FERRY FLIGHT FROM CONNECTICUT TO COLOMBIA
From December 7th through the 27th I took part in a unique
mission…I was able to send out emails while I the road and what follows is the
story as I told it then…slightly edited for readability…
For those of you who
don't know, I am currently on a ferry flight leading a flight of 4 UH-60L
Blackhawk helicopters bound for Bogotá, Colombia. We are flying them all the
way there.
I began my trip by flying to Puerto Rico to meet up with the other American
Pilot I would be flying with. Joe Nieves. I got a photo for my Colombian Visa
and we were off to Stratford, Connecticut on the 9th.
Stratford Connecticut is home to the Sikorsky Company. The Sikorsky Company is the manufacturer of the Blackhawk.
Stef and the kids made it up to Connecticut and stayed with me for a few days while we prepared to receive the aircraft. It was a great visit and while there, we went to New York City. We took a train from Connecticut and arrived in Grand Central Station! It was all impressive!
We went to the observation deck of the Empire State Building and looked all around. We took a cab and then walked a great deal. We saw Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square and much more! It was a cool trip.
We picked up the brand
new Blackhawk Helicopters from the Sikorsky factory on Wednesday and have begun
our journey. Weather and maintenance has stalled our operations, but we will
continue.
On Wednesday, we
managed to fly through New York City. We flew down the Hudson river and past
the site of the World Trade Centers. We also passed the Statue of Liberty at
eye level! It was very hazy with low ceilings...but still cool to see. I am
sure it was a once in a lifetime flight to pass down the Hudson River VFR
corridor.
Right now, we are still
stuck in Charlottesville, VA waiting on a fuel hose that should arrive
tonight...should be staying in Mobile Alabama tomorrow night then Lake Charles,
Louisiana before moving into Mexico. At the current rate I will arrive back in
Honduras on December 23rd but since I can't go home to see family for
Christmas, it really doesn't matter that much where I am.
Well we have finally
started moving again but not we find ourselves stuck in Western North Carolina
waiting for some nasty weather to pass through.
We are going to try to
pick up again and get to Macon Georgia tonight with alternates in Columbia, SC
and Augusta, GA. Who knows where we will make it. It all depends on the
weather being clear enough to push on while still being safe.
Sunday we went to
Washington D.C. and toured all of the monuments in about 1.5 hours. We also saw
the Pentagon and the place where the plane crashed. What an amazing site.
So we are continuing on
hopefully. Will keep you all updated. Not sure I make it back in Honduras for
Christmas but really it doesn't matter much where I am at since I will not be
fortunate enough to spend it with family...life goes on.
Well looks like the part didn’t come in after all. I received a call at Midnight telling me to sleep in...the part is stuck in Newark and the next flight doesn’t come in until Sunday night. Even if we leave here on Monday morning we will definitely be stuck in El Salvador on Christmas and continue our trip after that.
Looks like my next projected date to be back in Hondo is the 28th of December...sure am glad I flew goggles before I left or I would be even worse off!
I will keep you update. The weather here today is perfectly sunny...expecting a high in the 80s. I am going to go to the aircraft and get all my clothes so I can wear some shorts and put on a bathing suit to go swimming in the ocean I guess...
Will keep you updated!
As you can probably see from the weather channel, the bad weather finally cleared through here in the Eastern and southern United States. This morning at 8:10 am we took off headed South West for our ultimate destination for tonight of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The weather started off a bit rough--turbulent over the mountains with heavy head winds but we chose a different altitude and eventually found something favorable.
Soon after take off we passed Asheville, NC and as I looked along the route I discovered that we would be flying over many places that I (and some of you) hiked on the Appalachian Trail. It was so awesome to fly over this terrain and recognize many landmarks from the air. Just to name a few places: Hiawassee, GA, Blood Mountain, Brasstown Bald, Suches, and Dahlonega (Ranger camp), Frosty Mountain and the lodge at Amicolola Falls--the Southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I finally saw the waterfalls that we didn't take the time to see when we were hiking there in April 2000.
Of course, I took pictures of all of these things! I forgot to add that we also flew over Lake Lure, NC and Chimney Rock--where they filmed Last of the Mohicans and Dirty Dancing! Again, I have pictures of all of this.
