04-13
Redheaded Copilot asked me where we should take our 2013 winter vacation. The last couple of years, we’d taken cruises.
I suggested it would be adventurous to take our PA-22/20 tube and fabric short wing taildragger—N50KF, “50 Kilo Fox”—on a trip to the Out Islands of the Bahamas.
Redheaded Copilot replied, “I can’t swim.”
I observed that our first stop would be Bimini, which is only 46 nm off the Florida coast; and, that we had crossed Lake Michigan and back (73 nm each way); crossed Cape Cod Bay to Provincetown, Mass. and back (30 nm each way); crossed the Northumberland Strait to Prince Edward Island and back (40 nm each way) and crossed the Chesapeake Bay (40 nm each way) probably 20 different times.
Redheaded Copilot seemed a bit more assured, so she asked, “Where in the Out Islands?”
The Plan
We googled “Bahamas thatched roof beach villas” and got a hit for Fernandez Bay Resort on Cat Island, approximately 280 nm east of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The over-water itinerary would be 40 minutes (58 nm) from Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) to South Bimini (MYBS) for customs and immigration clearance; one hour (106 nm) to Nassau (MYNN) for fuel; and one hour, 10 minutes (119 nm) to New Bight Airport on Cat Island (MYCB) for a four-day stay.
On the return, it would be back to Nassau for fuel and then two hours (163 nm) from Nassau to KFXE. At no point during any leg would we have less than half a tank—two hours’ worth—of reserve fuel.
Our main concern in planning a January trip from the Northeast was being able to get out of there and back VFR while avoiding icing conditions. That can be a crapshoot. Nevertheless, we rolled the dice and made our Cat Island reservations for a January 21arrival.
We purchased our Bahamas flight guides, charts and other necessary materials, double-checked our insurance coverage, and prepared our paperwork. (For details, see “Bahamas Flight Particulars, page XX. —Ed.)
The Friday night before our 8:00 a.m. departure, the winds in upstate New York were howling at 50 knots out of the northwest. Lying in bed I said to myself, “That doesn’t sound good.”
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, 8:00 a.m.
The winds at our departure airport, Columbia County (1B1), were 180 degrees at 19 knots, gusting to 25. Runway 21 at 1B1 turned out to be doable, although it was like riding a bucking bronco getting to cruise altitude.
The 45-knot headwinds at our 4,500-foot VFR cruising altitude made our initial stop Millville, N.J. (KMIV) instead of Salisbury, Md. (KSBY)—and turned a two and a quarter-hour leg into three hours.
Redheaded Copilot noted that the cars on the New York State Thruway were pulling ahead of us. I said, “Yeah… but who’s having more fun?”
From KMIV, it was on to Norfolk, Va. (KORF), and from there to Wilmington, N.C. (KILM) for our first night’s stay. We had made it out of the Northeast! And now knew we would be able to get to our Bahamas destination.
Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
At KILM, we picked up our IFR clearance to Savannah, Ga. (KSAV), taxied to the departure runway, did the preflight runup… and I noticed that the EGT reading on the number-three cylinder indicated zero degrees.
We taxied back and I radioed the FBO to call in the at-home mechanic on call. I did another runup on the ramp and the EGT reading on our airplane’s EDM 700 was normal. So, I cancelled the mechanic, taxied out for departure again… and the EGT reading disappeared.
I taxied back in again and waited for the mechanic.
The mechanic arrived, tweaked an engine probe wire and we again had a number-three EGT reading. ATC had held our flight plan, and we departed KILM one-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
Halfway to KSAV, the number-three EGT reading again disappeared. I concluded that it was an instrument problem and not an engine issue, because all cylinder head temps and engine instrument readings were normal. However, our delayed departure made Sunday’s final destination Vero Beach (KVRB) instead of Fort Lauderdale (KFXE).
Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, 7:15 a.m.
We departed KVRB for the one hour, 15 minute flight to KFXE and were able to make our 9:00 a.m. CBP clearance departure from KFXE through the ADIZ to Bimini. Redheaded Copilot and I enjoyed sunny skies and puffy white clouds en route.
The customs and immigration clearance at South Bimini (MYBS) was quick and cordial. We took a van tour around South Bimini, visited the Fountain of Youth site, and it was then a one-hour flight to Nassau for fuel.
Odyssey Aviation at Nassau International (MYNN) suggested the Compass Point Inn for lunch and gave us a ride there and back. We then departed for the one hour, 10 minute flight to Cat Island (MYCB), arriving at about 4:30 p.m. Once again, sunny skies and puffy white clouds marked our route.
Tuesday, Jan. 22 to Thursday, Jan. 24
Four days of beach, sun and food at Fernandez Bay Resort, as well as sightseeing the 47-mile length of Cat Island by car, were the only items on our agenda.
Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, 9:00 a.m.
We flew back to Nassau for an overnight stay at Paradise Island and a visit to the Atlantis Aquarium.
Saturday, Jan. 26,2013, 10:00 a.m.
Redheaded Copilot and I departed Nassau for the two-hour flight back to KFXE. Again, sunny skies and puffy white clouds highlighted our route back to the United States.
