Chapter 17 - The weather sites - whether we go or whether we stay!

For those who wanted the links to the weather sites, I have put them below with images of the winds speed and wind streamlines at 9000'.



http://aviationweather.gov/adds/winds/

Note that the winds travel anti-clockwise around lows in the Northern Hemisphere.

When you go to this link it gives the choice of selecting one of four different images and the choice of prognosis at different altitudes or Flight Levels, for up to the next 84 hours. I use this first as it gives me a wind forecast for 3 1/2 days ahead.

For the wind speeds, the longer tail on the end of the barb represents about 10 knots and a 1/2 tail represents about 5 knots. A dark flag is about 50 knots. The point of the arrow or barb is pointing in the direction the wind is blowing.


Then go to the satellite image as that gives an understanding of the cloud and the cloud movement, and visually complements the wind speed and wind stream images.

http://aviationweather.gov/obs/sat/intl/

For some reason this takes you to Aviation Weather, so in the left hand column under Observation click on Satellite - Intl. This should take you to the page above. Think I fixed it, but if not, go back to square 1.

Another visual site is http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/progs/

Finally, for the current forecast/actual wind speeds between Santa Barbara and Hawaii, use the following link.

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/data/HFO/RFRKSF

If necessary, click Route Forecast  San Francisco/Santa Barbara to Honolulu Route

Read the bottom forecast headed SBA/HNL. For interpretation read Chapter 9.

From the top images which are forecast winds for Wednesday 3rd January 0000 UTC, I don't think we are going anywhere until at least Saturday 6th February.

Click on images to enlarge

Chapter 16 - Santa Maria and route to Hawaii

We are still waiting for the winds to drop and come from the east or at least, nil wind. Today they were averaging 19 knots headwind on the track to Hawaii.

I found a neat site which gives 84 hour pictorial projections of wind direction and speed off the west coast and another which shows cloud and height of cloud by satellite image for the Pacific between the west coast of USA and the east coast of Australia. From both I assume that there will not be a phone call until at least Sunday and I think beyond.

The take off is from Santa Maria airport to the ocean at Morro Bay.

I suspect that it has been chosen by someone because it is a long runway, the land ahead is flat (paddocks) so we have no problems with the slow rate of climb and there are no houses on the track, so in the event of something going amiss, there is no (as they say in the military) collateral damage.

From Morro Bay we head south west to pick up the commercial airway route (although at lower level of about 9000') from Santa Barbara to Hawaii. This takes us via the intersection waypoints for reporting purposes. Although we are not deviants, we do deviate a bit at both ends, because we are taking off and landing at different airports to those used by the large commercial aircraft.

Click on the photos to enlarge

Chapter 15 - It has arrived

Notification of deregistration has arrived from the FAA and an application has been made to registered the Saratoga as VH-EXS. Although a little bit of a mouthful "Echo, X-ray, Sierra", we thought that VH-EXCESS properly describes the irrationality of the purchase.

After tomorrow, it is likely that the only thing holding us back is the weather, which is still averaging 18 knots headwind at 9,000'. We would like an average 5 knots tail wind.

Having overcome fear (to some extent) of the long flight over the water, with the impending registration, the reality of the situation is taking effect. The long delay had reduced the level of inevitability and anxiety. Now, departure is imminent. Megan said she will be following the flight and I said "It will be night. You will be asleep during the long flight". She said "No I won't. I'll be awake all night. I'm scared"!.

"You're scared?" I replied "How do you think I feel? It's me it's happening to!"

For some reason I thought of Bastille day (July 14) and I thought it must be a bit like the prisoners waiting to have their heads chopped off. While hope of a reprieve remains a possibility, the pressure is not so great. As soon as the gaoler says "We're definitely chopping it off next week", reality bites.

I thought, I will call on the AA prayer which I usually use when under pressure or when stressed out & it always gets me out of trouble.

Give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change.
Courage to change the things I can.
Wisdom to know the difference.

This is the first time it has let me down. I realised that I hadn't had the 'wisdom to change the things I can'.

Oh well, it is back to Bob Hussey's comment "Give it a go" ( At your age) "You don't have a lot to lose".

Chapter 14 - No deregistration and still here

ICAO regulations are that an aircraft cannot be registered in two countries at the same time. Saratoga N6PL must be deregistered by FAA before it can be registered in Australia by CASA. After it is registered in Australia we need to get an Australian Ferry Permit. We were advise by our agent that deregistration would probably occur in the first week of January but we are still waiting and don't know why.

