It was a beautiful day. I flight planned for 9000 feet again hoping to say above the bumps. It turned out it was not necessary as it was smooth as butter all the way up and stayed that way all day long. We left Grand Turk behind us and were soon significantly out over the water, a long way from land.
Airborne off Grand Turk on our way to the DR
One of thore many advantages of IFR even in clear weather is you are in constant radio communication with Center. So if something untoward happens at least someone will be listening to your panicked screams for help--or calm professional relaying of flight status and position--as you slowly spiral to the sea. Pick one.
The Turks are not in radar coverage at the lower altitudes we were flying, so we stayed on the airways and gave position reports until we were picked up by Santo Domingo Centre about 40 miles offshore of the DR. As Kath mentioned in her last email, these guys sound like "Jose Hemanas" on steroids. Most of the chatter is in Spanish with the odd American pilot breaking in in English which then draws an English reply. I shouldn't be too hard on these guys as they were generally very pleasant and helpful.
We made landfall at Puerto Plata and made the turn south east towards Punta Cana. I didn't realize just how mountainous the DR really is. The scenery out the right window was spectacular with a mix of brown peaks and lush, mottled green valleys appearing in the breaks between the clouds below us. It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Kath and I just droning along at 9000 ft, almost surrealistically, watching all this stuff float slowly by beneath us.
Our destination was Borenquen on the north west corner of Puerto Rico where we needed to stop for fuel. During the mid part of the flight I was recalculating the fuel requirements and gave myself a bit of a scare. This leg was to be our longest yet, some 380 nm and about 4 hours of flying with the light headwind we were experiencing. I have about 4 hours and 45 minutes to dry tanks so we would have a reasonable reserve on landing. I suddenly remembered that we had fueled in Provo and travelled onward to Grand Turk, about a 40 minute flight. I had forgotten to account for that time!! But then I quickly remembered that the 385 nm distance was from PROVO, so everything was ok. Sounds a bit anticlimatic I know, but believe me at 9000 ft over the water, a thought like that concentrates your mind wonderfully!
We landed at about 11:00 at Borenquen, cleared US customs (PR is a US protectorate and the customs stuff is the same as in the US) and topped up the tanks. Borenquen is a former US airforce base. Huge 11,000 foot runway and is FEDEX's Caribbean hub. The place was a bee-hive of activity, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. There were a number of FEDEX DC-10's from Memphis unloading on the ground and Merlin Metroliners were blasting off in all directions carrying their packages to the various islands in the Caribbean. Very cool place.
On the ramp in Borenquen, Puerto Rico
Flight plan filed, we were back in the air by 12:15 on the final push to St. Kitts. Our route was over the centre of PR (very similar to the DR, low mountains, valleys, rivers--very tropical) across the water to St. Croix (one of the US Virgin Islands) and then another long over water shot to St. Kitts.
After what seemed like an eternity droning along and listening San Juan Centre talk to all the civil airliners in the flight levels, St. Kitts gradually took shape on the horizon in front of us. We actually sighted it just after the guy at San Juan Center handed us off to Bradshaw (St. Kitts) Approach and called us "slow moving" in the process. I was hurt.
The island of Nevis, due south of St. Kitts
Never-the-less, the sight of St. Kitts growing in the windshield as we descended was spectacular. The island looks like something out of Jurasic Park. A large green mountain to the north, complete with rainforest and extinct volcanic crater in the center and smaller mountains to the south. As we descended, I asked for a visual approach and broke off the airway so we could parallel the coast as we descended. It was very beautiful and we tried to film it with the camcorder as we came down through the clouds. We made a descending left turn past the southern most hill and found ourselves lined up on final for runway 07.
After a reasonable landing we taxed past the new large terminal and a row of parked biz jets, and parked between two other biz jets at the east end of the ramp. After shutting down and getting out we found ourselves alone on this huge ramp, the only piston engine aircraft in sight.
I'll spare you the details with customs (which is always a prolonged experience in the Caribbean) as well as the Marriott (which we'll talk about tomorrow) and just note that after standing there for a couple of minutes it finally began to sink in that we had done it--flown 2253 nautical miles in 23.4 hours in a "slow moving" piston banger spam can--and had loved every minute of it. At least I had. Kathy says she loved about 42 seconds of every minute, which for someone who doesn't really like little planes, is a pretty good average when you think about it.