We landed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at 11:10 and took off again at 1:05pm. We headed for Louisiana and eventually crossed the "Mighty Mississippi!" Was cool to see and I remember some of the sites from when we self-deployed (flew helicopters) to JRTC many years ago.
Now we are here in Louisiana. We are on the western side of the state and will leave tomorrow morning for Brownsville, Texas where we will clear US customs and push on for Vera Cruz, Mexico for tomorrow night.
Things are going well. Looks like, barring any problems, we should arrive in Bogotá on Dec 22nd. I should have a flight out the next morning to Miami, probably get stuck in Miami for the night and then on into Tegucigalpa and Soto Cano on Dec 24th. But only time will tell.
Last night after
arriving in Lake Charles, Louisiana, we went to dinner. We went to Harrah’s
Casino and had some buffet style food. It was ok but nothing that spectacular.
I ended up staying at the Casino with one of the Sikorsky guys to gamble a bit.
First we tried some slots and quickly dropped $20. We then moved to the
roulette wheel where we worked a good strategy (and lots of luck) and won some
money but in the end lost it all. Well, my buddy (Jason) threw some chips at me
to place a bet with and I hit big for around $180. Well that was almost enough
to break me even so I pocketed much of it and played on with $40 I think. We
continued to play until we lost all that we had left. I cant believe it but I
actually walked away with the cash I put back in my pocket...$40 of which I gave
to Jason for giving me the money in the first place. Lost about $80 I think but
we played for 3 hours and had fun until then end when we got too attached to the
money (that sounds silly doesn’t it?).
So this morning we woke
up, packed and went to the airport. Today’s trip went as planned. We took off
from Lake Charles and had a really smooth and uneventful flight to Brownsville,
Texas, which is all the way at the southern most portion of Texas on the Gulf.
We landed there and prepared for our last time in the U.S. Right across the
border was Mexico.
We took off at Noon and
began a 3-hour leg to Vera Cruz. We flew down the entire Mexican Gulf Coast.
Took lots of pictures...very beautiful beaches but totally uninhabited.
We encountered some
rain and haze and had to get down to 50 feet so we could clearly see the beach
ahead of us but it cleared after 10 minutes or so and we made our final approach
into Vera Cruz.
I am in the hotel now.
It is the Torre Mar and it is a resort. Here is an Internet link to it:
www.torremar.com
My room is amazing with
marble floors! Awesome! Not much else went on today that I could think of. We
are going to eat soon.
Tomorrow we should make
it to San Salvador, El Salvador for the night...and we still expect to arrive in
Bogotá on the 22nd (is that Saturday?)...
Well here we are,
December 21st and we still sit here in lovely Vera Cruz, Mexico. The weather
today is supposed to be a high of 80º and partly sunny. It will be very windy
and hazy but comfortable.
So what happened? Well
yesterday all was well and we were preparing to take off...for those of you who
know the Blackhawk--I turned off the backup pump in prep for the start and the
accumulator was still running. Odd. So the crew chief checked and it was
sitting at 2100psi. We thought about it for a while shut it down then
restarted...it remained on again and this time the PSI dropped to 1900. They
determined that we lost the pre-charge and that the Shrader valve was leaking
and if we had an emergency we would not be able to start the APU...it was a lot
of what-ifs but in the end, the right decision was to stay here where we have a
better chance of getting support then to move on to another airport in Mexico
and have nothing available.
So since yesterday we
have been trying to coordinate with the Mexican Army to try to get the part from
them...but it seems that all the Embassies are closed or minimally staffed for
Christmas and it makes us think that we may be stuck here longer...
Yesterday afternoon we
went to a Mexican Army Base here in Vera Cruz and got free haircuts! Was
nice...needed a bit of a trim and got my haircut by a Mexican Soldier!
Something different.
Last night we saw El
Senior de los Anillos! (The Lord of the Rings). It was a looooooooong movie: 2
hours and 40 minutes or so. Very good and very awesome special effects. I am
not familiar with the books but it is apparent that they had a lot of ideas to
cover and it seems they did a great job. It is long and drawn out and although
I looked at my watch a few times, I loved the way the story was told and how
epic it was portrayed on the big screen!