However, the weather has been terrible in Los Angeles and the headwinds have been impossible, so whether or not we have completed all the necessary documentation and received all the necessary permits, we aren't going anywhere. The earliest we could have the Ferry Permit would be Wednesday 27th but even that is optimistic.

Ray Clamback is in LA and has reported that the rain matches monsoonal downpours in the tropics. The winds have been averaging around 35 knots across to Hawaii.

Looking at the weather west of the US mainland there have been towering cumulus to 40,000', and Kiribati and Pago Pago having thunderstorms. All of which amounts to perfectly good reasons to go nowhere.


N6PL has been fitted with the fuel bladders and has also been fitted with HF radio to enable us to remain in contact with air traffic controllers.

When we are ready to go, the aircraft will be flown from Torrance Airport which is about 8 NM south of LAX to Santa Maria airport which is a further 116 NM north and close to Vandenberg Air Force Base. The runway is 6304 feet (1922 metres) long. It is long enough to get off 30% over maximum weight, the surrounding area is flat with minimum population under the take off path (obviously for safety reasons we won't talk about). Lyn, from past experience, reckons we will have the wheels off the ground by about 2/3 rd of the way down the runway and will then climb slowly down the valley.

Our initial clearance is likely to be 'runway 30 Obstacle Departure to Morro Bay then as filed, 3000' expect 8000', 10 minutes after departure'. Our initial track will take us roughly south west to DINTY intersection and then on the Santa Barbara to Hilo airway.


The first leg to Hilo, Hawaii is 2061 nm which we expect will take around 13 hours nil wind.

Chapter 13 - Ditching experience

Don't know whether I have previously mentioned that Ray Clamback has done over 200 crossings of the Pacific Ocean in light aircraft. Maybe I didn't mention that he has twice been in the Pacific Ocean after ditching aircraft. Once in 1999 and again in 2004. Obviously he survived both and remains undaunted. When I thought that I would be sharing the flight with Ray, I rationalised that he has been in twice so it is unlikely that he would go in again. If he did, he was at least experienced at ditching and survival.

Now I was with Lyn. I knew she had over 50 crossings to her name and some Atlantic and long ferry flights over faraway wilderness country. So that's good. Into Google Search to see if she rates a mention.

Sure enough, there she was on the front page of the Hawaii Star Bulletin web site dated 11 June 2006. Yuh! She too had ditched. Twin engine Seminole, 535 NM from  Hawaii. Maybe ditching is just a standard and regular event in Pacific crossings. At least I had another ferry pilot who was experienced at ditching.

Last check in the process was to look at the cost of insuring the plane and pilots for the crossing which is about 0.75% of the cost of the plane pre GST and Stamp Duty. If I assume the insurance company will make say 50% as income on their insurance premiums. If so, their expectation is about one ditching in 300 flights.

Getting really technical, I reasoned that if I bought a ticket in a pub for a chook raffle and there were 300 tickets, I would not be likely to win the chook. I therefore reasoned that with the same odds of ditching in the Pacific, I was reasonably safe. Good maths, logic and common sense?

Read Lyn's ditching at the following link http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/06/11/news/story01.html

Chapter 12 - The important question most people don't ask.

Well ! What is it?

Flying 12-14 hours across the Pacific in a small aircraft with 2 seats in the front and fuel tanks in the back.

What about toilet facilities? Skip this Chapter if bodily functions are of no interest to you.

After some thought, I raised the issue with David Ind. He told me that when he flew with Ray Clamback, before take off Ray had thrown a red bucket into the plane. David asked, "What's that for"? Ray replied, "I may need a -----". "Not in my plane", replied David. "How to you plan to stop me", retorted Ray.

That solves that.

Then I found out that there are probably three aircraft leaving together and that I would now be paired with female pilot Lyn Gray. Rationalise it this way. We are all basically anatomically the same, just a little bit different in execution. That will do. Ok. I can handle this. After all I once walked Melbourne's parks wearing an overcoat and sand shoes. This should be easy.

When I spoke with Lyn and told her that David was out and I was in, after about 40 seconds she asked if I was shy. I said I was but had thought it through and I would be able to cope. She said she would look out the window at the clouds. I ask where she would look if the sky was clear.

