Although I had planned a flight for the next day, it was to be a short one; a hop across southern California to the mountain town of Tehachapi. I slept late, and after waking Dad and I drove out for a true American breakfast at the International House of Pancakes. Now well fed, we returned to the hotel and made our way to Planey to prepare for the day’s flight. The first task was to open up the empennage and…
It seemed foolish to set out on a 2,050 nautical mile flight after maintenance without performing a test flight first. I decided to make this a tour of the Big Island, to see a few new sights and land at a few new airfields. I flew anti-clockwise along the north coast first, towards the local airfield at Waimea. I continued from Waimea south along the coast, past a collection of expensive luxury resorts to a touch and go landing at…
The next morning we breakfasted near the hotel before setting out again in the Tesla to make our way back to the airport. Instead of following the same route as we’d taken over the last couple of days we headed north, around the coast in the opposite direction. It was a longer drive but significantly more scenic – and significantly more winding! The road was single track in many places and speed was rarely over 25 mph. We returned the…
The next morning we made our way out to the airport again. Before departure to Maui, I had an appointment with an airworthiness inspector from the US Federal Aviation Authority’s (FAA) Honolulu Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). He would perform an inspection of the aircraft and, hopefully, issue my flight permit for the trip from Hilo to the mainland. The distance from Hilo to the California coast is much too great for Planey to fly it in one go without…
I was up a little after 3am the next morning. The catering staff had very kindly offered to get up and provide some simple food before our departure. I polished off an apple for breakfast and took possession of the sandwiches which they had made for us; inch-thick slabs of American cheese between white bread. They had offered us rather more but I’d declined due to the US’s strict laws around import of foodstuffs; if we turned up with anything…
Rain pounded on the roof of the hotel on and off throughout the night, disturbing my rest. We were due to be taking off before dawn, and doing so into rain and cloud is never enjoyable; indeed it’s usually best not to fly in such conditions, and so I was worried that we might be looking at a delay. My alarm went off at 0305am and I rolled out of bed and dressed. Leaving the hotel at 0320, the roads…
The next morning we were collected by a water taxi before dawn, as the hotel shuttle boat didn’t start running until later. The sun wasn’t around yet to warm things up, and the breeze was chilly as we sped across the small waves back to the main island. The dawn was breaking as we pulled back into the marina at Denarau after a thirty minute ride. After grabbing some pastries for breakfast we were soon in a taxi headed back…
I slept poorly, apprehensive about the upcoming flights and the uncertainties around fuel. As well as the issues with the unreliable handlers in American Samoa, the fuelers on Kiritimati had stopped responding to any phone calls or emails, so it wasn’t entirely clear how or if fuel would be available on arrival there despite having pre-paid for the barrels long in advance. Today, however, should be more straightforward; a five hour flight to Fiji. Despite being offensively overpriced in terms…
The hotel front desk had managed to arrange a rental car for the day. What I hadn’t realised was that the rental car rep would be knocking on my door before 8am to drive me to their location! I stumbled out of bed and threw some clothes on for the short ride to the Toyota rental car location, which was a couple of folding tables sitting outside near a few parked cars. The paperwork was slow but straightforward and I…
I was woken by my phone ringing. On the other end of the call was Marc, a local pilot and adventurer who had helped me out with the various procedures for flying to and around New Caledonia. He let me know that he was 10 minutes out and was going to pick me up and go for a coffee! I leaped out of bed and got ready, packing my bag and checking out. It wasn’t long before Marc pulled up…