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CYYT - LPLA - LPHR
Had a restless night, with Pam's
cell phone ringing and causing us to wake right after we'd
fallen off to sleep. Then it was tossing-and-turning a lot
for what seemed like hours…I suppose the anticipation of our
flights today. I had set the alarm for 4:45 a.m. but, per
usual, woke a few minutes before it went off. I used the bathroom
first while Pam caught a few more winks, then packed while
she got ready. Our weather and flight plan fax package arrived
and was slipped under the door by the front desk personnel.
Room service came at 5:30 with one continental, and we were
down in the lobby at 6:15 where the FBO had sent a cab for
us. Dark, no rain or wind, the clouds starting to break up
as we drove to St. John's airport.
The cold front was moving out
to sea and the airport was enjoying early sunshine as I did
the preflight. Corporate Jets had serviced the landing gear
struts last week, exchanging old hydraulic fluid for new,
and adjusting the liquid level correctly, but they were a
little light on the hydrogen pressure and thus, with full
fuel, we barely have 2 inches showing instead of the proper
4 ¼. However, it has been allowing for smoother touchdowns!
We serviced the toilet and generally thought we were ready,
only to discover at cruise altitude that we'd both forgotten
to ask for ice in the ice chest! Pat and Ashley showed up
in their rental car, and we were off in clear skies at 8:33
local time, 1103Z. Our clearance was basically what I had
requested Universal to file, via lat/long positions every
5 degrees of longitude. Our initial altitude assignment is
5,000 feet, but once we are radar identified by Gander center
upon departure we are immediately cleared straight to FL270.
We are clear of clouds all the way up, but then must turn
on the anti-icing equipment as we enter clouds at 27,000 feet.
We were in these clouds for a little over an hour, and picked
up just a dusting of ice on the leading edges.
The HF radio, as is so often
the case with High Frequency, chooses to be temperamental,
and I cannot establish radio contact on either the primary
(8906) or secondary (8831) frequencies that Gander assigns.
However, I am hearing New York Oceanic control clearly on
13306 (shorthand for 13.306 MHz). As we fly beyond VHF line-of-sight
communications, our first and second position reports must
be made by asking another airplane to relay for us. Everyone
over the Atlantic is supposed to maintain a listening watch
on 123.45 MHz and I call in the blind to any aircraft to respond.
Immediately, loud and clear in a thick British accent, comes
in "Brittania 421A" who relays for us and reports that Gander
got our position report from him just fine. The second time
an American voice in "N138SP" helped us out. At 1330Z, about
2 ½ hours into the flight, we were able to contact both New
York and Santa Maria oceanic control on the HF, at frequency
13306. As made later, a typical position report sounds like
this, with the parenthetical items not said: "N982GA (was
over) 43 North 35 West at 1420Z, Flight Level 270, estimating
Lukal (intersection) at (time) 1459. Sipru (intersection is)
next. Temperature minus 28 degrees (Celsius). Wind 165 (degrees)
at 5 (knots.)" Then they read back the whole thing to make
sure they received it correctly. Monitoring the HF, with its
usual din of static and noise, it gets a little tiring hearing
all of these reports from every flight within thousands of
miles. The big boys have "Selective Calling," or Selcal, and
their fancy HFs can be programmed so they only receive when
a message is directed to that particular flight. What a nice
feature, but beyond the budget of a King Air installation!
Selcal is activated by a series of musical tones, different
for each airplane. Without Selcal, I hear all of the messages
and the initial tones!
We pass the Equal Time Point
when we are 524 miles into this 1,234 mile flight. That is,
estimating that the winds we have experienced and that are
forecast ahead will remain about the same, at that point it
will require the same time to continue to the destination
as it will to turn around and return to St. John's. When we
are about 804 miles from St. John's, we pass the Point of
No Return. Now we must continue onward, not having enough
fuel to go back.
We finally start picking up VOR
and DME signals from the Azores, are back in VHF radio contact,
and make an uneventful descent and receive radar vectors for
the ILS to Runway 33 even though the weather is fine. Interestingly,
the approach and tower operators at Lajes, a joint use military
and civilian field on the island of Terceira, sound like Americans.
Maybe our military provides personnel for that airport? The
overall flight time is 5.3 hours and we land with about 850
pounds of fuel remaining out of our total load of 3,600 pounds.
We are met by the local handling
agent, Jorge, who is very helpful and friendly. We walk quickly
past the passport checkpoint, and then I am allowed to return
to oversee the fueling while the others go through Customs,
but it is very perfunctory, with no baggage taken off of the
plane. Jorge provides us with a updated weather package for
our short hop to Horta, LPHR, the major town on the island
of Faial.
Pam flies this leg, that is flown
at Flight Level 080 (8,000 feet), and it takes just 30 minutes.
The clearance is a little confusing but we finally get it
figured out. The Garmin 530s, now with their worldwide databases,
are amazing, having all the procedures available in them.
We are above a haze layer, and the tall volcanic peak of Pico
Mountain dominates the scene. We swoop over Horta at 1,500
feet as we enter a right downwind leg for a visual landing
on Runway 28. Ashley reports seeing some whales in the water.
One neat point of interest about
the Azores is that the time zone there is exactly the same
as Greenwich Mean Time. We shutdown at 1631Z, or 4:31 p.m.
local time. Isabel, a courteous handling agent from Sata-Air,
greats the flight and escorts Pat and Ashley to their waiting
car for the short drive into town. Pam and I take time to
clean and secure the airplane and then the same taxi driver
returns to take us to the Hotel Fayal. (They seem to pronounce
both the island of Faial and the Hotel Fayal as "fee-ALL."
By the way, the people in St. John's pronounce Newfoundland
with the emphasis on the last syllable: New-fund-LAND, not
out typical NEW-fund-land. And they said it really shows you
as a tourist if you ever say new-FOUND-land!)
Enroute Over the Atlantic |
"Nearest VORs?" None! |
On Final at Lajes |
Pat at Lajes |
Horta |
Hotal Fayal |
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