Lyn told me that her previous co-pilots all had different techniques. Some kneeling - anyhow enough of that. Obviously there were no clouds at those times!

For the first part of the trip we are committed to remaining in the front seats as the extra load of fuel in the back takes the load back toward the aft limit of weight & balance. However, when we have burned off a few hours of fuel we may be able to climb over the front seats and be a little more dignified.

Hope that answers the question everyone wants to ask, but few do.

Chapter 11 - Across the Pacific?

Before going to the US to buy the aircraft, I had considered flying back with the ferry pilot. It took all of 3 seconds to decide that I most certainly would not fly that far across water in a single engine aircraft. I have enough trouble getting into a bath full of water without wearing floaties. For a couple of weeks I planned to ship it in a container. Although slightly cheaper, I was concerned with potential damage by removing wings and sliding it in and out of the container etc..

About 6 years ago, when the Piper Society flew to Tasmania, it took me months of research into ditching in the ocean and methods of trying to stay alive long enough to be rescued, before deciding that you didn't need a life jacket to go to Tassie as hypothermia would get you long before help arrived. I went, but sweated all the way.

David Ind had flown on the ferry flight of his Saratoga from the USA and he said he would like to do it again so I offered him the seat.

Whenever I mentioned that I didn't have the courage to fly that long over the water, all pilots, without exception, silently agreed by shaking their heads from side to side. That confirmed to me that I had made the right decision.

As time went by, I kept thinking about why shouldn't I do it. My Arrow had flown Megs and me around for 1200 hours without a hint of trouble. We had flown over all sorts of country, although I always take the longer route to fly over flat grasslands. Surely the Saratoga could stay in the air for the first 40-50 hours of my ownership. What's the worst that could happen? The intended pilot, Ray Clamback had been into the Pacific Ocean on two occassions and survived. He was experienced at ditching at sea and surviving. Prior to the Tassie trip, I had read all I could find on ditching at sea and it seemed to me that everyone (almost) survived the ditching. All that remained for survival was to get into a life raft or if floating in a life jacket, make sure there were no sharks around. Anyhow, if there were sharks and they took your legs off it would improve your bouyancy.

With all of this going on in my head, the most telling argument for going on the Pacific crossing was the advice given to me 3 years ago by Bairnsdale Air Charter owner, Bob Hussey, after I had landed at Latrobe Valley on my way to Bairnsdale, due to rapidly deteriorating weather. I phoned him and asked what the weather was like at Bairnsdale. He said that he had just made it in IFR with the weather at minima. After a brief discussion, he asked how old I was and I told him I was 67 years old. After a couple of seconds thought he said 'You might as well give it a go. You don't have a lot to lose.'

I decided that I would go if David pulled out. I would not tell David of my decision, as being a gentleman, he would opt out in my favour. However, as the winds are likely to cause considerable delays, he advised me a week ago that he could not afford a long time away from work.

So here I go.

Chapter 10 - Ralph's new aircraft

Ralph Mailloux, the previous owner of the Saratoga N6PL just sent me through photos of his new 2000 model Malibu Mirage N61FL. He is now off to the Piper factory at Vero Beach to learn to fly it.

Buying and selling aircraft is like a game of musical chairs, although much more expensive.

Piper had/has a program in the USA whereby if you bought a new aircraft you could get into their program with regular trade-in and  upgrade to a new and more advanced model at an agreed exchange price.

Think we have the same thing going here, but ours is with laptop computers.

Click on photo to enlarge

Chapter 9 - Estimated costs and weather forecasts

Questions have been asked as to costs of importation, so I will throw them in now.

I do not have actual costs at the moment so I will use those given to me by David Ind when he imported a Saratoga about 2 1/2 years ago - in $ AUD

Ferry set up and flight             21,000
Aircraft Inspection USA           1,500
Annual USA                            5,000
GPS download                        1,200
Escrow                                    1,000
Ferry Insurance                        5,000
Certificate of Airworthiness     10,000
Customs                                   3,000
Painting                                     4,300
CASA                                         500

Apologies that the dollars do not line up. I will fix it when I get both the time and the inclination - which may never happen at the same moment.

We cannot take off on the flight from California to Hawaii with westerly headwinds which at the time of writing average 35 knots on the nose at 10,000 feet.

