Adventurous Flying – Flight Home, the Last Four Days

When we left Boa Vista, everything on the airplane was operating normally except the transponder. We had tried several different places in Brazil to get the transponder examined and fixed, but no one had the proper equipment or expertise, so we made the decision to fly back to the U.S. without an operational transponder. It would mean that “Flight Following” (a service provided by air traffic control for VFR flights) would not be available to us. It would be our obligation to contact air traffic control periodically to tell them where we were and, if requested, our altitude.

Leaving Boa Vista also meant we would soon be flying in Venezuelan airspace, a frustrating exercise in the past because the air traffic controllers there either did not know who we were or did not respond to our radio transmissions. (When a flight plan is filed, as we always did when flying over the Caribbean or the jungle, air traffic controllers on the ground are supposed be informed of our intended flight path and contact us as we enter, pass through and leave their respective controlled airspaces.) This time was no different; we didn’t hear from any Venezuelan air traffic controller for the entire time we flew in their airspace, including when we were maneuvering over Angel Falls (see previous post) despite several attempts to contact air traffic control at Canaima, a small jungle town with an airstrip, and at Cuidad Bolivar, a major city nearest the Falls.

Shortly after leaving the Angel Falls area, Bob discovered that our aircraft radio signal was weak – we were losing the aircraft 12-volt system! That meant the loss, not only of our aircraft radio communications system but also the primary aircraft-installed GPS. Fortunately, that morning I had installed a pair of the rechargeable batteries from my camera supply into a handheld Magellan GPS. Also, as was his habit Bob had been plotting our course on an aeronautical map; we knew where we were, where we had been and where we were going!

Other primary instruments, which depended on 12-volt power included the attitude indicator – I used this instrument extensively for maintaining accurate heading and for keeping the wings level when encountering instrument conditions, especially during turbulence. Okay, so we would avoid instrument conditions while power was out. We would be landing soon at Curacao where, hopefully, our power problem could be solved.

In our survival pack we had a handheld transceiver – a special unit that could communicate with all aircraft traffic controllers. We had checked it out and installed the requisite six AA batteries; what we didn’t find out until now, when we needed it, was that rechargeable AA batteries do not have high enough voltage for this old unit! We could receive but we couldn’t transmit. We could hear the ground controllers, but they couldn’t hear us. Alkaline AA batteries had we none. Our landing at Curacao would be a semi-emergency.

Bob took over the controls as we entered the Curacao airport traffic control area. We flew parallel to the runway, observing landing direction and traffic on the field. We waggled our wings at the control tower to try to gain their attention. We circled over the water in front of the control tower but out of the airplane traffic. We heard the transmissions between ground traffic control and the airplanes taxiing on the field and those taking off and leaving the control airspace. No communication was directed at us or about us.

Finally, after noting three airplanes take off and none taxiing, we entered the traffic pattern and made our approach, landing on the short end of the runway, immediately entering the first taxiway and beginning our taxi toward the General Aviation area at the other end of the field, all the while listening to the ground control frequency on the handheld transceiver. Still no one acknowledged our presence until we found ourselves taxiing in opposite directions on a taxiway with an American Airlines 737 taxiing toward us!

When we were at last observed – not by the control tower personnel, but by the pilot of the 737! – we heard him tell the tower that “something is taxiing toward us; should I hold?” The tower responded, “Yes, hold.” We taxied forward past the wings of the 737 and in front of the control tower – still no communication from them toward us – and on to the General Aviation area.

Numerous customs, fire and safety and airport operations personnel met us. We were queried as to why we didn’t announce our arrival, what was our problem, why didn’t we have aircraft power, etc, etc. The investigation concluded that evening after Bob FAX’d a report of the incident to the local Civil Aviation authority in Curacao. Bob was assured that no penalty would be assessed, nor would a complaint be made to the FAA. As far as I was concerned, I felt that the control tower personnel were delinquent in their duty to monitor ALL air traffic, in particular, a certain Mooney single-engine airplane, registration number N6704U that repeatedly circled in plain sight over the water in front of them.

We got a taxi to take us to the Holiday Resort Beach Hotel (formerly a part of the Holiday Inn franchise) that featured a casino!! Whoopee!! – NOT!! However, the room was very nice, quiet and air-conditioned, and the Denny’s restaurant next door was acceptably prompt and reasonably priced.

