Flying Stories! My First Bahamas Trip, Episode 2

Greetings!  I'll post the rest of the Bahamas trip here;  was going to split into three sections, but the third one wouldn't have any pictures, and it's just wrong for a flying story to not have pictures :)  
So get settled in, hope you enjoy..... Flowerpilot



The Bahamas Trip, Episode 2 - we begin in Key West....

Water, Water Everywhere

Well, Sunday morning arrived, nice and sunny, with a light breeze.  We checked to make sure we had everything ready; plane fueled (we were estimating a 2-hour flight), passports, and all of the paperwork we could fill out for entering the Bahamas ahead of time.  We took a few pictures of the field, including one of Jimmy Buffet’s seaplane (!), then took off. Miami guided us over Marathon, then direct to New Bight on Cat Island. 

  

We’d opted to cruise somewhere in the 7,000 foot range, and it was amazing to see the chain of the Keys from that height, with the one long bridge connecting them all.  Once we were told to proceed to New Bight, though, I watched as we turned to a heading of 086, and the islands got fewer and fewer, until they were out of range.  What replaced them was amazing; the clearest water I’ve ever seen!  You could see where the underwater shelved dropped off, with stark contrasts between aquamarine and deep blue; and, as far up as we were, you could still make out huge schools of fish and waves on the little dots of land here and there.    There were some clouds building up, and for a while we went up to 10,500 to stay out of their way.  The radios were interesting; the VFR charts for the area had lots of additional information about which air traffic facility was available at various altitudes – the lower altitudes were handled by Nassau, and the higher ones by Miami. 

En Route to the Bahamas

Western shore of Andros – all marshes

Bahamian Customs

After just over 2 hours of beautiful flying, we landed on runway 9 at New Bight (MYCB).  As an Airport of Entry, I expected some fairly formal-looking customs buildings and such.  Little did I realize how relaxed everything is in the Bahamas.  New Bight structures primarily consisted of one small, trailer- like building – one half was a door for the local ‘terminal’, the other was customs.  No fences or guard posts – just the one building. Walk in, present your entry papers, fill out a short immigration form, get a couple of stamps, and walk through the other side.  The process took all of about 5 minutes.  We got a cab to the resort, to meet up with our friends already at the Hawk’s Nest Resort on Cat Island. http://www.hawks-nest.com/

If the Hawk’s Nest runway were open, it would have been a great place to land – step off the runway, and you’re on the resort!  It’s a great little 10-room oasis on the southern portion of the island; very clean, quiet (TV and telephone only in the main lounge), and relaxing.  We spent Sunday and Monday night there; walking around the lower coast of the island, biking down the road (and across the closed runway) to the marina, snorkeling for sea sponges and shells, frolicking in those wonderfully warm Caribbean waters, and staying up way past our bedtime.

Plans Change – the Nassau Experience

Our trip was shortened by some bad news on the family front. Grant’s dad, Lee, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier in the year, and had been admitted to a hospice the day before we left to get some pain under control.  We’d planned to visit him toward the end of the week, but Grant’s aunt Darlene called us Monday evening to tell us that things didn’t look good, and we should get there as soon as we could.  So, Grant and I headed back to Florida promptly Tuesday morning.  Jim, our companion pilot, had planned to return to Chicago later in the twin with the rest of the group, so it would just be the two of us to Palm Beach International, our chosen Airport of Entry.  New Bight doesn’t have fuel, so we decided to stop in Nassau (MYNN) before finishing the Caribbean crossing. 

The weather wasn’t bad, but we did learn about how helpful it can be to become familiar with the airport layout in advance.  We were instructed to report a right base for runway 9.  Turning base, I felt we hadn’t quite turned enough – the DG wasn’t quite showing us going North.  Oh well, probably the wind correction, I thought.  When we turned final, we saw what we lined up for – a Very Long and Wide Taxiway that was positioned about 20 degrees askew from Runway 9! We continued to turn, but the approach just wasn’t stabilized, so safety came first, and we executed a go-around.  Nassau was fairly busy, and the controller didn’t sound overly pleased when we called that, but I’m guessing she would have been a little more peeved having to fill out the paperwork required for an accident.

