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Fiji to Tahiti, NFFN - NTTB
(A long day with lots of stops.)
We have done numerous communications
with Universal in Houston via e-mail and telephone due to
the complexity of the flying we are doing today. Thanks to
Robin Leach's inputs in Auckland, we have decided to modify
our original plans. Pat, in the trip planning that resulted
from his extensive research, had us making two stops today
on our way to Bora Bora in Tahiti. The first was going to
be at Pago Pago in American Samoa, and the next at Papeete,
Tahiti, where we would clear Customs and Immigration and refuel
before making the short hop to the island of Bora Bora.
Robin strongly suggested that
we avoid Pago Pago if possible. He verified the stories we
had heard: that the runway surface was in a poor state of
repair and that the services there left much to be desired.
He suggested two alternatives. First, substitute Apia, in
Western Samoa, in place of Pago Pago. Second, take a more
southerly and marginally shorter route, but one that required
an extra stop. If we decided to use Apia, the leg from there
to Papeete would become even longer than the already long
leg from Pago Pago to Papeete. On the other hand, if we went
the southern route via Tonga and Rarotonga, each leg would
be shorter and we would have more fuel reserve and more alternates
in case of emergency. The only disadvantage of this was the
extra time consumed in one more stop.
Raynor and Robin had also contacted
Bora Bora directly, requesting a special permit that would
allow us to arrive as late as 7:30 p.m. local time, and Bora
Bora had faxed back a reply this was approved. Remember, Robin
and Raynor were doing all of this before we left Auckland.
They were planning ahead in their routine, excellent, fashion.
Bora Bora's airport normally closes at 5:30 p.m.
We estimated the flight times
for the various legs of our new plan, factored in guesses
for times on the ground at the refueling stops and for clearing
Customs and Immigration in Tahiti, added them up and subtracted
them from our 7:30 p.m. arrival time in Bora Bora. The conclusion
was that we would need to takeoff from Nadi at 6:00 a.m. local
time.
Complicating all of this was
the International Date Line which we would be crossing. Although
we would be leaving Fiji on Tuesday, December 18, we would
be arriving in Bora Bora on Monday, December 17!
My method for trying to keep
track of the times is to use Greenwich Mean Time and date
for all calculations and then convert the various ETAs and
ETDs back into the local time and date. Our Universal handlers,
like everyone, struggled with the time conversions and we
had more than one telephone conversation helping them get
the plans straight. After we had gone to bed early on Monday
night, we were awakened by one more call from Houston trying
to clarify the times. Tuesday morning, after we awoke at 3:00
a.m. to start getting ready, we got another call from our
Universal handling team in Texas, this time expressing their
worry that Bora Bora closed at 5:30 p.m. and saying they were
not convinced that we had permission for a later arrival.
It is dark and still as we pack
and checkout of the hotel at the unseemly early hour so that
we could meet our van and driver at 4:30 a.m. At the Nadi
airport, the handling service is fine, although things move
a little slower than we hoped they would. Although we think
that loading up and departing from our parking area would
make the most sense, we were scheduled to depart from Gate
2 and, by God, that's what we were going to do! So, after
Pam returns from a lengthy visit upstairs with Air Terminal
Services, she and I go to the airplane at Stand 15 while P
& A accompany the luggage to Gate 2. We preflight the airplane,
start up, and taxi back around the terminal to Gate 2. We
had refueled yesterday morning so did not have to waste time
for that now.
Soon we are loaded and starting
up again for departure. The handlers had suggested the 4:30
a.m. pick up at the hotel and I must admit they knew what
they were doing: Our taxi out time was precisely at 6:00 a.m.,
as scheduled!
Universal had prefiled our flight
plan using our normal FL270, even though I had asked them
to use FL210 for this leg. Air Traffic Control, however, quickly
approves my request for 210. We decided to stay lower to go
a little faster and to keep the cabin altitude lower, and
hence have less fatigue during this long day. The HF contact
with Nadi starts out fine. The early morning sun is directly
in our eyes, so we have our sun visors and charts hanging
in the windshield to keep from getting blinded.
The forecast slight tailwind
is not materializing. In fact, the wind is showing 0 knots
on the Garmin readouts quite often. Fiji is comprised of over
300 islands and we see some very lovely ones as we cruise
in smooth air. We had ordered some catered sandwiches from
the airport handlers, for lunch, as well as a fruit and cheese
plate from the hotel, for breakfast on board. As we left the
hotel, we discover that Ashley also thought ahead and ordered
food to go, so we are in fat city as far as edibles are concerned!
We munch our way across the south Pacific ocean.