So as it stands now it
is Friday morning. Our options are slim and none and both are fading fast. We
have a part that is being shipped from the U.S. today but there is a great
possibility that it will get held up in customs especially being so close to
Christmas.
If we leave tomorrow
then we will be in El Salvador on Saturday (22 Dec), Panama on Sunday (23 Dec)
and arrive in Colombia on Monday (24 Dec) and then fly out to Honduras on
Christmas...but all that is dependent on no more problems and the notion that
the weather will be great...I will keep you updated...
Hello and Merry
Christmas to everyone! I am in El Salvador today and we are on our way to Coast
Rica and then Panama for the evening. Christmas Eve was loud here...people shot
a lot of fireworks off and it seemed to last all night!
Picked up a Birmingham,
AL radio station playing Christmas music while we were flying yesterday...Gotta
go. Merry Christmas!
Try as we may, we only
made it to San Jose, Costa Rica today. We experienced yet another problem with
an aircraft and it was just enough of a delay to get us stuck here for the
night.
We are staying at a
beautiful Golf Resort and if you are curious, you can look at it here:
www.solmelia.es
We should move on to
Panama tomorrow and the Bogotá the following day...things may change but that is
where we stand for now.
Well today's trip took
us to Panama City, Panama. We took off this morning at 8 am with no problems
and worked our way across the beautiful, green, mountainous countryside of Costa
Rica. We crossed the border with Panama and then climbed up to 9,500 to cool
off and skirt some clouds.
Out the left door we
could see the Atlantic Ocean and out the right door we could see the Pacific!
It was pretty cool. We descended and then flew over some beaches in
Panama--Cordoba is the only one I remember.
We flew the coast past
the Bridge of the Americas and eventually landed into Tocumen International
Airport. That is where the Rangers and the 82nd jumped into combat in Dec of
1989! I thought it was pretty cool to see all of that first hand. We flew by
the canal but couldn’t really see it.
After landed we were
met by the Aeronautical Minister of Panama and he promptly informed us that we
no longer had permission to land here. Our permission ran out yesterday. We
explained the situation and while it was resolved, he made us wait in our
aircraft...like his own little prisoners.
No problem after all.
We got our passports stamped and then Joe and I went to the main terminal to see
if we could find tickets back to our bases. Joe is from Puerto Rico and
Honduras for me.
Why are we leaving?
Well, unfortunately, Joe's mother-in-law had a heart attack on Christmas Eve.
He has been trying to get home so his wife could leave the kids and go she her
mother. The greatest thing is that her mother is here in Panama. Anyhow, Joe
is going to go see her and then fly home (she is now out of the ICU) and watch
the kids while his wife gets on a plane for here to see her. It is a big mess
and the flight leaves in 2 hours and Joe is rushing around trying to meet the
deadline. If he makes it, then I will get on a plane for San Salvador then
Tegucigalpa tomorrow morning and be back in Hondo by 9:30am on 27 Dec.
I really wanted to
actually fly into Colombia but I understand that Joe really needs to take care
of this ASAP. The deal was that he had to stay with the aircraft until we got
here. From here, the Colombians will take over as flight lead and take us into
Colombia. Luckily, they brought 2 extra pilots so they will take mine and Joe's
seats...of course, if Joe returns to the hotel having not made his flight, we
will continue to fly into Colombia tomorrow and then fly out on the 28th. With
the way plans have changed throughout this trip, I will not count on anything
happening...
So far we have logged
25.4 flight hours and have seen the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Not a bad trip even though it had
us out over Christmas...wow, hard to believe it is the day after Christmas.
Thanks for
listening...I will write more if more happens...otherwise I will be back in
Hondo by this time tomorrow night.
This is the final
installment...
Well, as planned, I
woke up this morning at 3:20am and packed my bags for the trip back to
Honduras. Last night I called the Concierge to have a taxi waiting for me at
3:50am.
I woke up, took a
shower, made one last check of Joe's room to make sure he didn't come back last
night and then headed down to the lobby at 3:45am. On the way down, I picked up
my Army kit bag to place it up on my shoulder and ended up pulling my left arm
out of socket...I had problems with my shoulders this summer and aggravated it
on this trip. It finally rolled back into socket so I continued down stairs. I
checked out of my room and jumped in the taxi (who already had my bags loaded).