We had left the battery at a shop on the airport to be slow charged overnight. When I picked it up, there was battery acid on its top, indicating that it had been subjected to a high charge rate and possible overcharging. However, we cleaned the battery and reinstalled it back in the airplane. Later, when we had its condition checked, it was found to be in excellent condition with no harm done.

The planned flight from Curacao to Grand Xuma in the Bahamas was aborted after about two hours into the flight, when Bob’s navigation revealed that we still had over 500 nm to go. We had made a serious error in our distance estimate during our flight plan that morning! Both Bob and I had carefully estimated the distance at about 420 nautical miles and he had loaded only one of the two wing tanks accordingly, intending to empty the reserve tank during this leg so that it could be un-installed and stowed before we reached the mainland.

This realization caused us to revise our flight plan to land on one of the group of Turks/Caicos islands; these are to the east of Grand Xuma and were well within our limited range this day. Besides this would take us over Santo Domingo/Haiti, thus providing us with further alternatives in case of weather or other unseen circumstance.

While over Haiti, we encountered some turbulence and high clouds where the outside temperature dropped to minus 5 degrees Celsius. Bob was sitting on the sunny side so didn’t notice the cold cabin temperature; I think I caught a cold with this exposure! Shortly after coming through the clouds, we noticed that the gyrocompass was not working. No sweat – I reverted to using the attitude indicator to maintain the wings level and used the Magellan GPS (or the aircraft GPS, when available) to maintain the correct heading.

We landed at Providenciale, the capital city of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a group belonging to the United Kingdom. Again, we put the battery in a shop to be slow charged overnight and accepted the recommendations of one of the airport operations personnel for hotel accommodations for the night.

Our accommodations were at the Turtle Cove Resort hotel, a three or four-star hotel in the middle of this long, island. The hotel had a fine restaurant on the grounds, but we were surprised when we were not allowed to sit in a certain area “since we didn’t have reservations”!

After dinner, Bob and I carefully opened the gyrocompass and found a small tension spring whose hook had broken off. This caused the reset knob to be pulled into the gyro-caging position by yet another, even smaller spring. In the caged position, the gyrocompass simply ignored all the airplane motions. I carefully bent the top coil into position to act as a hook and reinstalled the spring in its proper place. We put everything back together and went to bed at about ten or eleven. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we would take off for the Florida coast city of West Palm Beach.

The next morning at 6:15, after breakfast at the restaurant, we boarded a pre-arranged taxi to take us to the airport. At the airport, I found a shop that sold me eight (two four-cell packages) of AA batteries – for US$16! I thought it a bit high-priced, but bought them anyway, knowing that we should have our handheld transceiver operable in case we lost our main communications system. I found out how high when I noted a recent McLendon’s ad for a package of eight for only $4.99.

We reinstalled the gyrocompass in the instrument panel and I set it for the approximate heading we would be using when we took off for West Palm Beach. We also re-installed the re-charged battery into the airplane and filed our VFR flight plan. We were told we couldn’t take off because, under VFR rules, there was insufficient ceiling. I suggested to Bob that we re-file under IFR rules that would allow us to take off, with the assurance that enroute, and at our destination, the weather showed VFR conditions. So, at about 8:20 we took off and turned toward West Palm Beach.

After about an hour flying in instrument conditions (with the newly-repaired gyrocompass working perfectly!), we came out of the rain and clouds at about 12,500 feet and continued on over the azure-blue waters of the Bahama Banks toward Florida. I landed at West Palm Beach on the short runway (9R) at about 1:30 pm, making another good landing. (Except for the landing at Curacao and the landing at Ubatuba, I had made every landing (16) during this visit! Bob was becoming more confident of my ability to judge the altitude and speed so that he said he didn’t have to be nervous about my landings!)

After going through Customs we moved the airplane over to Galaxy Aviation services where we were given the utmost in hospitality, with them driving us to a Holiday Inn motel near the airport and picking us up the next morning.

Being in the USA and, having an inoperative transponder meant we could not enjoy “flight following” services, so a flight plan was not required. We took off at about 8:30 and, after a zig-zag path around restricted control areas – including one around Anniston, Alabama where President Bush was expected to be visiting – I landed on the short grass strip at Moontown airport where Bob keeps his airplane when in Alabama. For me, this was the first landing on grass in about 55 years – since about 1951 or ‘52 when I was flying a Piper Supercub out of Mobridge SD! Misjudging my altitude above ground by a couple of feet, I landed a little hard, but not as hard as some of the “drop-ins” I had made before on pavement. Bob was satisfied.