Our destination on this first
leg is the Kingdom of Tonga. The island is Nuku' Alofa and
the airport is called Fua' Amoto. About an hour and a half
into the flight, the Avidyne multifunction display screen,
in the Map mode, starts showing blue where black has been
for the last couple of months. We realize that we have finally
returned into the coverage of its installed database, so now
we have ground detail again. In this case, maybe I should
say ocean detail, which isn't much! (Since our GNS 530s have
current databases, we haven't missed the Avidyne display in
this mode at all, but it is still nice to have it back.)
We land and are in the chocks
two hours after taxi out. Due to the lack of tailwinds, we
are about fifteen minutes behind schedule, but are hopeful
the ground stop will take less than the forty-five minutes
we had estimated. It is not to be!
We are on "Island time" and things
don't move very quickly. When the fuelers come, they are using
an underground system installed in the tarmac, not the more
typical truck. The hose cannot reach to our filler caps. With
the help of some friendly local pilots of a Twin Otter parked
beside us - Raj and Moses - as well as some ground handling
crew, we manage to push the airplane back so the hose reaches
the first side. Later, we have to again man-power the airplane
back and then forward, while Pam steers in the cockpit, to
allow the hose to reach the other side. All told, our ground
stop consumes an hour and three minutes, putting us thirty-five
minutes behind our plan.
I fly this leg at FL250. It is
uneventful, except for so-so HF coverage. More than once we
call on 123.45, the oceanic air-to-air frequency, as well
as on 121.5, the emergency frequency, to see is any other
airplanes or ground stations receive us. No reply. We are
in a vast expanse of airspace, all alone.
From over 160 miles out, we establish
good VHF communication with Rarotonga Tower, and make a straight-in
approach, landing to the east. This is an island in the Cook
Islands, which is administered by New Zealand, and the controller
as well as Paul, our handling agent, speak "Kiwi." We land
at 0027Z, still running about a half hour behind schedule.
The ground time is about what we had allotted, an hour. It
would have been shorter, but the fuelers show up with a single-point
rig first and have to go back and get the over-wing truck.
We are airborne once again at 0126Z.
Up we go to FL270 for this leg,
and, finally, we do get some minor but welcome tailwinds.
On all of the legs today the outside air temperature is very
warm, about 15 to 18 degrees Celsius above standard temperatures
for our altitudes. Although we have trouble talking to Auckland
oceanic on the HF, we can communicate relatively well with
Tahiti control on HF as we get into their airspace. We enter
clouds now and with the ice vanes deployed we lose speed.
Tahiti Control reads our request HF and clears us to FL210
in an attempt to get underneath the clouds, but we are still
in IMC. Our hopes of getting to Bora Bora before closing time
are getting smaller and smaller.
Our autopilot system, a King
KFC-300 unit, has a pitch trim switch located on the pedestal
that allows minor altitude corrections to be made when in
Altitude Hold mode as well as changes in pitch attitude to
be made when in Attitude Hold mode. I discover that the switch
has decided to stop working in the Up direction. Down, no
problem, but nothing results when selecting the switch Up.
No big deal, but we will be watching it and hope it is a momentary
glitch.
The airport in Papeete goes by
the name of Faaa. Since each vowel and consonant is pronounced
in the Polynesian tongues, I guess it sounds like Fa-ah-ah.
Air Tahiti is our handling agent here, arranged for by Universal.
We again are fortunate to make a straight-in approach and
are on the blocks two hours and fifty-three minutes after
taxiing out at Rarotonga. Veronique is the first person who
greets us and she is an angel of speediness. They know of
our desire to get to Bora Bora before 7:30 p.m. and go out
of their way to help it happen. Our passports are collected,
the Immigration cards are provided to be completed by us,
and I go with her to the Operations office where I am told
that I must call Universal, urgent!
Universal, overall, has provided
great surface for us during World Flight 2001. Yet there have
been a few times when they drive us nuts. This is one of them.
When I get through to them, there is confusion. "Did we call
you? Why are you calling us?" Finally, someone seems to indicate
that the entire gist of this urgent message is to, for one
more @#$% time, tell us that they have not received permission
for a late Bora Bora arrival. Yet, here at the Operation Office,
I have just been handed a copy of the fax with our approval!
Yuck!
When I get back to the plane,
Veronique is escorting Pam, Pat, & Ashley back to it also
and we are told that we can leave immediately. One great factor
that helped here is not needing to refuel, since it is only
a forty-five minute hop ahead. Still, I think all of us have
been thinking that we will likely spend a night in Papeete,
since there is little likelihood of a fast enough ground stop
to make our deadline. Now, however, we are stoked with new
enthusiasm and rekindled hope!
We are airborne a mere thirty-six
minutes after landing, and I take an intersection departure
off of the long runway, making an immediate left turn to our
first fix on the IFR plan we are following. It is dark, now,
with scattered to broken clouds. We have been assigned FL160
and I keep the deck angle low and the speed high as I climb.
Excellent VHF coverage exists, both with Tahiti Control and
with Bora Bora tower.
