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kalizzi · November 6, 2017

Hello, I will transfer to you some miles I have on Emirates Skywards so Mama San can enjoy the luxury of flying in a 777 and not have to suffer the most uncivil, cramped conditions of a Honda Jet cabin any longer than this. This way you will make more range too with a lighter aircraft.

rupert · November 6, 2017

15 November PADU to PAYA (Yakutat) Boy the spell checker really loves that name!! :unsure:

Later start than we intended. With the dark mornings and dark afternoons it gets tough to remember your schedule.

10:25 takeoff to PADQ (Kodiak Al.) Well I'll be darned, the spell checker took that one! Climbed out to 14,500 @315knts IAS and 390 SOG!! That's moving this low!

12:57 we shot a touch and go at Kodiak & found the runway pointed right at the mountains. It's a good thing we're not near max. weight!!

15:11 On approach to PAYA

15:20 Touchdown at PAYA where we'll over-night. As I mentioned, it gets dark real early this far north!! So today we traveled 940 miles, recorded 4 flights in 2.8 hours. (You have to love those wonderful tail winds!!! SOG of 390 at 14,500' :lol:

And looking at these screenies, they're in the correct order again?? I haven't a clue why they're not always in the order I posted them?? :huh:

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rupert · November 6, 2017

11 hours ago, kalizzi said:

Hello, I will transfer to you some miles I have on Emirates Skywards so Mama San can enjoy the luxury of flying in a 777 and not have to suffer the most uncivil, cramped conditions of a Honda Jet cabin any longer than this. This way you will make more range too with a lighter aircraft.

THANKS!! Unless of course she changes her mind, we'll drop Mae Ling off at KSFO in a few days & she can go from there in luxury. And you're right losing her 150 or so pounds should lighten up the plane a little bit. But we may not cover as much ground every day as we have in the past. :wub:

Rupert

rupert · November 6, 2017

Special Day Today! We're going to fly down to Jeneau (PAJN), then do a test flight of a Beaver DHC2! I always wanted a Beaver. Now my brother, who lives near Seattle is shopping for one. He asked me to test flight one kept here in Jeneau Harbor (SZ1).

08:20 We're up and out in the Honda heading to Juneau (PAJN) via waypoint CG1. It's only 167 miles.

09:45 Landed and rolling out at PAJN.

After arrangements and lunch I took a taxi over to SZ1 to check out the Beaver. I'm shooting a few T&GS then down to the edge of KAJN to pick up Sue Ling. Total flight time of 1.8 hours, and 175 miles.

HEAVY STORM WARNING!! A SNOW GALE WITH 40-60 KNOTS IS APPROACHING RAPIDLY FROM THE WEST AND ALL NORTH-SOUTH FLIGHTS WILL BE GROUNDED BY 12:00.

So since we're heading South towards Seattle we might fly right into the teeth of the storm. I'LL BEACH THE BEAVER SO IT CAN BE PUT INTO A HANGER OUT OF THE STORM AS WELL!

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rupert · November 7, 2017

08:05 (Local) I just got off of Wunderground for here in Juneau. They still have a heavy wind warning in effect for this area till at least 09:00. So we're not even going down to the hangers till at least all that is cleared. Having said that, we did luck out!! Yesterday's forecast for last night included threats of the first heavy snow of the season. As far as I can tell, we didn't get an additional flake!!

Rupert

rupert · November 8, 2017

8 November in Alaska

Sorry, we were so busy yesterday I didn't file a diary. So this is what happened then and on the 4th.

Very boring waiting for good weather and Mae Ling is driving us nuts!! So Sue Ling and I took a Tardis to Saudi Arabia on 4 November. (You do know how a Tardis works don't you?)

We just read that a rocket ripped up a bunch of stuff at the big new airport in Jeddak! So we decided to back to the Abdilaziz International Airport (OEJN) near Jeddak on 4 November to see it before the rocket hit it. I know a guy who rents planes at the Faisal Naval Base (OEJF) nearby. So we took the Tardis to 4 November at OEJF and rented a Cessna Grand Caravan to fly over to OEJN. WHAT A SURPRISE AT OEJN!! Apparently the word got out ahead of the rocket attack and the entire airport, which has the biggest commercial aircraft parking area of any passenger airport in the world,was deserted. Not a person or vehicle was stirring except for a very few vehicles driven by the security forces! No wonder the death and injury count from the rocket attack ended up so low!