My latest adventure, flying a single-engine airplane across the Caribbean and the jungles of South America with my brother Bob, was over. Many good memories will remain for years and years.

Epilogue:

The next day, Bob took the transponder to a expert at the Huntsville International airport to be retuned (its only problem!) and checked out. Then Bob and I undertook the complex task of removing enough of the cowling from around the engine so we could remove the generator (determined to be the culprit responsible for our power problems), or at least replace the brushes. After removing more cowling than turned out to be necessary, we discovered that we still couldn’t remove the generator but could, with determination and a bit of skill, remove and replace the brushes.

Both brushes were well worn (Bob said it had been two to three thousand hours – ten years – since they had been replaced) and one had lost contact with its lead wire. Reason for loss of generator verified! A quick trip to the local auto parts store to buy some “1928 Chevy” brushes, a not-so-quick installation of the brushes and reassembly of the cowling, and the Mooney was ready for a test flight. In the meantime, the transponder had been retrieved from the electronics shop and reinstalled in the panel, so this check flight would suffice for both items.

As we climbed to about 10,000 feet, we checked that both the generator and the transponder were working normally. Upon reaching altitude, we did some 360 and 180 degree, constant-altitude turns and suddenly the circuit breaker for the transponder popped out. A familiar smell filled the cabin: smoke had escaped from something, presumably the transponder (verified later). Now every one who has had experience with electronics knows that electronics are filled with smoke and when the smoke escapes, the electronics stops working.

While we were up there, Bob demonstrated his “zero-G” ability, allowing me a couple of attempts to do the same. It was very challenging – more so than I could have imagined (it takes a firm push on the wheel to obtain zero-G). Then I flew back to Moontown and I did my second grass-field landing, better than the one a few days earlier. This time I had to let down over some trees and a slightly raised area just before the beginning of the leveled landing strip. My landing was soft but the Mooney bounced ever so gently, maybe due to a little unevenness in the runway.

Back on the ground, we again removed the transponder from the panel. As I turned it over to lay it on the wing, I heard a little rattle as if there was something loose inside. Could it be a screw, lost or dropped into the guts of the transponder and forgotten? Or could it be the remains of a burned-out resistor or other component set adrift by the overheating that resulted in the smell[1].

A day or so later, Larry Holland (Bob’s friend and host whenever I visit Bob in Alabama), took me up in a 1930’s era Aeronca Champion. The Aeronca Champion is a tandem-seat, high-wing, fabric-covered airplane similar to the Piper Supercub, but with a 65 horsepower engine and fixed-pitch propeller. I wondered if I could adapt to such a low-powered airplane – the Mooney is 180 horsepower, the Stearman 220-230 and even the Supercub was 105 horsepower!

Upon gaining a safe altitude above ground (2500 feet) I made a few sharp turns and a couple of full stalls, I then performed two landings, both in a very satisfactory manner. The lightness of the basic airframe – Larry said it weighed only about 800 pounds – seemed to compensate for the fact that the engine was not so powerful. It felt not too unlike the Supercub or Stearman of my memories!

In fact, because it had a fixed-pitch propeller and a “joystick”, I felt quite at home in the Aeronca with my first three-point landing. I still have difficulty remembering to suppress my instinct to use the wheel in the Mooney to steer when I am on or close to the ground.

Two days later, on the 31^st of March 2007, I boarded the American Airlines flight taking me home to Seattle. Not too surprisingly as we approached Seatac, the Captain of Flight #1587 didn’t invite me to the flight deck to land the MD Super-83 twin-jet. (I am confident that I could have gotten it on the ground!)

Jim met me at the “Departures” level at SeaTac, giving me a ride home. Back home (Sweet Home) at last!

After being given a warm “welcome home” hug and kiss by my wife, I sought to make up for lost time by fixing the leaky faucet in the bathroom. I was informed that Jim had already fixed it! (I thought all the time that it was the HOT water that was leaking, but Jim says he changed the COLD seat and seal. I’ll have to find out how he got the hot water to stop dripping by changing the parts in the cold water faucet.)

THE END

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[1] On Tuesday April 3, 2007, Bob took the transponder back to Bob Sellers, the expert at HSV; as of April 6 we still don’t know what the problem in the transponder was.