MillionAir at Nassau has a very nice facility, and they were great in getting us fueled and filed with all of the paperwork we would need to re-enter the US.  A few key things were:  making sure you put ADCUS in your DVFR flight plan (to advise U.S. Customs that you’re coming back in to the country), calling the Customs Office at that airport to let them know you’re coming, and when (don’t rely just on that acronym in your flight plan remarks), and knowing who to call before crossing the ADIZ (air defense identification zone).  You’re supposed to contact Miami Flight Service 15 minutes before you expect to cross the zone (although sometimes they don’t respond for a while), and receive a special squawk code.  That tells the approach towers that you’re ‘to be expected’, and keep them from sending out some F-16’s to be your newfound buddies (!)

Back to the U.S. – Can You Hear Me Now?

Taking off from Nassau, we had pretty clear skies.  We did have a couple of constraints keeping us going; the weather (we were strictly VFR now), and getting to the Customs Office at Palm Beach before they closed for the day.  We could have gone to a high altitude, but decided to enjoy the last of the ocean view.  We stayed well south of Freeport, although we could see Grand Bahama island off to the north.  Our view was mainly those beautiful blue waters, and little dots of rocks that would occasionally poke up.  For a while we were talking to Nassau departure, and keeping up on their radar.  After a while, their signal started to fizzle out, and we were on our own until we got within range of Miami Flight Service; we were to contact them 20 miles northwest of Bimini for our special squawk code.  It was beautiful, but very quiet out there.  As we got closer to the contact point, we tried making calls; no response.  I started to get a bit nervous; what if we couldn’t raise them?  (Now, I don’t mind checking out military planes, but seeing them at air shows is just fine by me….) All you can do is radio in every couple of minutes, and keep flying.  After a few more calls, we finally started to hear them – turns out they had been able to hear us for the last call or so, but we weren’t in range to get them.  We got our code, and proceeded in to Palm Beach International. 

When we landed, our first stop was U.S. Customs.  I’ll have to say that coming back through the U.S. was much more involved than the Bahamas, but it wasn’t too awful.  More forms, making sure the airplane had a radio license (need to get before you leave) and its U.S Customs sticker (we’d also requested that before we left, and it didn’t arrive in time, but we did have a receipt showing we’d ordered it, so that was acceptable), showing passports, filling out a duty form (nothing but polo shirts and sandals to declare; the sea sponge and shells didn’t count), and out the door.  We forgot to leave the plane doors unlocked so they could inspect it, but I guess the guard walked around the plane, looked through the windows, and saw what he needed to see. 

Family Matters

Once we were done with Customs, we taxied over to Galaxy Air, and secured the plane for the rest of the week.  Grant’s aunt Darlene picked us up, and we headed straight to the hospice.  The rest of the week was spent visiting Lee, and staying at Darlene’s place.  Grant’s younger brother flew in from Denver on Wednesday, and we got a few days to be a small family.  At one point, Lee indicated that some of the lights in the room were harsh on his eyes, so Grant offered his Hawk’s Nest cap to shield it - looked darned good.  By Thursday afternoon, we had all accepted that Lee wouldn’t be coming home with us.  We sat with him all day Friday, and returned Saturday morning.  Grant took a break to drop Eric off at the airport for the return flight to Denver, then came back.  Lee passed away peacefully that afternoon with us at his bedside, about the same time Eric’s plane was pushing back from the gate at FLL. 

It was unfortunate that our vacation was shorter than we planned, but I have to think there was a bigger plan that had us relatively close by at that time.  And we discovered that being a pilot is not only fun, but extremely useful; without the flexibility of flying ourselves, we would have been hard pressed to get back from a remote Bahamian island that soon.