Here are a few shots of the empty airport just hours before the rocket attack struck.

They are of departing OEJF, Flying over Jeddak & its' soccer stadium, A low pass over the empty OEJN and taxing to parking at the amazingly empty terminal.

After the adventure in Jeddak we took the Tardis back to Alaska on 7 November. And once I get through mowing the grass in Kentucky, we'll probably fly out of Alaska today as well.

SORRY the screenies got out of order again. I don't know how??!!

Rupert

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rupert · November 8, 2017

Finally trudged through the grass mowing! It's 54*F in Kentucky with a wind blowing, but it had to get done.

Thankfully the HondaJet was still parked in Canada. So with the time zone changes it was only 11:30 when we topped up and took off. Just one flight today. That Tardis traveling really messes up your sleep patterns!

So after takeoff we climbed out going back down the valley south topped out and flew the 620 miles to a military base called Comox CYQQ. We took a few screenies starting with the unusually low fuel pumps, climbing out flying on top of the mountains and clouds, on the way down, and on Downwind. After landing while taxiing we saw various aircraft. There were choppers, fighter jets, and even a few older GA planes.

I'm hoping if I don't try to move or change the screenies they'll be in the correct order.

Rupert

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kalizzi · November 8, 2017

:cheers_s: If you ever miss your mama san I can recommend to you the magnificent Lola (comes with the Citation X) she is a 6-foot-something Nordic goddess who will add variety to your trip with her "great big thighs, like walnut crushers", (to quote Steptoe the father) and that cleavage busting at the seams of the latex-like outfit and the oily artificial tan! Makes a good deviation from the petite geekish first officer you have. Just don't let her "bust" into your cockpit, for safety reasons.... :cheers_s:

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rupert · November 9, 2017

SCARY!!!! I'm a combat veteran but I can't imagine dealing with her on even an occasional basis!!!! Thanks! I probably won't fly in a Citation X anytime soon, if ever!!!!

rupert · November 10, 2017

THANKFULLY THE MAMA SAN ON THIS HONDA DOESN'T LOOK LIKE LOLA!! Having said that, today is a big day! We are dropping Mae Ling, Sue Ling's Mama San off at Sea-Tac airport where, thanks to Kalizzi, we have managed to amass enough Emirates Skyward miles for Mae Ling to fly from Sea-Tac to London Heathrow in style!

Despite quite a low level haze we were up and took off at 09:00 for Bellingham Intl. to drop off two Florida residents who flew to Bellingham and rented a car to drive to Vancouver. Apparently they saved several hundred dollars in air-fare and car rental as well by going into Bellingham and driving the other 40 miles to Vancouver.

Luckily for us, the couple had such lousy luck going through customs in the rental, they turned the rental in at Vancouver and we're picking up a few by by dropping them off at Bellingham for their return flight to Florida.

So after a 25 minute flight, we dropped them off at KBLI and took off for KSEA at 10:00. Sue Ling's plane departs around 13:00 and none of the three of us wanted her to miss her flight!!!!

Happily we landed at KSEA at 10:50 so she'll have plenty of time to go through customs, etc. We're going to at least overnight the Honda here and check some scenery out before we decide how and where to continue. I have a brother who lives in Port Orchard so we'll at least stop in to see him when we leave here.

Rupert

(Sorry I didn't do more screenies today. We were to intent on getting into Sea-Tac!) The first one her is of the terminal at Billingham. Then two shots flying over the sound enroute to KSEA. As expected, it's almost always really hazy over the water this early in the day.

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rupert · November 11, 2017

10 November 1775 is the Marine Corps Birthday!!!! We old Juggies get to celebrate to holidays in a row. Today is The Birthday and tomorrow is Veterans Day, which marks the end of WW1.