For those who may wish to look at winds, goto http://www.prh.noaa.gov/data/HFO/RFRKSF

Use the bottom forecast headed SBA/HNL.

For wind direction add '0' after the first two numbers in the list under the altitude or Flight Level - eg 2642 means 26042 or wind 260 degrees @ 42 knots.
Down the bottom of the list the M35 would mean minus 35 knots or an average headwind of 35 knots - that would leave us floating (hopefully), somewhere short of Hawaii.
The above weather information came courtesy of Lyn Gray, Clamback & Hennessy.

Chapter 8 - Annual maintenance, FAA & CASA requirements

The final steps in the process are:

1. Before an aircraft is permitted to be exported from the USA, it must have an 'annual inspection' to ensure that the aircraft meets all of the maintenance requirements and airworthiness requirements of the FAA. When these requirements have been met, FAA issues an 'Export Certificate of Airworthiness'.

2. The aircraft cannot legally carry enough fuel for the flight between the islands and needs to take off, substantially over-weight, with additional fuel in specifically designed tanks installed inside the cabin. Whereas the maximum take off weight is 3600 lbs, special permission is required to take off at 4680 lb. The additional fuel will extend our flight endurance from about 6 hours to about 17 hours. Other requirements are placed on the flight such as reduced maximum speed to avoid structural damage and requirements in relation to centre of gravity, turbulence, non use of autopilot while over-weight, advice to Control Tower personnel, pilot skills etc.

3. The aircraft must be de-registered by the US authorities and it is necessary to have Australian registration from CASA to enable the aircraft to legally land in the island countries.

With these legal requirements behind us, we move to equipping the aircraft for the flight and planning for the flight.

Chapter 7 - Inspection and contracts

Having agreed to buy N6PL subject to inspection, the next morning owner Ralph Mailloux flew the aircraft to Torrance airport which is about 6 NM south of its home base and the mechanic started the inspection. By the time I arrived at 12:00 noon he was able to tell me that so far all looked good. Engine compressions were good, the aircraft was fitted with the expensive fine wire spark plugs and all the hoses had been upgraded to heavy duty. The left main wheel needed a shimmy, which I had noted in the log books had been done previously. He also said that one panel on the wing had been painted. I couldn't see it, and even when he showed me which one, I couldn't see the difference in paint colour although he insisted it was slightly different. Obviously the bird strike.

Two days later we signed the very basic contract and arranged for an Escrow company to check ownership and any liens on the aircraft. I would deposit the funds with the Escrow company and on completion of legal checks, that company would simultaneously arrange transfer of the funds to the owner and transfer of ownership to me.

The process of buying and selling aircraft is well organised and professionally executed, which is probably due to the large number of sales which enables people to build businesses around the legal side of selling of aircraft. We appear to be much more basic.

Click on photos to enlarge

Chapter 6 - Engine & Aircraft log books

I overlooked a most important subject.

After spending a couple of months evaluating the used aircraft market through web sites such as controller.com, and having come up with a selection of aircraft, in order of preference, I then contacted the sellers and asked them to email me the log books for the aircraft. I was then able to go through the log books and check that the maintenance was carried out as required and I was able see what problems, if any, there had been with the aircraft I was interested in.

It was at that time, I realised that Lycoming had identified a potential problem with a component in some of the engines and had issued a direction that those particular engines must be disassembled, inspected and the engine be given a major overhaul, which takes the engine back to virtually new condition.

The log books provide a wealth of information on the history of the aircraft, identify any problems and give dates on which new equipment has been installed. They also show which organisations did the work and allow prospective purchasers the opportunity to contact the maintenance organisation for further information.

For example, I was able to see that the brake pads were changed more often on Saratogas than on the ARROW, which I assumed was due to the heavier weight of the Saratoga and the faster landing speeds. Heavy duty brakes, and top of the line hoses and spark plugs were installed on N6PL, which indicated to me that the owners were fastidious. In the case of N6PL, it showed me that a wing had been slightly damaged in a bird strike and that a panel on the leading edge had been replaced.

None of the aircraft I looked at showed any major problems. It showed that some owners changed the oil every 50 hours and others every 25 hours. Some sent the oil for analysis at every oil change.

Having made my selections in order of preference, I gave the details and log books of the aircraft I was interested in to my LAME, Mark Howe at Blue Demon Aviation at Moorabbin, and he also selected N6PL as the no.1 choice.