Heading home… but not quite yet

Our original plan was to spend Sunday and Monday getting us and Whiskers back home, since we had to make some preparations to drive back for the funeral the following weekend.  However, on Sunday morning, there was a pesky weather system in South Florida, giving us nothing but wind, and MVFR and IFR conditions throughout most of the peninsula.  We kept looking for a break, but there was nothing to be had except for a couple of very uncomfortable hours spent scud-running.  We thought of the flying adage, “if three things go wrong in the air, get on the ground; if three things go wrong on the ground, don’t get in the air.”  The weather and our just-stabilizing emotional state made for two things wrong on the ground; we decided not to gamble on number three.  We scrapped plans to fly that day, and went out with Darlene for a lunch of enchiladas and margaritas. 

The Last Leg – November Chicago Weather, Anyone?

Monday’s weather was better; there were still clouds, but at 3500 feet AGL, with clearing.  It was still windy, but once we got into Southern Georgia, the air would smooth out.  We set out for the PBI early in the morning, got to the field about 6:30 am; it would be a long day of flying.  Things would have gone faster if they’d remembered to fuel us beforehand like we’d asked. Guess with all of those biz jets around, our 182 wasn’t quite as important to them.  But it sure looked good to me when they towed her up to the line.  We got settled in, and were soon cleared for takeoff on runway 9R.  Oh, and those big important bizjets?  Waiting for their IFR clearances as we took off J  We turned westbound, and headed up to 6,500 feet when we could for the trip back. 

Having flight following combined with filing a flight plan is a wonderful thing: Florida has a number of MOAs and other airspaces to watch, so we had planned a bit of a circuitous route to avoid them.  However, once we were on our way, the various control agencies were very helpful in allowing us to go direct when the MOAs were cold, keeping us apprised of other traffic in the area (it was pretty busy) and, learning to fly VFR in Chicago, hearing a phrase around Tampa I thought I’d never hear: “7111W, you are cleared through the Class Bravo airspace.”  (Yow!)  I also discovered the added benefit to having an ADF in the plane (hint: it’s not just for navigation J )

Our one planned stop was in Athens/Ben Epps airport in Athens, Georgia.  After about 4 hours of flying, we had a nice calm landing on a sunny, 3-knot wind fall day. AHN is a great GA airport, and the folks at the main FBO were very helpful in providing nearby lunch suggestions.  We had the use of the courtesy car for an hour  - the ubiquitous Crown Victoria, a former police car with the airport logo and many miles on it.  We drove in for a very good Cajun lunch, then back to AHN for the last leg.  Checking the weather ahead, we saw some high-level airmets for icing closer to Chicago, something we hadn’t had to think about in the 80-degree weather of the Bahamas.  So we made a special note to keep in touch with Flight Watch as we proceeded north, just to make sure.  Aside from the icing, we also needed to keep watch on the time; for both of us, our night currency had expired about 2 days ago, and while we would have been legal to still land right after sunset, we really wanted to get back to Clow before then.  (If you’ve ever flown into Clow at night, you know it’s not the easiest airport to see at that time.)  Once airborne, we used the GPS to estimate our arrival time:

ETA into 1C5:  4:15 pm central. 

Estimated time of sunset at 1C5: 4:30 pm. 

It would be close.

The winds were pretty mild at altitude, so while they didn’t help much, I’m glad they didn’t slow us down.  Grant flew this leg, while I kept track of the temps and ceilings by tuning into various ATIS reports along the way.  We were around Louisville, and while it wasn’t raining, we could see that the ceilings started to become more defined.  Around Indianapolis, they got a little lower.  At Kankakee, we were still around 6,000 feet or so, and it started to rain lightly.  Not a problem, except when the rain stopped running off the strut like it did before – a trace of rime ice at 5 degrees Celsius.  Remember the training: descended to 4,500, temp went back up to 7 Celsius, ice melts back to rain, filed a pirep with Kankakee flight watch, and on to Clow. 

We touched down 10 minutes before sunset – whew!  Taxied Whiskers over to her spot, shutdown, unloaded and secured her, gave her a few ‘great job’ pats on her nose, and dragged into the FBO to hand in the keys. 

