Arrived here last night -Tuesday US time - Wednesday Australia.
Getting into the car to leave, I received a call from Lyn & Ray to advise me that when running up the Saratoga it was rough at high revs but idled ok. Ray suspected a sticky valve and couldn't come up with any other reason. However, when it was returned to the LAME, they were unable to replicate the problem and it ran smoothly at all settings. The decision was made to check the valve guides and hone them to remove any traces of carbon or contamination. This has been a job of some proportions which I guess is taking somewhere around 16 hours. We have not been able to fly the plane and will do so tomorrow.
The LAMEs comment that they don't think that the valves were sticking and it may have been that the aircraft had a carbon build up due to idling too rich. As the LAMEs haven't found anything definite and if it runs ok tomorrow, we will not know whether it was sticking valves or due to rich idling. In the absence of any other possible cause, I guess either way, the problem would be solved.
No flights today but we checked all of the safety gear. Each person has a one man liferaft, a life jacket, an ELB or EPIRB and an
Instant Survival Shelter rather inappropiately branded LAND/Shark. Why not call it LAND/Water? Where does the Shark bit come in? If in the water you climb into the bag and it is claimed that your body warmth will be somehow retained within. I guess the same applies if you are floating inside the raft. In addition, each aircraft carries a battery pack to run the fuel pumps for the fuel bladders and also a handheld GPS, both as backup safety in the event of an electrical failure.
Life rafts, life jackets and Land/Shark Shelter (above) and 12v fuel pumps to transfer fuel from the bladder into the LH wing tank (below)
A problem remains with the Bonanza. Both the Saratoga and the Mooney have been de-registered in the USA and have been registered in Australia. As such they can be flown by pilots with Australian licences. The Bonanza G36 is still on the US register. Although Ray Clamback has a US Commercial licence and has flown hundreds of ferry flights with both US and Australian registration, a
new local FAA senior employee has determined that Ray cannot fly the aircraft for hire. This is in part because the US licences are based on having an Australian licence. This new directive requires that for Ray to fly a US registered aircraft out of us he must have a US FAA commercial licence which is not dependant on and Australian licence.
The FAA lawyers are reviewing the position but the indication is that it will take another 2 weeks to get a decision.
This has been going on for a couple of months. The solution is that we have a new pilot on our team. He is 18 year old Jose Luis Gamero who has a US licence for IFR, Commercial, single engine and multi engine. Jose has become the ferry pilot for the Bonanza and will pilot from the left seat with Ray in the right hand seat. Jose has just got his latest endorsement, which is so new that he has only a temporary paper licence to show. We think that Jose wil probably be the youngest pilot ever to fly as Pilot in Command across the Pacific.
Jose Gamero - probably the youngest ever ferry pilot across the Pacific.
This will be an experience of a lifetime for a young man about to embark on a career in aviation and a great achievement to show on his resume.
Click on image to enlarge
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