The taxi was $27 and
the ride took 20 minutes. It was lightly raining and there were low ceilings
and clouds all around. The road was barren and the ride was uneventful. I got
to the airport at 4:10 and got in line at Grupo Taca Airlines to purchase my
ticket. After purchasing the ticket I proceeded to my gate and waited for the
plane to load.
We loaded and took off
enroute to Costa Rica for a brief stop. This was the same airport that we spent
Christmas day at and had left from the day before. I stayed on the plane and we
took off for El Salvador 45 minutes later.
The trip to El Sal was
only an hour and once there I proceeded to check in at my connecting gate. It
was a beautiful sunny day in El Sal. I could see the volcano and there was no
haze (haze is a normal thing down here). We took off enroute to Tegucigalpa,
Honduras. It was to be a 30-minute flight. It seemed like we had just taken
off when we started our decent into Teguc.
It seems that the
weather had followed us from Panama because the ceilings were so low that they
could not land so they diverted to San Pedro Sula, which is on the northern
coast of Honduras.
We landed there and
were sent on our way. I quickly found at that since it was a problem with the
weather and not with the aircraft, the airlines had no intentions of paying to
get me to my destination other than for me to wait until 4pm and try to fly back
down there and if they couldn't land they would take us back to El Sal.
It was 10am. I cleared
through immigration and customs and hooked up with an older woman and an older
man (who was a Doctor). There both were going to Teguc and the woman spoke
English rather well so I leached onto them.
We were going to rent a
van and drive down to Teguc. but after talking to the Police we decided not to
do that. It seems that there have been a recent rash of muggings and it sounded
too risky to drive ourselves. Great. Their next plan was to get a bus ticket
that would take us the whole way for $10.
We got to the bus
terminal and found that they would not drop me off at the Base--which you have
to pass by on the way to Teguc, which is another 1.5 hours away by car. The
woman talked to our driver and asked him to try to find me a cab. He drove me
to his workplace, Budget Rental, and talked to the girl who worked there. Apparently her father is a cab driver and the Doctor recommended that he could
get me a reliable person to take me to the Base.
Of course, I was now
without my translator so I had to rely on my vast knowledge of Espanol to get me
by. In the end it worked out and they found me a driver for L800 (800 Lempiras
or $55). I agreed and got in the cab.
This cab was typical of
Central America--old compact car; stickers and decorations all over; Spanish
club music busting your eardrums; a cobra head stick shift; and no A/C. I
attempted to talk to the driver but he said, No English. --Solomente Espanol--.
Only Spanish. Great. This will be a fun trip. Well, again, I fell back on my
extensive Spanish background and habla'ed a bit. He said he had to stop
somewhere before we left and after a few minutes of wandering around crowded
streets, we turned down a side street. There was no pavement and the road was
riddled with potholes. We were headed into a Barrio and I didn't think that I
would be welcomed.
The man got out of the
car and I sat there trying to look inconspicuous. He came back after doing
something in the Cruza Rosa (Red Cross). I think he had a prescription to
fill. Then off we went.
He kicked the music and
we drove off down the road. I asked him about the Bandito's and he said no
problemo. I have never seen a problem before but I suppose there is always a
first time.
The weather was crap.
Cold and cloudy. Unusual for Honduras.
The drive took 3 hours
and he eventually dropped me off at the front gate, I walked in and the hitched
a ride to my room.
I briefly went to work
to say hey to the handful of people that are here and then got my email: 164
pieces of email! I went to the post office and picked up 8 packages and a stack
of mail...I have lots to do tonight! Oh, I am flying to the islands tomorrow to
drop some people off to go diving...I think the weather may be just as bad as
today, but we will give it a try!
Well, that is pretty
much it. I had a great trip and am bummed that I didn't see Colombia, but it
was better this way. I have about 200+ pictures and will enclose one
more--taken on Christmas Eve in El Salvador.
See ya later! Oh, by
the way, I will be in Savannah, Georgia for my final Simulator training from 12
to 18 January!