It was quite an adventure: we’d flown about 2,700 nautical miles; landed at some great airports; saw some beautiful land and water scenery, gone through cold frost, warm sun, wind, rain and icing (usually a couple of these in a day), and were able to get where we needed to be when we needed to be there.  It will be a little while until we have a long flyout again (we have to pay down the bill from this one!), but short hops are rewarding too.  Although I would love to hear that “cleared through Class Bravo airspace” again sometime…..

Trip path: 1C5 – KCTY – KLAL – KEYW – MYCB – MYNN – KPBI – KAHN – 1C5

Flying Stories! My First Bahamas Trip - Episode 1

Hi, all!  it's been a while since I've written, I'm finding out how hard it can be to keep up with a regular publishing schedule - hopefully this next series is more on-time...

As the weather gets colder here in the Northern U.S.,  thoughts turn to warmer places..... For many years, our flying club has taken a trip to the Bahamas right about now, for a little R&R under palm trees.  I'm sitting this year's trip out, but wanted to relay a writeup from my very first Bahamas fly-out.  The hubby and I had only had our private pilot certificates for about 6 months, and we weren't instrument rated at the time.  But this trip really showed me what is possible with a small plane, how you can have lots of fun and adventure, and how it can be invaluable when your plans change......

I originally wrote this for a multi-installment in a regional newsletter for the Ninety-Nines (www.ninety-nines.org), an international organization of women pilots, in Feb of 2005.  For this blog, I didn't take the liberty of trimming down the content, so enjoy the long, verbose wording.  Will install in segments;  I'm desperately trying to find the pictures that went along with this by the time we're ready for installment 2!! (Had a couple of computer crashes since I originally wrote it)

Enjoy, Flowerpilot

The Flying Trip – Key West and the Bahamas, Nov. 5 – 15, 2004 - Episode 1

The full trip route: 1C5 – KCTY – KLAL – KEYW – MYCB – MYNN – KPBI – KAHN – 1C5

(Map spots:  Romeoville, IL - Cross City, FL - Key West, FL - New Bight, Cat Island, Bahamas - Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas - West Palm Beach, FL - Romeoville, IL)

The last big flyout of the year for our flying club was somewhat nebulous at first: the first destination was Key West, but who knew where we would end up?  Flights in other years had also included side trips to the Bahamas.  Nonetheless, I was excited; we’d known about it for almost a year, and signed up as soon as we got our tickets.  It would be one of the first long cross-country trips where Grant and I would be PICs.  Lots to plan, not only in terms of endurance, but possibly flying internationally, and over water, well away from gliding distance from shore – yikes!

The trip started on the morning of November 5, at Clow International in Bolingbrook.  As prep for the trip, both Grant and I got our high-performance endorsements in the summer; renting the Cessna 182, affectionately called ‘Whiskers’, would give us more payload and better groundspeed than the 172 we’d trained in.  For this trip, we were sharing the plane with Jim, one of the instructors, but he was only coming along as a third person in the plane this round; he would also be our pilot option if we came across instrument conditions.  The one other plane on the trip, a Cessna 310, had left two days before to attend to previous business in Florida – we’d join them in Key West.

Heading Out to Key West

That Friday morning was clear and cold – We got to the field about 6 am with all of our charts, weather briefing, luggage, everything.  The plane had been fueled the night before, and we thought were ready to go.  One small issue, though; the plane was on the ramp outside....  In the shade of a building....  With a good layer of frost on it!  Knowing how critical it is for safety, the three of us set out to remove the frost from the flight surfaces.  This was no easy task without de-icing fluid on hand.  One of my t-shirts was sacrificed to wipe frost from the wing tops, but the going was slow.  At one point, I was dispatched to the nearest drugstore to buy a hair dryer to speed things up (wouldn’t you know it: the one time I decide to go with low-maintenance hair on a vacation, and NOT pack a hair dryer!…).  But by the time I got back, the sun had started to move around, and the manual de-icing got easier; we were finally packed up and wheels up by 8 am. 

