disk, the daylight suddenly and inexplicably turned to night time just as if someone had turned off a light switch! In a moment of fear and surprise, I grabbed hold of the control yoke and held on for dear life! I glanced over at Captain Sarah who was returning my gaze, a large grin painting her face. In the next incredible instant, a heavy snowfall began falling from the darkened sky! My jaw dropped open for the second time this morning! Captain Sarah laughed and grasped my hand as if to let me know that everything was alright.
I returned her gaze with a look of pure amazement! "OMG! You weren't kidding about this virtual reality stuff!"
Captain Sarah only winked at me. A moment later a guy in a heavy parka came driving up to the nose of the Maddie Jet in a little Push Back tractor. He stepped down from the tractor to wrestle the tow bar connection to the front steering gear of the Maddie Jet, and plugged his little wireless Commo Communicator into the little USB port located in nose of the aircraft and climbed back aboard the little tractor.
"Pushback to Cockpit, please release parking brakes!"
Captain Sarah reached down and unlocked the parking brake lever.
"Cockpit to Pushback, parking breaks released. Please push back for taxi to Runway 11!"
"Copy Runway 11! Pushing now! Go ahead and start your engines!"
"Roger Pushback, Initiating engine start sequence at this time," Captain Sarah replied.
"Are you okay over there Captain Jaeg?" laughed Sarah.
"Y-yeah, I guess so! But I've gotta know how you just did all that?!" I exclaimed.
Captain Sarah raised her left hand in a mock imitation of a pistol which she had pointed directly at my head. "Are you sure you want to know?" she asked me.
I chanced a quick look through the windscreen at the early morning darkness and heavily falling snow and shook my head. "Fuggedaboudit!" I said, half expecting her extended left hand to suddenly tranform itself into a fully loaded Glock 9mm complete with silencer! I threw up both of my hands in complete surrender.
Captain Sarah lowered her virtual gun hand with a little giggle. Our pushback guy disconnected the tug from our nose gear, bade us good luck and disappeared into the heavily falling snow, tractoring his way back toward the barn.
With a gulp, I snapped on the (non existant) taxi lights and taxiied out to Runwy 11 and held short while Captain Sarah requested take off clearance. Clearance was given and I throttled up a might and taxiid out onto the sand runway and centered the nose while Captain Sarah snapped off the taxi lights and switched over to Landing Lights as required. "Full flaps," I instructed. "Going full flaps," echoed Sarah.
I placed my right hand on the throttle controls and Captain Sarah placed her hand behind mine, backing up my throttle control inputs! I pushed the throttle controls forward to the firewall. The Maddie Jet rolled out, gathering speed. A slight amount of toe braking was necessary to keep the Maddie Jet on center during the take off roll until there was enough airspeed and wind to make use of the tail rudder control surface!
"Ninety knots!"
"One hundred twenty knots!
"V-1"
"Rotate"
"V-2"
The Maddie Jet leapt into the air and never looked back! It was a bit bumpy as we climbed out from Kulusuk---just enough to keep captain Sarah and me on our toes. We settled in at 320 KIA @ 28,000 ASL and enjoyed the flight across the North Atlantic. At one poin't Captain Sarah caught me staring at her legs showing below her miniskirt. She gave me solid (but playful) rap in the chest with the back of her left fist and replied, "What are you looking at, Mister!"
"Just admiring at the landscape, my dear! Just admiring the landscape," I gasped and gave her a wink.
Just below's me screenies!
Is there any truth to the notion of a huge bust at Mel's house?
As I eased the throttles forward and began to accelerate down the runway, I could not help but notice how white Sarah had gone, clearly she was extremely nervous, “Have you not flown in weather like this before ?” I asked, “NO” was the rather squeaky reply…….. As we lifted off from the tarmac, we were immediately aware of the strength of this wind, “This is fun, don’t you think” trying hard to make light of a difficult situation, “NO”, came back her reply once more, I switched on the Autopilot, and hoped we would fly through this snowstorm….. looking across at Sarah once more, her hands were clasped together, as if in prayer, her knuckles, white.
As we climbed and reached 6,000 ft, the clouds began to clear, flashes of blue sky began to peek through here and there, and then without warning, it cleared, blue sky, with an awesome sunrise, the view was breathtaking. At last Sarah looked a lot more settled, and a smile began to appear on her face, as she admired natures early morning creation.
Once at our cruise altitude, we decided to have some coffee, and as we flew over the sea, Sarah remarked on how blue it was……….. “And real cold to boot” I added.
The flight over the Atlantic was trouble free, and soon we started to approach the west coast of Scotland, as we drew near, I pointed out a few places…….. “Just to our left is the Outer Hebrides, a pretty remote place”, Sarah strained over me to get a better view, and as we started to head more south, I pointed out, Northern Ireland, and then the Isle of Man……. “That’s where they hold a famous motorcycle race each year”, I informed her, “They close the streets and race round the island”, She nodded, unimpressed,
Then up came the English coast proper, god it looked good, home at last I thought to myself, and at the same time, I felt a lump in my throat, this trip is going to take me home, Biggin is only 25 minutes from my house, so I decided to fly over Caterham before making my final approach………
Turning toward Biggin, I made contact, and requested my full stop landing, we were given runway 3, which would bring us in over the trees, finals was a bit gusty, but nothing to write home about.