We'll see you tomorrow on Frigate Bay Beach!!
The Turks are not in radar coverage at the lower altitudes we were flying, so we stayed on the airways and gave position reports until we were picked up by Santo Domingo Centre about 40 miles offshore of the DR. As Kath mentioned in her last email, these guys sound like "Jose Hemanas" on steroids. Most of the chatter is in Spanish with the odd American pilot breaking in in English which then draws an English reply. I shouldn't be too hard on these guys as they were generally very pleasant and helpful.
We made landfall at Puerto Plata and made the turn south east towards Punta Cana. I didn't realize just how mountainous the DR really is. The scenery out the right window was spectacular with a mix of brown peaks and lush, mottled green valleys appearing in the breaks between the clouds below us. It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Kath and I just droning along at 9000 ft, almost surrealistically, watching all this stuff float slowly by beneath us.
Our destination was Borenquen on the north west corner of Puerto Rico where we needed to stop for fuel. During the mid part of the flight I was recalculating the fuel requirements and gave myself a bit of a scare. This leg was to be our longest yet, some 380 nm and about 4 hours of flying with the light headwind we were experiencing. I have about 4 hours and 45 minutes to dry tanks so we would have a reasonable reserve on landing. I suddenly remembered that we had fueled in Provo and travelled onward to Grand Turk, about a 40 minute flight. I had forgotten to account for that time!! But then I quickly remembered that the 385 nm distance was from PROVO, so everything was ok. Sounds a bit anticlimatic I know, but believe me at 9000 ft over the water, a thought like that concentrates your mind wonderfully!
We landed at about 11:00 at Borenquen, cleared US customs (PR is a US protectorate and the customs stuff is the same as in the US) and topped up the tanks. Borenquen is a former US airforce base. Huge 11,000 foot runway and is FEDEX's Caribbean hub. The place was a bee-hive of activity, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. There were a number of FEDEX DC-10's from Memphis unloading on the ground and Merlin Metroliners were blasting off in all directions carrying their packages to the various islands in the Caribbean. Very cool place.
On the ramp in Borenquen, Puerto Rico
Flight plan filed, we were back in the air by 12:15 on the final push to St. Kitts. Our route was over the centre of PR (very similar to the DR, low mountains, valleys, rivers--very tropical) across the water to St. Croix (one of the US Virgin Islands) and then another long over water shot to St. Kitts.
After what seemed like an eternity droning along and listening San Juan Centre talk to all the civil airliners in the flight levels, St. Kitts gradually took shape on the horizon in front of us. We actually sighted it just after the guy at San Juan Center handed us off to Bradshaw (St. Kitts) Approach and called us "slow moving" in the process. I was hurt.
The island of Nevis, due south of St. Kitts
Never-the-less, the sight of St. Kitts growing in the windshield as we descended was spectacular. The island looks like something out of Jurasic Park. A large green mountain to the north, complete with rainforest and extinct volcanic crater in the center and smaller mountains to the south. As we descended, I asked for a visual approach and broke off the airway so we could parallel the coast as we descended. It was very beautiful and we tried to film it with the camcorder as we came down through the clouds. We made a descending left turn past the southern most hill and found ourselves lined up on final for runway 07.
After a reasonable landing we taxed past the new large terminal and a row of parked biz jets, and parked between two other biz jets at the east end of the ramp. After shutting down and getting out we found ourselves alone on this huge ramp, the only piston engine aircraft in sight.
I'll spare you the details with customs (which is always a prolonged experience in the Caribbean) as well as the Marriott (which we'll talk about tomorrow) and just note that after standing there for a couple of minutes it finally began to sink in that we had done it--flown 2253 nautical miles in 23.4 hours in a "slow moving" piston banger spam can--and had loved every minute of it. At least I had. Kathy says she loved about 42 seconds of every minute, which for someone who doesn't really like little planes, is a pretty good average when you think about it.
We'll see you tomorrow on Frigate Bay Beach!!
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