The first leg of the flight south was wonderful; clear and sunny skies, amazing tailwinds (gave us about a 40 knot boost sometimes), great conversation and ample munchies.  After ‘hand-flying’ for a while, we turned on the autopilot, linked it to the GPS, and relaxed a little.  We flew for just under 5 hours that first leg, and though we were using flight following all the way, I think we got all of two calls about traffic.  It was great watching the scenery change, from farm fields to soft hills, then more flat lands of brown and red clay. 

Our first stop was in Cross City, Florida (CTY), to stretch our legs and get fuel.  After the time spent on de-icing earlier that morning, that Florida sun sure felt good! The guy at the FBO was very helpful; even though the fuel was self-service, he gladly pumped it for us.  We decided to go into town for some lunch, and were given the keys to the courtesy car – a very comfortable and  ‘seasoned’ Town Car.  We couldn’t figure out why there were so many people lined up along the main street, until we got to the Subway shop: the local homecoming parade was scheduled to start in about 15 minutes, and that main street (which was the only way back to the airport!) would be closed for a good while.  Rather than risk getting stuck, we opted to take our sandwiches back and eat at the field.

After lunch, we checked weather before hopping back in the plane.  A front was beginning to move across the more southern portion of Florida, and it wasn’t clear that it would be gone by the time we got there.  Rather than take a risk, we decided to make an interim stop at Lakeland, and purchase the necessary instrument charts in case we needed to file.  Good thing Jim was there; checking the weather at LAL, that front was moving pretty slowly, so we switched PICs, and he filed for the last leg into Key West.  Much of the last leg was after sunset, and the cloud layer over the gulf was low, so we flew above it until we had to descend.  I was glad to be taking a break after the earlier leg; never saw so many stars looking up…. 

We landed in Key West about 7:30 that night. A bit breezy, but things were clear after we got out of the clouds.  There were quite a few planes out there already, and we were hoping to find a parking spot.  We got one, secured the plane for the evening, and went to find our friends in town.  We stayed in Key West Friday and Saturday night; lots of merriment and seafood J 

The group had decided to spend a couple of days in the Bahamas; we would be flying to Cat Island, one of the Out Islands, and landing at New Bight airport, which is in the middle of the island, and an Airport of Entry.  Our resort of choice, the Eagles Nest, does have a nicely paved airstrip on the property, but it was awaiting approval from the Transportation board after making some improvements, so it wasn’t open.  I was excited, but still nervous; with the flight into Key West, I couldn’t see the water beneath the clouds.  Sunday morning would be a different story….

Saturday aviation humor

Reportedly real;  even if it's not, it's pretty funny!  Enjoy!

Kulula Airline is hilarious! 

Kulula  is a low-cost South-African airline that doesn't take itself too  seriously. Check out their new delivery! And get a kick out of the comments  at the end of the photos.

Kulula is an Airline with head office situated in Johannesburg .  Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining.

Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced,  "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it !" 
 

 ---o0o--- 

On another flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, 
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights.  This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your  flight attendants."  

 ----o0o--- 

On landing, the stewardess said,  
"Please be sure to take all of your belongings........ If  you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."   

 ----o0o---

"There may be  50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out  of this airplane."

 ---o0o--- 

"Thank you for flying Kulula.  We  hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you  for a ride."  

 ---o0o--- 

As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Durban Airport , a lone voice came over the  loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!" 
 

 ---o0o-- 

After a particularly rough  landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo, a flight  attendant on a flight announced,  "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted." 
 

 ---o0o--- 

From a Kulula employee:  
"Welcome aboard Kulula  271   to Port Elizabeth. To operate your seat belt, insert  the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised." 
 

 ---o0o--- 

 "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling.  Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a  small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs.  If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite." 
 

 ---o0o--- 

"Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more  thanKulula Airlines." 
 

 ----o0o--- 

"Your seat cushions can be used for  flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

 ---o0o---  

"As you exit the  plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything  left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.."  

 ---o0o--- 

And from the pilot during his  welcome message: 
"Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry.  Unfortunately, none of  them are on this flight!" 
 

 ---o0o— 

Heard on Kulula 255 just after a very hard landing in Cape Town:

The flight attendant came on the  intercom and said, "That was quite a bump and I know what y'all are thinking.   