Pablo Garcia, the resident Bahamas flight guru at Banyan Air Service in Fort Lauderdale, had told us that customs and immigration in the Bahamas was always easy, but to expect more aggressive behavior by U.S. customs and immigration on our return.
Not so. Our U.S. customs and immigration processing at KFXE took only about five minutes and was very cordial. After all, what smuggling or security concerns do a couple flying in a cloth taildragger present?
After lunch, it was off to Fort Myers Page Field (KFMY). We arrived about 2:30 p.m. What a day! Breakfast on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, dinner on Sanibel Island, Fla.— sandwiched around three hours of beautiful VFR flight!
Sunday, Jan. 27to Tuesday, Jan. 29
Redheaded Copilot and I enjoyed three more full days of beach bumming, shelling and good food on Sanibel Island while 50 Kilo Fox was hangared at KFMY. During that time, Switlick Aviation installed a new number-three cylinder EGT probe, which fixed the missing instrument read-out issue.
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 9:00 a.m.
We departed Fort Myers for Palm Beach International (KPBI) to attend to a business matter for a client at Boynton Beach.
At KPBI, 50 Kilo Fox was the only piston aircraft on the ramp in two lines of jets. One of the jet jocks asked about the airplane, where we had been, and where we were headed.
During our conversation, I tried to puff myself up a bit and mentioned that my previous plane had been a Beech Duke B60—big mistake. The jet jock remarked, “Yeah, but now you’ve moved up to greater reliability and better single-engine performance!” (Ah, it doesn’t take much to make a short winger happy!)
Thursday, Jan. 31, 8:30 a.m.
Our early-morning departure from KPBI back north was delayed by an hour to allow for a storm system to pass over the airport. Once in the air (around 9:30 am local time), the first leg was to St. Simons Island, Ga. (KSSI); then to Fayetteville, N.C. (KFAY) and then to Norfolk, Va. (KORF) to spend the night. At the busy international airports like KORF, our little short wing taildragger was an object of curiosity.
Friday, Feb. 1, 8:30 a.m.
Departure from KORF was delayed by a snow shower and gusty winds, but after the weather cleared, we took off with Millville, N.J. (KMIV) as our intended destination. About a half an hour south of KMIV, ATC advised that a notam had just been issued closing KMIV to all transient fixed-wing traffic—apparently because of a significant snowstorm the previous night and early that morning.
We diverted to Salisbury, Md. (KSBY) and from there, home to 1B1 near Hudson, N.Y. 50 Kilo Fox logged 3,100 sm and I logged 39-and-a-half hours of flight time; Redheaded Copilot logged the fact that 50 Kilo Fox performs exactly the same over water as it does over land.
Success!
Our winter vacation was a success in part because of the FBOs who treated us like royalty. These included Air Wilmington at Wilmington International Airport (KILM) in North Carolina; Sun Aviation at Vero Beach Municipal (KVRB) in Florida (this was at the end of a long day, and the Sun Aviation receptionist not only made our hotel reservation, but gave us a ride there in her own personal car at the end of her workday!); Banyan Air at Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) in Florida; Odyssey Aviation at Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau, Bahamas (MYNN); Signature at Palm Beach International (KPBI) in Florida; and Landmark Aviation at Norfolk International (KORF) in North Carolina. In other words, most all of them!
Flight over the Islands of The Bahamas is spectacular—uniformly VFR with puffy white clouds and sunny skies. Our next Bucket List destination? Please, President Obama, let us fly to Cuba!
SIDEBAR
Bahamas Flight: The Particulars
Our preflight plan included the following*:
(1) Purchase 2012 Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide. (pilotpub.com)
(2) Download Banyan Air Service’s Required Documents & Pilot Checklist
for the Bahamas. (banyanair.com/bahamas_requirements.asp)
(3) Purchase Jeppesen Bahamas Trip Kit with approach plates. (https://jeppdirect.jeppesen.com)
(4) Obtain 12-inch-tall N-numbers to apply to each side of the fuselage.
(A call to the South Florida FSDO confirmed that no exemption was available for 50-year-old fabric covered airplanes on flights through the ADIZ.)
(5) Purchase Coast Guard-approved life vests for pilot and passenger.
(6) Purchase and apply a U.S. Customs decal.
(7) Confirm aircraft insurance coverage applied to flights in the Bahamas.
(8) Register with an eAPIS notification system.
(For info, see fltplan.com/eAPISInfo.htm)
(9) Prepare Bahamas C7A Inward & Outward Declaration and Cruising Permit. (https://www.pilotpub.com/client_uploads/forms/c7A.pdf)
*Not a complete list.
Keith Flint is a 71-year-old ASMEL/COMM/INST pilot with 2,460 hours’ total flight time. He began flying in 1977 in a Cessna 172. After 20 years of owning Beechcraft airplanes, Flint has had his PA-22/20 Pacer since 2007. He is a 35-year member of AOPA and a member of Northeast Chapter of the Short Wing Piper Club as well as being a Piper Flyer Association member since 2006. Flint has been an attorney in private practice in Chatham, N.Y. for 48 years. Send questions or comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com.
