We got up at 4:20am local time, checked the weather right
away and were happy to see that winds and weather forecasts were the same as
the evening before. Our hotel was right next to the aircraft parking so we
literally just walked out the door and over to our planes. As we did our
preflight it started raining a little bit and it was a rather wet and chilly
experience getting ready. The tower opened at 6:00am so we were in our suits
and strapped in and ready to get our departure clearances at 6:00am sharp.
Because there is no radar coverage over the ocean the air traffic control
requires us to be 15 minutes apart. So after Hansjoerg in 17MF had got his
clearance and taxied out I called up ground for my clearance.
The departure out of Santa Maria was smooth and the clouds
as expected. Because of the terrain around the airport we have to fly a
published departure to the north. We were then cleared direct to the first
waypoint on our airway to Hawaii. The clouds were few to scattered and freezing
levels were at 4000 so we could easily climb up above the clouds while avoiding
going through them. I leveled off at 6000 initially and it was a beautiful
sunrise behind us as we left the west coast of the US mainland. Winds were
strong, but exactly as predicted. And as I did my time calculations my first
few waypoints seemed to be right on. Soon after leveling off, Los Angeles Center
gave me the HF frequencies for San Francisco Center who controls the traffic
over to Hawaii. Initially I could not get a reply on any of the frequencies and
I reported this back to LA Center. The controller gave me yet another channel
and said that if I can’t get contact with San Francisco I would
have to return to Santa Maria. I was thinking “man, is this what’s gonna make
us turn back? Now as we have good enough weather and finally are on our way?” I tried the HF again and finally I got hold of San Francisco and
could report to LA that I had two-way communication on HF. What a relief!
As we got further away from the coast the cloud tops got
higher and the outside temperature was -3C, so I requested higher altitudes to
stay clear. In the climb I requested various deviations from track to stay
clear but at one point I did pick up some ice. The sun quickly melted it off as
I leveled off at FL080. I didn’t want to go much higher as the winds were considerably stronger there. 17MF and I were on different HF channels. Initially when he
requested higher altitudes he was told to stand by because he would have to climb
through my flight level. As we stayed in touch on a company VHF frequency we
agreed that I should request a higher level so that he could be cleared higher
as well. Soon after I was cleared to climb, San Francisco called me up again:
“N618MF, report when reaching FL090 so that we can get your buddy out of the
ice.” Air Traffic Control is very helpful and they do whatever they can to make
our flights as safe, smooth and efficient as possible. So we both soon got
clear of the clouds and eventually the temperatures got above zero also at our
levels. We were clearly flying towards warmer regions. With me being at FL090 we could both stay clear of the cloud tops, but the winds were less in my favor. Overall it would slow me down 30 minutes so as soon as 17MF was 15 minutes ahead of me I requested to descend down again to his level at FL080, which I got. The next 6 hours were
uneventful and right according to plan. My actual time of arrival over each
waypoint was within 5 minutes, most of them within 2-3 minutes. It was incredible
to see how accurate the flight-planning software was and how accurate the winds
aloft predictions were. We used some more realistic numbers on this flight
based on our experience from the first flight from Wichita.
I kept an accurate and detailed log of my fuel transfer and
I also did an engine trend monitoring every hour. You have one engine keeping
you above the foaming Pacific Ocean and you want to keep a good eye on that one
engine. Another thing I constantly monitored and adjusted was my point of no
return. I wanted to be able to return to Santa Maria with 1.5 hours reserve.
Eventually I entered this as a waypoint in my flight plan and this is where I
would have to either commit or return to Santa Maria. Before this
point you get the latest weather forecasts for the remaining route as well as
your destination. San Francisco center was very helpful and gave weather
updates when I asked for it. Our own flight follower in Cairns, Australia, who
was following us via our satellite trackers gave us updated weather information along
the route and for the destination. That helped us make an informed decision
when reaching our point of no return, and peace of mind along the way.
8 hours into the flight we went into solid instrument
meteorological conditions, IMC. We knew that there was a large system covering
a big portion of our route but fortunately there was not too much convective
weather. But it rained solidly and continuously and a couple of times I had to
circumnavigate some stronger cells. For the next 4 hours we were in clouds and
rain, and the temperatures dropped to between 2-4C requiring us to keep the engine
inertial separator out at times. (A system to prevent rain and ice from entering into the engine).
This reduces the engine power output and thus affected our total flight time. I
was glad we had plenty of fuel. We still had many hours to go to Hawaii.
As we can only use the fuel that is in the wing tanks we try to keep
these topped up at all times. As soon as there is room in the tank, we start
transferring fuel from the tanks in the cabin. As we fill up the wing tanks we
also adjust our fuel range in our avionics, and it is a good feeling to finally
be at a point where we are close enough to make it with the fuel we have in the
wings, in case we should experience any problems with the cabin fuel tanks. Notice the ground speed and the winds in the picture below. This was about 2,5 hours before arrival. It eventually improved.
After over 4 hours in clouds we broke out into beautiful
sunlight, just as our flight follower in Australia had predicted to us a few
hours earlier. It had been rather turbulent at times so it was nice to enjoy a
smooth ride again. An hour before landing, San Francisco Center handed me over
to Honolulu who cleared me to Hilo, our destination at the biggest and most southern
island. The last couple of hours I just enjoyed the stunningly beautiful
sunset. Hilo approach gave me radar vectors and cleared me for the ILS RWY 26 which was pretty much a straight in
approach from the ocean. I landed 7:15,
55 minutes after sunset. 3,898km,14 hours and 43 minutes and only 9 minutes later than my original estimated time of arrival. What an amazing experience.
Monday 6:00 am we depart for Majuro, Marshall Islands. Another 4000km.
Flying for Christ 