 I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't  the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, ......it was the  asphalt."  

---o0o— 
Overheard on a Kulula flight into  Cape Town, on a particularly windy and bumpy day:

During the final approach, the Captain really had to fight it.  After an extremely hard  landing, the Flight Attendant said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City .  Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"
---o0o—

Another flight  attendant's comment after a less than perfect landing:

"We ask  you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the  terminal." 
 

 ---o0o— 
An  airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a  "Thanks for flying our airline".  He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment.  Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane.  She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"  
"Why, no Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it ?" 
The little old lady said, "Did we land, or were we shot down?"  

 ---o0o—  

After a real crusher of a  landing in Johannesburg, the attendant came on with,  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.." 

 ---o0o— 

Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: 
"We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today...... And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of  KululaAirways." 
 

 ---o0o— 

Heard on a Kulula flight:  
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing...... If you can light' em, you can smoke' em."

Flying Adventures - New Zealand

Greetings!  Wanted to share some highlights from an awesome and fabulous trip the we took to New Zealand a while back, in August of 2005.  Both my husband and I are private pilots, so our vacations tend to focus on aviation-related activities. We'd had our private pilot certificates a little over a year when we took this trip.

A little bit about myself - I grew up mainly in the south suburbs of Chicago, and would probably not fit the profile of a typical 'always-wanted-to-fly, all-my-male-relatives-were-pilots' pilot, if there is a such a thing.  But I pursued this dream, and through it, discovered a part of the world I would have otherwise never seen as a pilot, and as a member of the 99s, an international organization of women pilots (www.ninety-nines.org)  The International Conference that year was in Christchurch, New Zealand- our adventure begins after the conference ends.... 

Hoping it starts a spark for others to follow their dreams too - enjoy, let me know what you think!
******************************

Leslie & Grant's  New Zealand Adventure

The 99s conference in Christchurch, New Zealand was a wonderful experience for this (relatively) recent 99.  I got a chance to learn much more about the organization, and meet many fellow members from all over the world.  Much will surely be written about that first week; and for me and Grant, it was certainly an adventure in itself.  But, early Friday morning, we headed off for adventure #2…..

Originally, we’d planned to try to get some flying in on our second week in NZ, with all the wonderful terrain and sights to see.  Our initial efforts to set something up on our own fizzled out; but, in early July, we’d heard about FlyInn, a NZ outfit that offers flying tours there; days spent flying (the guests do the flying, with a local pilot as a guide), along with a stay at a genuine high country sheep station, and gourmet meals in the evening.  We met up with the owners (Matt (pilot, and our guide) & Jo (his wife, and an awesome chef - now a pilot herself (Yay, Jo!))) at their booth in Oshkosh, and signed up for a 7-day flying tour of the South Island. 

I’m writing this somewhat removed from the trip, but hopefully I’ll remember the relevant stuff,will start at the second week of our journey.

Places we went.  You can also find this on Google maps: Prellwitz Air's NZ Vacation

Our NZ adventure, part 2, began early the morning of Friday, Aug. 26.  That morning we got up at a very early hour (3-ish?), to pack bags and check out of our hotel.  We were to catch the first flight from Christchurch to Queenstown, and Matt would pick us up from there.  Knowing we would be in a smaller plane, it didn’t make sense to take all of our luggage with us; besides, where were we going to use formal wear on a sheep station?  We’d brought along empty duffel bags to use as our second week’s luggage, and took just what we needed – the hotel was happy to hold our larger bags until we returned the following Friday.  This was not the easiest task for me, as I’m known for having so many bags accessorized with that lovely orange ‘HEAVY’ label each time they’re loaded on the scales at the United Airlines counters.  But somehow, you’re way more cognizant of weight and balance issues in a small plane.  I managed to pack the basics, allowing for a laundry run, in one bag, with my flight bag as the carry-on.  Going through the check-in process at Christchurch, I was silently proud of my achievement; including hiking boots, my little blue duffel bag weighed all of 5.9 pounds  :)

We landed at Queenstown around 8:30 in the morning.  It was sunny but a bit cold, and it felt good being in the terminal. Matt met us there in our week’s transportation to get back to Geordie Hill, our home base.  Our transportation for the week: ZX-WAX, a yellow and blue Cessna 172M (yes, an M model).  One radio, one ADF, one transponder, no VOR, and a dash-mounted GPS unit. used primarily for groundspeed calculation.  I was kinda nervous, but with a 180 hp SP engine placed in it,  I was very surprised by what it could do. 