Touchdown was sweet, even Sarah remarked on how smooth it was, “Oh, it’s nothing” I replied, with a smirk on my face……..
“Look, Look”…. Sarah shouted in my ear,…. “I can see Captain Bruce’s aircraft”… “Where” …. “Over there, parked up by the tower” … sure enough, it did look like his, although it’s difficult to distinguish between any of them, but, She seemed sure.
“And ….. Look over there, there is a big banner on the front of that building…… It says “Welcome Home Mel”, …. “That’s my old flying school Sarah, no doubt they got word we were flying in today”
“Are we going to park next to him” Sarah asked……… “No hun, we are on home turf, we have our own hangars and workshops here, and I believe there are a few Honda technicians staying over for back up, besides, I need to get this baby cleaned and serviced”… We will try and find him, and get his Honda over to us.
“There is a Hotel on the perimeter, we are booked in there, separate rooms I might add”…. My intention was to check in, and then take Sara over to the other side of the airport, and meet with Iris, my ex flying instructor at Classair.
We walked through the door, and Iris was sitting at her desk, and George drinking tea as always……….. “Mel”….She shouted, “Welcome home dear boy, we heard that you could be arriving today, How are You, How was the flight, Who is this………….. “Whooa…. Slow down Iris, one question at a time”. …… After introducing Sarah, It was announced, that as soon as the last pilot had landed, She, and the other instructors were holding a party for all of the Maddie Pilots.
I took Sarah out to show her the Tomahawk, "This is the aircraft Iris taught me to fly in", I patted the cowling, and jumped in for old times sake, "Stay there Mel. I want to take a few photo's".
We walked back into the flying club, Iris had made some tea, and produced a packet of my favourite biscuits,,,,,,, Mmmm, plain chocolate wholemeal, "See you haven't forgotton Iris".
“Have to say Mel. That landing was a peach, you must have had a good instructor” As Iris looked at me with a wry grin on her face…….. “We are proud of you, and all the other Maddie pilots,,,,,, Can’t wait to meet everyone”…
Nicely done BP, Mel & Cat1, such excellent accounts of your adventures lately.
I somehow missed Cat1's latest post, and Jaeg's post before his last - I think I got carried away scrolling the latest big ol' 'scroll monkey' pages - went right past a few posts somehow when I saw such a little 'scroll slider on the right, LOL.
Great reading from you all, thanks for the entertainment value offered up here! And furthering the Maddie cause, of course.
EDIT: @ Mel...thought your shot; 'On finals' was particularly nicely captured...and thanks to all for taking the time and effort to give us the screenies, even though I don't always look at each and every one.
Seven friends who were on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when their daughter Madeleine vanished are to receive a "substantial" libel payout from a newspaper group, a source has said.
It is understood that Express Newspapers are to print apologies to the so-called 'Tapas Seven' and agree to pay them a total of £375,000 in damages in a High Court hearing.
The friends will donate the money to the official Madeleine's Fund, set up to help look for the missing child.
Apologies will be published in the Daily Express and the Daily Star and in the Sunday Express at the weekend, the source said.
The seven are couples Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien, Rachael and Matthew Oldfield, Fiona and David Payne, and Mrs Payne's mother Dianne Webster.
With the McCanns, they made up the party staying in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May last year when Madeleine disappeared nine days before her fourth birthday.
Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, the little girl has not been found.
The nickname for the group comes from the tapas restaurant where all nine adults were dining when Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment nearby.
Not only have you been on top of this entire 'Round The World' Surclaro event, but you've also been our Number One Field Reporter and News Anchor, too (!) for keeping us up to date on events Madeleine! That was always something I had been wanting to do all along, but events in my corner have prevented me from being able to devote the kind of time I originally intended, in keeping everyone abreast and up to date on the "base line reality" of our project.
It's important work!
And so, a personal thanks from me to you for keeping us aware of events on the REAL home front of our dedicated project!
Hey!!!
Don't spoil it for the rest of us "stragglers" now...
<sniff>... <sniff>... <sssnnniiiffff>... No one is going to buy this plane it smells like rotted MOOSE, I wonder if there is a good plane wash joint here in Durango.
Yes, inside... I have showered NUMEROUS times, it ain't me
When the prop blade broke off/shattered and went through the aircraft skin it did bring some of the moose inside the airplane, I guess the weapons locker was of more interest to the mech's than cleaning up the plane.
And they stole my satellite phone...
Any news on the Maddie Jet being delivered to me here in Durango?
I could make it to Mazatlan if needed since it's only about 300 miles away by road, although I think the Maddie Beech has enough left in her to make it to San Antonio Intl, and I would rather take it over on US soil if you know what I mean
(Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say anymore, say anymore...)
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