Chapter 5 - Buying an aircraft - Part 2

The next day I drove to San Diego to inspect Saratoga choice no.3. It was being sold by the Piper Dealer who also claimed to be the official Piper parts and Service organisation for that part of the country.

When I phoned him from LA to make the appointment, he wanted to know what was happening in Australia as he had sold a Mirage to an Australian a week earlier and had an Australian in his office who had just signed to buy a Cessna. I told him about the lower prices in USA and the strength of the Australian $, and he told me that was what the other Australians had told him.

We walked through the hangar which had four aircraft, but there was so much room that I could have driven to each one. There was one Cessna, a Mirage and a Matrix and the Saratoga. Again, an immaculate painted & sealed concrete floor.

Whilst neat and tidy and shiny from the outside, the brown interior of the Saratoga was drab and almost depressing - to me. Obviously the first owner had found it attractive. It had about the same total hours but 300 hours less to run on the engine. It was also cheaper than the no.1 choice.

The no.1 choice had additional avionics with traffic avoidance, stormscope, GMX 200 moving map, full set of co-pilot IFR instruments, speed brakes plus more. Some of these I didn't need, but all-in-all no.1 turned out to be just that. The aircraft had 1040 hours total time but had a major engine overhaul just 299 hours earlier, which left 1700 before the next major engine overhaul. Having had a chat with Tom McCrea, I decided to make an offer on no.1 - call sign N6PL.

The next day we met at Saratoga N6PL's hangar and after another inspection, this time with Tom present, we agreed on a small price reduction and the sale was agreed subject to a flight, the normal US mechanical and structural inspection checks which seem to be standard in USA. A much better system than we have here.

We took off parallel to LAX runways with the big jets flying out beside us. We took as short flight along the coast with me having a play with the controls but totally overwhelmed by the avionics.

Click on photo to enlarge

Chapter 4 - Buying the aircraft - part 1

My no.1 and no.3 selections were in Los Angeles and San Diego respectively, so I decided to see them first. The others were near Chicago and in Minnesota which were both bitterly cold and snowing as were the conditions in Maryland. The sixth was in Tennessee.

Piper Society member, David Ind bought a turbo Saratoga in the USA about 2 1/2 years ago and had flown it to Australia with the ferry pilot - Ray Clamback. David was of great help to me and introduced me to Tom McCrea in California, who had helped him through the official paperwork and documentation with FAA, and had carried out inspections and annual service as required for aircraft being exported from USA.

I inspected my no.1 choice first as it was at Hawthorne airport, a couple of miles south of LAX and with an almost parallel runway to Los Angeles runways. This aircraft was being sold privately. When we met at his hangar, owner Ralph asked "What's going on in Australia? Is every Australian here for a convention?" He told me that he had a call earlier that morning from an Australian at Long Beach, who had arranged to inspect the aircraft later that day.

I liked it from the moment I saw it. It was hangared. It sparkled like new which impressed me because I hadn't told the seller I was in LA until late the previous night and he really hadn't had time to clean and polish it. He was head of a local municipality fire department and told me that cleaning, polishing and maintaining equipment was an integral part of life as a fireman and he spent a day in the hangar at least once every 3 weeks cleaning, vacuuming, polishing etc. - it was just a way of life for him. I thought of the way some aircraft sit outside all of their lives and thought that maybe I couldn't buy it as I wouldn't give it quite the loving care to which it was accustomed.

During the inspection, it started to rain heavily and a couple of drops of water landed on the cabin roof, which prompted the owner to yell for the LAME to tell him the roof was leaking on his plane and he 'better do something about it'.

Of course the concrete floors were smooth, painted and sealed, with not a screw or a tool in sight. Ralph was instrument rated and when I commented that he must have flown through rain or left it out overnight when he went to his holiday house in Arizona, he told me he hadn't flow in rain, he had a hangar in Arizona and when he went to other airports he always arranged to hire a hangar while he was there.

Might seem a little far fetched for us here in Australia, but having flown in the USA for 5 weeks in 2008, I had seen the airport facilities and operations there and everything he said was at least believable.

Chapter 3 -- Why do I need a new aircraft?

The answer is simple. I don't need a new aircraft.