Today there was also another holiday to celebrate, and no I don't mean Sue Ling being gone, well maybe a little. This has more to do with the Beaver my brother Ron bought from Kenmore Air arriving in Friday Harbor. So we're planning on spending a couple of days flying around in Puget Sound and other local environs so Ron can get some stick hours in. We've hit S60 a Kenmore base, then WA83 (West Sound Wa.), DHB (Deer Harbor Sea Plane base, WA35 (East Sound) and finally stopped at W55, yet another Kenmore base. I'll include a few screenies too. I want to go back to Orcas Island this trip as well. Though I'll try to wangle a freight flight there to pay a few bills.

Screenis are of DHB (That's Ron's just purchased but not yet re-painted Beraver parked in front. Taking off from there, other planes at East Sound, Seattle from the sea, stopped at W-55, & a view of the local ferry about to depart from just by W55. I HOPE THEY STAY IN ORDER!!

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jpgmultimodal · November 12, 2017

Hello Rupert,

I can see that you are moving quite rapidly as I just arrived in Tokyo. I'll take my time in 8 legs and wait for the right weather for the crossing as my operational ceiling is only FL250 and we can get a bit of icing and turbulence there.

Best wishes,

JP

kalizzi · November 12, 2017

On ‎06‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:10 PM, rupert said:

THANKS!! Unless of course she changes her mind, we'll drop Mae Ling off at KSFO in a few days & she can go from there in luxury. And you're right losing her 150 or so pounds should lighten up the plane a little bit. But we may not cover as much ground every day as we have in the past.

Rupert

Yes mate go easy now or you'll go blind! And remember Lola's CV is still on your desk should you re-consider (tip: she is in Japan right now getting her Mawashi, that is black belt for Sumo). See you around! Cheers :cheers_s:

rupert · November 12, 2017

Go Blind?? At my age I'll take the risks!!

Actually it's been a lot of fun since Mae Ling has departed. I got a day job at Boeing carrying some spare parts to outlying airports in the Seattle area. Not that they were thrilled we were flying a Cessna, they really don't have anything like the Grand Caravan so we're still good with them.

First we flew into their plant in Seattle (KBFI) to load up with the parts they want delivered. Then we went to their plant at Everett (KPAE) to drop some off, then on to Orcas 1 (KORS) to drop some others. We'll overnight here and continue with a couple of spots tomorrow.

Screenies are tower view of us taking off at KBFI and also KPAE. Then an in air shot of one of their hangers at KPAE, nearby mountain to Everett. Then out over the water 25 miles out of KORS, vector for a "straight in," Final, Taxi, & Parking at KORS. As you can see, in this part of the world the weather changes minute to minute & often on one side or the other of a mountain.

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rupert · November 13, 2017

Friday the 13th comes on a Monday this month! Having said that, we caught more than a bit of luck today. While at Orcas 1 at dinner last night we had a conversation with the local Postmaster. He was concerned about local mail delivery to some of the nearby islands on Monday the 13th because regularly scheduled sea-plane was down for unexpected maintenance.

We told him we weren't in a sea-plane but we were free to fly today in a Cessna Grand Caravan. So if we could hit the land based airports along the route perhaps local boaters could fill in the gaps in places only accessible from the air by sea-plane. He asked us to go nowhere this morning until we heard back from him.

Well, we certainly hadn't planned on going anywhere till it was full daylight and we we read the metro-forecast. By 08:30 he showed up with his loads of mail and said we weren't employees so we couldn't touch the mail. But he had permission to hand mail off to commercial boat captains where we couldn't land. So he'd fly with us and we'd make the stops including Bremerton National Airport near Port Orchard. Then at Port Orchard he could catch a ride back to Orcas 1 via a commuter who commuted to port Orchard daily by personal plane.

So by 09:00 we were all loaded and approved for takeoff. And after only 2.5 flight hours and six flights, taking over six hours of work time, we set down at Bremerton and dropped him off to return home with his friend.