Highlights:

Home base, as well as many of the sites we landed at, were not paved runways – turf was the surface of choice.  As ‘city-fied flatlanders’, we had to adapt quickly to landing on real turf strips, and remembering what you’re taught about flying in mountains and valleys, it all comes in handy.  Having a BFR with a NZ CFI the first day (how’d you like to do THAT on your vacation?) helped bring it all back…

Flying every day, started early in the morning, home around 5:30 for all nights except one.  We lucked out with clear skies almost every day, got in about 10 hrs of PIC time for each of us.  Places we went:

Mt. Aspiring - the “Matterhorn” of the South, about 9500 ft at the peak.  With updrafts, we were up and around it with less effort than I thought.

Big Bay – yes, it’s a beach; the only time I’ve had to check tides along with notams (you want to make sure it’s going out...)

Milford Sound – the gateway to Fiordlands National Park.  The most amazing geography, and the 2^nd place winner for most challenging landing.  What you’re working with: field elevation, 10 ft above sea level.  It’s at the end of a channel; the flight path in and out resembles a figure 8.  Coming in, the sides of the channel are anywhere between 4500 and 6000 feet.  With a few valleys cut into the sides here and there, so you get rapid switches between updrafts and downdrafts on your approach.  Power management at its finest….

Flying down through the fiords, not just on top of them!

Mandeville – a soft grass field (aah….). and a vintage aircraft restoration factory.  Some lovely Tiger Moth aircraft out there…

Stewart Island – off the south tip of the South Island.  By far the most challenging landing :  Rwy 04-22, 2400 feet, and a strong northwest wind – Grant did a go-around, and Matt did another one before we finally landed. Stayed overnight, went fishing the next day -I caught a shark!  (we put it back in the water - shark wasn't on the menu that day :) ) 

I'll remember Stewart Island not only for the amazing geography and challenging landings, but because it was the first place I heard about Hurricane Katrina - her impending arrival in New Orleans, with a picture of people walking the road alongside cars to leave before she hit, made the front page of the newspaper there.

Balclutha – a large, shortgrass field, and the only one where we had to do a low pass to clear off the sheep before we could land (they moved nicely enough, though J  )

Glenorchy – one of the few dirt strips I know that has charter service; Deep in Lord of the Rings territory, did some jetboating!

Mt Cook-  Landed on one of the few paved (or, ‘sealed’, as it’s said there) runways, and took a ride in a Cessna 185 with skis up to the Tasman Glacier.  Landing on snow is an art form.  Took a walk on the approach path; surprisingly comfortable - at 7500 feet, it’s noon, it’s sunny, it’s 50 degrees, the snow shows no signs of melting….

Dunedin – landed at the larger airport for some shopping.  The ride back to home base was very bumpy; the only time I put down both the camera and camcorder (Grant and Matt were in front), and just sat there, hands holding on to the seatbelt, while we went through a number of head-bumping air currents to get back home.  Later that evening, I was congratulated on my calm demeanor as a passenger.  We responded by introducing Matt and Jo to Grant’s famous margaritas…

Christchurch – we arranged to end the tour in Christchurch, so we could get our large luggage for the trip home.  The weather was interesting that morning...... lots of lovely low clouds over the passes, careful flight planning that day.   I flew the last leg, and was rewarded not only with a very nice flight, but a gate at CHC!  Not very often you get to power down with a 747 in the next parking spot….

All in all, a very action-packed 7 days.  It took it’s toll on my eligible vacation time at work (as well as my bank account (!)), but I have lots of pictures, and great memories of a once-in-a lifetime experience, not to mention some newfound friends many time zones away.