Before I bought the Arrow, I regularly flew Lances and Saratogas and I loved flying them. Since then I have often thought of buying a Saratoga because it has six seats, flys faster and has a bigger cabin than the Arrow III. Why didn't I buy a Saratoga earlier? When I bought the Arrow I couldn't afford to buy a Saratoga. Later on, I guess I just didn't want it badly enough; I love the turbo Arrow which does almost everything I want it to do; and over the last few years whenever I mentioned selling the Arrow and buying a Saratoga, my instructor, Tony Smith, would inevitably say "This is too good an aircraft. Don't sell it". One time he even went to my LAME and got him to phone me to tell me not to sell it.

He has a good point. As an example of what it can do, Tony and I flew HKZ from Moorabbin to Toowoomba at FL150 in about 4 hours 30 minutes without the need to refuel.

However, the US economy crashed. Businesses were (are) doing it tough. Many people can no longer afford to keep some of their assets and the second-hand aircraft prices have plunged. Added to that, the Australian $ has strengthened against the US $. It is now an excellent time to buy aircraft, homes etc in USA. Finally, I am getting older and why not do it?

Having checked the second hand aircraft market in the USA for a couple of months, I just made the decision that now was a good time. The $ could go up or the $ could go down and I could keep waiting for a better deal and wait forever.

In early December I booked a ticket and flew to LA with six prospective aircraft, selected in order of preference.

I love the benefits of a turbo charged aircraft so the Saratoga had to be turbo. I wanted low hours with at least 1000 hours before the next major overhaul was due. I also had settled on a price range which put me into the 1999 - 2001 models. I found that there were many available which met the criteria, and in fact many of the available aircraft exceeded my expectations. There were several with less than 700 hours since new (average of 70 hours flying/year). I also found that there were many which had done more hours but which had engines which had been completely overhauled before they were due, because of a manufacturing problem with some of the parts in the Lycoming engines.These had maybe 1000-1200 hours airframe time with about 600 hours since the engine was overhauled. For non-aviators, every aircraft engine has a number of hours at which time it must be stripped down to individual nuts, bolts and washers and parts measured and if necessary, replaced. In the case of the Saratoga, the major overhaul must be done every 2000 hours as a minimum.

Chapter 2 - 1977 model Piper Arrow III turbo VH-HKZ

Megan and I have owned our wonderful single engine four seat aircraft for about 18 years. Since we bought it we have maintained and renovated it both inside and outside and have added a Garmin 430 GPS.

We have had many great trips in the Arrow and visited every corner of Australia and most of the major towns and many of the smaller town, farms, and B & B's inland.

We have enjoyed the company of many other travellers, and in particular aviators who we have met, but most especially our trips with the Australian Piper Society.

When I bought the turbo Arrow, I was not as technically savvy as I am today. A number of people questioned why I bought a turbo charged aircraft as we don't have many mountains and what we do have are not high. The turbo was seen as not being necessary and just an added cost. At the time I bought it I had no idea about what I was buying other than after gaining my PPL, I flew this and its sister turbo Arrow whenever I hired an aircraft. When it came up for sale I just bought it without thinking about alternatives. Maybe a dumb way to make a decision, but a decision I am happy that I made, about 18 years ago.

Since then I have come to really understand the benefits of being turbo charged in that I can get over the mountains at height and I can get above the thermals and I can maintain speeds at high altitudes which a normally aspirated aircraft can't do.

I have now purchased a 2000 model turbo charged Piper Saratoga II TC in the USA.

Click on photo to enlarge

Chapter 1 - Flying my new Piper Saratoga II TC from USA to Australia - Page 1

Hi!

Initially I produced this blogspot as a test site for an add-on to the Australian Piper Society web site at piper.org.au.

I have now decided to use it temporarily to tell the story of my purchase of a 2000 model Saratoga II TC single engine aircraft and of the process and ferry flight to get it from USA to Australia. At the time of starting this, the aircraft has been bought and has been checked by a mechanic in the USA and we anticipate flying commercially to Los Angeles late next week and we will then start the flight home to Australia as soon as the winds are favourable.

Over the next couple of weeks I will chronicle the purchase, the preparation for flight and the actual flight across the Pacific.

The first 8-10 posts will deal with the purchase of the aircraft, so if you are not interested in that phase, wait until around 20th January and I will be into the planning and then the actual flight, with reports as we progress subject to time and internet access. The departure date is weather dependant after 23rd January.

Hope you find it interesting.

Tom Courtney