Included are a few shots on our "Mail-trip" First, yes there is a reason Orcas 1 has it's name. Those are Orca Whales blowing right off the island!! Sorry we were so far away from the whales. They probably heard us approach and sank under. We didn't spot them again!!

Next shots are the approach and landing at Port Angeles Wa. (KCLM). Knob Hopping in the bay, Stopped to unload at Sequin Wa. and taking off there.(2WA1) finally taxiing in at Bremerton Wa. (KPWT)

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rupert · November 14, 2017

14 November and we're deep into Oregon. We hope to get to Crater Lake tomorrow. Today we're just doing a few stops to check out the area. The weather was predominately good today. Winds mostly around 213* @13-18 with a little haze. 54 degrees F.

Shots are of the Mountains in Washington State. The Tacoma Narrows bridge. Near KOLM, and the Olympia Statehouse Dome, and the view out the windscreen while Parked at KDPX in Portland Or.

Rupert

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rupert · November 15, 2017

No job offers today so we'll just do a little sight seeing while traveling across country. If all goes well, we'll probably go to Crater Lake tomorrow. The last time I was there RW was late June of this year. Only about 1/3 of the roads in the National Park were open because the snow was so heavy last winter! Of course at about 9,500' that probably shouldn't be too surprising. I haven't checked the Metro for that area yet. So I don't know if the snow season has already started there yet or not.

We flew to Toledo State today via the Hillsboro Airport and Salem. Since we don't have a lot of ILS practice in this plane we shot a few ILS approaches at Hillsboro (KHIO) while we were still VFR. When you get into the mountains this time of the year you can't really guess what the conditions will be. So getting freshened up with ILS now seems like a responsible idea! We totaled 5 landings in 1.4 flight hours and covered about 109 miles. Sort of a lazy day!

Rupert

Shots are while turning back towards Portland, Taking off, and finally an outside view while cruising at only 1,500'

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rupert · November 16, 2017

Got a job first thing this morning! An Anvil Salesman needed a ride to Eugene Oregon with 500 pounds of anvil samples on a pallet. Lucky for us the Caravan has a cargo door you can load pallets into. Unlucky for us, last night we topped up our fuel. So between almost 2,300 pounds of fuel and a 1,100 pound payload we were at 7,900# and our max gross is 8,785#!! Worse yet, coming out of Toledo State towards Eugene you have to get up to 4,500' pretty quickly or make a huge loop to get there. By doing some ridge-running and skimming a couple of peaks, we made it. But I wouldn't call it fun.

After offloading the anvils and passenger at Eugene we continued to Prospect State for lunch. We had planned to then continue to Chilquin State via Crater Lake. But at lunch we were talking to some tourists and told them our plans. They love Crater Lake but have never seen it by air. So we took them up for a Crater lake Photo shoot and then back to Prospect State and it was getting late enough we decided to overnight there. Then go direct to Chilquin State tomorrow.

Total miles today 224. Five landings & 1.8 hours. Once we get away from all this beautiful scenery we're do to rejoin with the Honda and put down some miles. Of course we're still ahead of schedule so we're really not concerned about time.

Photos are Ridge Running and Skimming onroute to Eugene. Final at Beaver Marsh. Crater Lake ahead, Island, Looking Back, The Rim, Sun and moon and Parked.

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rupert · November 17, 2017

Finally getting to where we can land the Honda again. This mountain flying has been fun but San Francisco awaits!! So a quick trip from Chilquin St. to Klamath Falls. Weather great, though cold at 38*f. .5 hr flight with one landing. So sitting at Klamath Falls we're about to proceed in the Honda Jet.

One last look at that trusty Cessna Grand Caravan. We made more money with it in the last week than the rest of the trip in the Honda. But a 315kph cruise is a wonderful thing to have. Especially with altitude where you can manage 400kph SOG on a good day!!

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rupert · November 18, 2017

How fast is fast? How about over 500kph SOG in a Honda Jet?