I make the descent a little earlier
than normal to attain as high a ground speed for as long as
possible. As we start to break out of the clouds at 3,000
- 4,000 feet, we can see the lights of some nearby islands
and now we can see the Runway End Identifier Lights and the
Runway lights for Bora Bora's Runway 29. The wind is reported
as 040 degrees at 10 knots, and I decide to accept a slight
tailwind component and have Pam request a straight-in landing
on Runway 29, to save additional time.
The female tower operator tells
us that she will approve that request but that we should know
that the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) lights for
that runway are inoperative. Pam immediately expresses her
preference to circle to the other end, Runway 11, which I
heartily agree is the best course of action, and we are approved
to do so and told to report on final.
Remember my talking about the
hazards of night circling approaches, in conjunction with
our landing at Nadi? Well, here we go again, but to an even
greater extent than before. Except for the runway lights,
there is absolutely nothing to see. The sky and sea and land
are all totally black. No other lights are installed on this
stretch of the atoll. We are fatigued after this long day
and, during the descent, the autopilot would disconnect whenever
I attempted to use that quirky attitude adjustment switch,
so I have been flying by hand since leaving 16,000 feet. Does
the name JFK, Jr., ring a bell?
Unlike JFK, Jr., however, we
are instrument rated and current and know of the hazards we
face. I ask Pam to follow the instruments closely and to set
the radar altimeter's DH bug to 500 feet and to advise if
the light comes on, indicating that we are closer than 500
feet to the ocean, before we turn final. I must alternate
my attention from my set of instruments to the visual contact
I maintain with the runway lights as we fly a left downwind
to base and final. We have the GPSs set for the airport, and
the OBS mode allows us to see an extension of the runway's
centerline and we can monitor both our distance to the airport
and lateral offset from the centerline easily.
It works out very, very, well,
as evidenced by the PAPI showing two red and two white lights
as I turn from base leg to final. The landing lights finally
pick up the dark runway. Now is not a time for finesse. I
had told P & A that this landing would likely be firm, since
I was going to get it down and stopped without any fanfare.
("At least you have an excuse this time," was Pat's clever
comeback over the intercom!)
We cross the threshold, I close
the power levers to idle, do a minimum of flare, and we arrive.
The time? 7:29 p.m. I think we are all in a little state of
shock that we made it before the deadline. To depart Fiji
eleven and a half hours before and to arrive right on time,
including three intermediate stops…wow! God again smiled on
us today.
We park on the corner of the
small ramp. No one is around. Pam and Pat proceed to the terminal
to see what they can find while Ashley and I remain with 982GA.
We discover a multitude of crabs on the tarmac, some quite
sizeable. The ramp is wet from recent rain. In fact, I have
decided to add an epithet to our trip's name. Now, maybe we
should be known not just as "World Flight 2001" but instead
as "World Flight 2001 - The Rain Maker." It seems that everywhere
we have been since Perth we have had clouds and rain! Need
a little water for your local crops? Want to end the drought?
Just call "WF2001 - The Rain Maker" and we can solve your
problem!
Just about the time Ashley and
I decide to see what's happening at the terminal, we see Pat
and Pam coming, pushing a baggage cart across the ramp. As
we are about to finish unloading the plane we hear a loud
clunk and suddenly are plunged into total darkness…all runway
and ramp lights have been turned off! We use flashlights -
torches, for you English speakers - to find our way to the
terminal that, fortunately, remains lighted.
The road to the terminal isn't
a road. It is a waterway. On the opposite side of the terminal
from the ramp, the lagoon comes right up to the loading dock.
The Hotel Bora Bora, where P & A are booked, had been notified
of our arrival by the tower and are sending a water taxi for
us. Pam and I are staying at the Sofitel Marara and they have
advised that we can take a bus to that hotel after we leave
the water taxi at Hotel Bora Bora.
We sit on the deserted docks,
the only people around. After twenty or thirty minutes, we
see and hear the launch approaching. It has a powerful floodlight
atop the cabin to help find its way through the night waters.
Our mutton-chopped boatman helps us load and then we zip through
the smooth waters to the hotel.
Pam and I feel a bit guilty getting
the royal welcome treatment at Hotel Bora Bora. ("No. no!
Forget the leis and fruit juice drinks! We aren't really guests
here!") John is the English hotel manager who greets us with
his staff. Small, small, world…he has managed both the Hyatt
in Perth as well as the Burj al Arab in Dubai!
While waiting for our taxi to
the Marara, all four of us enjoy a libation at the bar and
relive our day's miraculous adventure. We are all rethinking
our plans for the leg to Hawaii. That day, as it is planned
now, is even longer than this one, and now we have been shown
again what a hard grind it can be as darkness and fatigue
raise strikes against us. Maybe we will have to overnight
in Papeete or Kona and break the day up into smaller segments.
To be continued…
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