201er's Mooney Expedition

[carusoam]

You've been busy Mike!

Best regards,

-a-

[yvesg]

Very funny Mike! Did the parrot get paid more than the actor?

Yves

[201er]

Very funny Mike! Did the parrot get paid more than the actor?

Yves

Yes actually.

[RocketAviator]

I know it ain't right but i have to admit Im envious.....!

Maybe one day... one of my bucket lists items is to fly to every state in the US. Last summer I flew to as many of the Hawaii islands that I could land on, that was a great time!

No i did not fly to Hawaii I was already there. One of the Mooniac's, I think the guy that runs this site knows the guy I rented the plane from.

[201er]

No i did not fly to Hawaii I was already there. One of the Mooniac's, I think the guy that runs this site knows the guy I rented the plane from.

I wonder how they got it there in the first place!?

[Cabanaboy]

Deleted.

[201er]

Starting to get the video footage edited now that I got my plane-mount camera back. Here is day 1, Linden to Key West. 1072nm in 7.8 hours nonstop. VFR to Florida and IFR to Key West.

 

[Cruiser]

what was the first 65 seconds? Bird patrol?

[bnicolette]

Nice Mike. Looking forward to seeing the other ones.

[carusoam]

Looked like preparation for formation flying!

Best regards,

-a-

[201er]

Video of first over ocean leg from Key West to Belize. Had to transition Cuban airspace and fly through a massive down pour. Terminates in a VOR approach into Belize.

 

[201er]

On the third day, flew from Belize to San Andres, Colombia. It was a 4 hour flight at 11,000 feet (over mountainous terrain of Nicaragua). Started with an instrument departure through an overcast layer in Belize and took me above most of the weather. Great fuel economy at that altitude, was doing over 140ktas on 8.2gph. Fuel was a concern because there would be no fuel available between Belize and Aruba!

 

[rainman]

Mike, Thanks for posting your trip and these videos. What a cool adventure. Prompted me to pull out your book and read a bit more on parrot training. All the Mooney drivers that met you in San Marcos for the $1 avgas got a taste of what your birds can do. Now everyone else knows what the birds can do, and also what you're all about. Keep posting! Ray

[201er]

On the fourth day flew from San Andres island to Aruba. The dilemma here was whether or not to get gas enroute. San Andres did not have avgas which I knew in advance. My concern was entirely based on headwind factors. In my initial planning I had determined that I could easily make Aruba with no headwind and possibly with some headwind depending on my exact fuel flow and wind strength.

 

Making the fuel stop would not only be costly in terms of money but also time. Everything at international airports takes longer and the safety of having additional fuel would also take the penalty of a night arrival at a foreign airport. I had to weigh one risk vs the other carefully.

 

On the leg from Belize to San Andres, I noted the headwinds to be as predicted (about 10 knots). Yet my fuel burn and MPG were excellent. At 11,000ft, I was getting over 140KTAS, 130GS on under 8.5gph. Interestingly the winds higher were the same or weaker than below. So using this experience from the previous day,  I decided to fly at 11,000ft once more and go for it.

Not only did I arrive in Aruba with plenty of gas, I had enough to opt out of $4.15 avgas in favor of $3.89 avgas in Curacao the next day!

 

[201er]

The 5th day of the expedition was just a short hop from Aruba to Curacao. It was the first short leg as all prior ones were in excess of 4 hours. Nonetheless I flew it IFR but stayed low because of strong headwinds aloft.

I filled 80 gallons in Curacao which brought us from Belize to San Andres to Aruba and finally to Curacao with still a 20 gallon reserve. Can't beat their price of $3.89 a gallon!

[carusoam]

Very nice.

Best regards,

-a-

[flhelo]

Awesome trip and pics!!

[chrisk]

Love the videos.  Keep them coming.   $3.89 fuel is fantastic and I wish I could find that here.  But I'm curious if they make up for it with other various fees and charges. 

[bnicolette]

I was thinking of old "nasty cargo pants" this morning as I was making my way from PBI to TBPB.  Of course I was at FL390 and had 3 engines behind me.  Lots of open water there bub.  Hope you decide to simmer down now for a while.

[Marauder]

I was thinking of old "nasty cargo pants" this morning as I was making my way from PBI to TBPB. Of course I was at FL390 and had 3 engines behind me. Lots of open water there bub. Hope you decide to simmer down now for a while.

I get a little white knuckled flying over the Bay to Virginia. Couldn't imagine flying the route he did.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Oscar Avalle]

Trip summary:

 

KLDJ KEYW MZBZ SKSP TNCA TNCC TNCB SVMG TTPP TVSV TLPL TFFF TDPD MBGT MYNN KFPR KLDJ

 

Linden, Key West, Belize, San Andres Island Colombia, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Margarita Island Venezuela, Trinidad, St Vincent, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Caicos, Nassau Bahamas, Fort Pierce, Linden

 

Over 5888nm flown in about 45 hours in the span of two weeks.

 

 

Very impressive! How was venezuela? I heard they rip off your head in terms of fees and other things. But pleas post pictures!

[RocketAviator]

I am so envious.... is that ok to be so envious?  Well I am and what a journey indeed!

Wish I had the nerve to try an adventure like 201er did!!

Well done!

[201er]

I got too busy to finish the trip videos but I had a little time recently so I have resumed uploading videos from that epic trip circumnavigating the Caribbean. Here is the next video in sequence, the 6th day flying from Curacao to Bonaire. This was the shortest flight of the trip, just a straight out takeoff and straight in landing on the neighboring island.

 

[chrisk]

Bonaire is one of my favorite places to vacation and of course scuba dive.  I keep wanting to fly my plane there, but its a long trip from Austin TX, 1975nm direct!    

[bonal]

Great to watch looks like they had you landing in quite the downwind / tailwind or am I mistaken (judging by the sock) nice flying!