Brings Home Air Comp 7 All The Way From Lithuania
Bringing home an aircraft from overseas can a daunting task.
First, there's the paperwork and approvals. But then comes the long
journey over water. Last week, Al Pike completed such a trip,
flying an homebuilt Comp Air 7 from Lithuania to Florida. Here's
the second of a two-part story on Al's trip as told in his own
words, written in private notes to interested friends during the
ferry flight:
Sat, 2 Oct 2004
Howdy y'all!
Today, I finished the trans-Atlantic portion of the ferry flight
from Lithuania to Florida. A few minutes ago, I arrived in Goose
Bay, Canada, from Greenland.
The flight was uneventful (4 hours non-stop), except that a
fiberglass aileron gap seal on the right wing blew off during my
descent into Goose Bay. It made a "bang" when it blew off, and I
thought I had hit a bird. But no, it was just a piece of fairing
material, and did not cause any problems. I will continue the
flight now without it.
There is a large area of bad weather west of here, headed this
direction, so I do not know when I will be able to continue the
flight across Newfoundland and Quebec, to my border-crossing point
of Burlington, Vermont. I am hoping to make it to Vermont on
Monday, if the weather permits.
Meanwhile, finding a place to stay for the night here has been
challenging. A British airliner made an emergency landing here a
couple hours before me, and all 350 passengers immediately reserved
every hotel room in town for tonight. I think I will be able to
stay at a Bed and Breakfast recommended by the FBO here.
Mom and Dad: You asked what the letters mean in my
emails...
LY-XXL is the registration letters of the airplane I'm flying. The
first part, LY, signifies that the plane is registered in
Lithuania.
PS Turns out that the folks at Irving Aviation Services were
able to find me a hotel room after all. They operate a really super
FBO, and were a big help with transportation to/from the hotel,
clearing Canadian customs, flight planning and getting a weather
briefing, etc. Real clean, classy facility with complimentary
muffins (you know I liked that!), Internet access, comfy pilot
lounge, etc.
Mon, 4 Oct 2004
Howdy y'all!
USA at last! Today I flew the Lithuanian Comp Air 7 Turbine
LY-XXL from Goose Bay, Labrador (Canada) to Burlington, Vermont.
Thanks to advance preparations by customs broker Amy Whitney of A N
Deringer, I just finished clearing US Customs and am now headed to
find a hotel and dinner. Today's flight was in good weather, except
that a 50 knot headwind the whole way really slowed me down. The
flight took 5.5 hours non-stop, and burned the most fuel of any leg
so far (900 liters). Otherwise, the flight was uneventful.
The Lithuanian tailwheel (custom-built by Aeronika's own
technicians after unsuccessfully trying several other tailwheels)
gave me some challenges taxiing here in Burlington. The wind on the
ground was gusting to 30 knots. Landing was okay, because the wind
was straight down the runway (almost), but I did a couple
"doughnuts" (circles) trying to taxi first to US Customs, then to
overnight parking. It was embarrassing, but no harm done (yet). I
think this tailwheel will need to be replaced with a Scott 3450
once I get to Florida.
I don't yet know what the weather will be doing tomorrow, so do
not know whether I will be able to continue south tomorrow or
not.
Wed, 6 Oct 2004
Howdy y'all!
Thanks to everyone for all the interest in my trip. I enjoyed
all your notes of encouragement. The first trans-Atlantic flight of
a Comp Air Turbine is now complete.
Yesterday I flew LY-XXL non-stop 7 hours, from the Canadian
border (Burlington, VT) to Deland, Florida. I didn't have Internet
access until I arrived home in Merritt Island this afternoon. I've
left the airplane with Diemech Turbines in Deland to have a routine
"annual inspection" done on the engine as part of the requirements
for US import. Because I had failed to make advance arrangements,
it will be at least a week before this can be done.
Meanwhile, I'm back home now in Merritt Island, and am very
pleased to see that my car and apartment survived all the recent
hurricanes with no damage at all.
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