As you may have heard the jet stream over parts of the mid-west US is running in excess of 150knts today! Not wanting to miss out on a chance to roll with that, we took a Tardis to Lambert Field St. Louis. At KSTL we boarded a "loaner" Honda Jet and set out following the course of the jet stream. We climbed out to 27,500 where the winds were 255kph towards 64*. We rode that jet stream for a while then came down low and looked for a good place to land. We ended up parked at Toledo Express Airport. (KTOL) Total time on the WATTS meter 1 (one) hour. Total distance traveled using the Google Map direct measure device 400 statue miles!

Please see the two attached screenies! (The flight way-points and info on the GPS are for our filed flight from Klamath Falls to KSFO. We didn't file a plan for this trip because we were just chasing the wind! That 515 mph on the GPS is pretty impressive! I doubt we'll ever see that speed in a Honda Jet again!!) Nor are we likely to travel 400 miles in one hour in that plane either!!

Now we'll take a Tardis back to Klamath Falls to continue our quest in the 80 day window at more normal Honda Jet speeds. THIS TRIP IS BECOMING QUITE AN ADVENTURE!

Rupert

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rupert · November 19, 2017

18 November,

Time to actually make a little distance on the course! Not having had good Chinese food for a few days, we said Hey KSFO Is Close! Let's pop into San Fran and find something good! We have to go there anyway!!

So at 14:35 we lifted off for the 57 mile trip to KSFO. Weather was appropriate, winds from 335@3. Vis 5 miles in haze. But clear on top with a 29.91" of mercury.

So we did one flight of .4 hrs., traveled 57 miles to KSFO. Then off to dinner. We'll do some sightseeing on Sunday then head out Monday.

Rupert

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kalizzi · November 20, 2017

Hey Rupert I see you're making great progress with your Honda, well motivated by your 1st Officer no doubt. Leaving Lola broken hearted. Upvoting!

NB

Romance in the air dates back long ago. This movie from 1933 does not exactly replicate the story on that Honda but its quite amusing to see:

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Heck there's even a spoiler on youtube:

That is recommended viewing, even mandatory! you may learn a trick or two for Lola!

Cheers!

rupert · November 20, 2017

Actually, other than height the "Lady" might be Lola. The stewardess looks a lot better than either. Looking at the opening shot I thought this might be the original of how you reset an "Automatic Pilot" as they did in either Airport or Airplane. In either case that stewardess certainly was responsible for keeping folks and equipment happy!

Enjoy your "Time off!"

We're heading to Vegas today!

rupert · November 20, 2017

Up and out early this morning. We'll head over to Oakland and pick up two passengers for Las Vegas. Then a parcel hop to San Jose. Finally a stop in Fresno to get two more passengers for Vegas.09:55 Depart KSFO for Oakland. 11:20 Oakland to San Jose for a very quick stop! The couple was late in Oakland!! 12:10 San Jose to Fresno. And then at 13:05 the hop to Vegas.

A total of 353 miles with 1.9 hours flight time. The weather was pretty great so that wasn't an issue. And by the way I checked off one of my "Bucket List" items today! We flew through the big hanger at Moffett at almost 200knts" I know you won't believe it, but i have a screenie to prove it!!

Rupert

Screenies are of the Oakland Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, MOFFETT HANGER Shooting the gap at 14,500' near Mt. Whitney & then approach and landing at Vegas. (KLAS)

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rupert · November 22, 2017

We were hoping to catch a charter out of Vegas today. But we hung around till almost noon and no takers. So it's off to the Grand Canyon National Park. We'll do some sightseeing along the way and check out Lake Meade. Then by getting to the National Park early we might snag a "Sunset Flight" over the canyon. Take-off at 11:45 to WPT U-30. It's a pretty day winds 263@13, 44*F, 29.92" of mercury. With hopeful stops at both 164 (Grand Canyon West) and 3AZ5 (Hualapai), no takers either. So we landed at KGCN (Grand Canyon National Park) around 14:15. We'll wait at the terminal here and hope for that Sunset Charter.

Total flight time 1.2 hrs. and 164 miles distance while making four (4) flights.

Screenies include Lake Meade, Going under the bridge and clearing Hoover Dam, barely!! Then we did some running in Grand Canyon below the level of the rim in case we get a charter to go back this evening.

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