201er's Caribbean Adventure #3: Cuba

[Piloto]

9 hours ago, thinwing said:

And meet lola!

And a selfie with Fidel

Hugo Chavez (ex Venezuelan president now dead) was visiting retired Fidel Castro at his home. Fidel was cleaning his old rusty shovel. Hugo noticed a list of names engraved on the shovel handle. Some of the names included JFK, MLK and other world leaders. Hugo asked: Fidel what are those names for. Fidel responded: For those that took my place in line and went ahead of me. Fidel asked: Hugo, is Chavez with an S or a Z? One year later latter Hugo passed away and his name was engraved on the shovel.

José

[flyboy0681]

1 hour ago, Piloto said:

And a selfie with Fidel

Hugo Chavez (ex Venezuelan president now dead) was visiting retired Fidel Castro at his home. Fidel was cleaning his old rusty shovel. Hugo noticed a list of names engraved on the shovel handle. Some of the names included JFK, MLK and other world leaders. Hugo asked: Fidel what are those names for. Fidel responded: For those that took my place in line and went ahead of me. Fidel asked: Hugo, is Chavez with an S or a Z? One year later latter Hugo passed away and his name was engraved on the shovel.

José

What a shame that Hugo didn't live long enough to see the collapse of his beloved socialist utopia, one where toilet paper is in short supply and food shelves empty. But at least gas is still cheap.

[201er]

Returned to Key West with 16g indicated on the fuel flow. Put in 77g for a top off. Grabbing lunch at the Conch Flyer restaurant in the terminal and then an eight hour flight nonstop back to Linden.

 

[flyboy0681]

Going to stop in on the other parrothead?

Eight hours non-stop in a Mooney. Godspeed Mike.

[Marauder]

Returned to Key West with 16g indicated on the fuel flow. Put in 77g for a top off. Grabbing lunch at the Conch Flyer restaurant in the terminal and then an eight hour flight nonstop back to Linden.
 

Have fun with the headwinds. Still windy up here.


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[cliffy]

Just in time to beat the bad weather back in NJ

 

[201er]

Best food I had all trip, at Key West International! Word of advice to anyone thinking of visiting Cuba, the food is awful. Tastes bad and awful quality. 

[bradp]

There is some tasty Cuban food in Key West too Mike


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[Piloto]

6 hours ago, flyboy0681 said:

What a shame that Hugo didn't live long enough to see the collapse of his beloved socialist utopia, one where toilet paper is in short supply and food shelves empty. But at least gas is still cheaptoile.

When I was at Zhukovsky, Russia (after Perestroika) doing contract work for the Be-200 there was no toilet paper but newspaper hanging on a towel bar inside the cubicles at the research center. A very efficient use of the paper. You read it and then you clean yourself with it.

José

[Piloto]

6 hours ago, 201er said:

Returned to Key West with 16g indicated on the fuel flow. Put in 77g for a top off. Grabbing lunch at the Conch Flyer restaurant in the terminal and then an eight hour flight nonstop back to Linden.

 

Next time stop by Sloppy Joe's Bar. I heard that you may find Lola here.

https://sloppyjoes.com/

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by Piloto

[thinwing]

13 hours ago, Piloto said:

And a selfie with Fidel

Hugo Chavez (ex Venezuelan president now dead) was visiting retired Fidel Castro at his home. Fidel was cleaning his old rusty shovel. Hugo noticed a list of names engraved on the shovel handle. Some of the names included JFK, MLK and other world leaders. Hugo asked: Fidel what are those names for. Fidel responded: For those that took my place in line and went ahead of me. Fidel asked: Hugo, is Chavez with an S or a Z? One year later latter Hugo passed away and his name was engraved on the shovel.

José

Which was the perfect place for Hugo.....unfortunately for Venezuelan people standing in line for basic supply's .....thanks Hugo for all the starving Venezuelan children

[carusoam]

Time - 7:59 keywest to linden!

Way to go Mikey!

Welcome home.

Best regards,

-a-

[thinwing]

On 11/22/2016 at 2:36 PM, Piloto said:

Next time stop by Sloppy Joe's Bar. I heard that you may find Lola here.

https://sloppyjoes.com/

 

I love sloppy Joes!...what a fun place

[flyboy0681]

Just now, thinwing said:

I love sloppy Joes!...what a fun place

The whole town is a fun place and there is nowhere like it in the US. One day I hope to make it down for Fantasy Fest - as a spectator.

[201er]

On this Saturday, November 26, 2016 we have learned of the passing of the late Fidel Castro. I made it to Cuba just in time to see Fidel's baby, the Cuba that has remained behind closed doors virtually unchanged in 60 years. Here is the first video of my Mooney flying expedition to Cuba.

On Friday, November 18, 2016 we left home at 5AM and were up in the air by 6AM. It was still dark as we took off but the sun rise came shortly after. With a slight tailwind, we made it down to southern Florida in 6.5 hours non-stop. Just about 30 minutes shy of our destination of Pompano Beach, I noted a low voltage light. I cross checked the ammeter and confirmed that I wasn't getting anything from the alternator. I reset the field breaker but to no avail, power was being drained from the battery.

We were over the middle of Florida, south of Pahokee. There aren't many airports around there. Being that I was in visual conditions, I opted to continue to our destination. I had already briefed Pompano Beach. I knew they had fuel and maintenance and it was only a little further than other coastal airports. I had ATC clear me to descend below the scattered to broken layer. Once below, I cancelled IFR and shut my master switch to conserve power. I did not know how long my battery would last and I didn't want to be finding out just prior to landing. Just outside the Pompano Beach delta, I called the tower, "Pompano tower, Mooney N4361H has an electrical failure 9 miles northwest of Pompano request to land." I did not waste any juice picking up the ATIS and I wanted to make my situation known up front so it would be no surprise if I stopped talking.

The Tower's first response was "are you declaring an emergency?" I replied, "Negative tower, not at this time. But we have little battery left so no delay please." I did not want to make an emergency out of something that was manageable but I also did not want to waste any time and allow it to develop into a situation. I got cleared to land promptly and the tower did a great job of accommodating my urgency. He kept a few approaching aircraft out of the way so I would have less to think about. The gear was sluggish coming down but it made it to the locked position. After landing, I requested taxi to the nearest maintenance facility. It ended up being South Florida Aircraft Maintenance.

The first thing I checked getting out of the plane was the alternator belt. Reaching in, at first I didn't feel it but then I found it so that was not the issue. I quickly began uncowling it and the mechanic started looking for bad wires. Everything was coming out fine and an electrical test showed power at the field so it left the alternator as the already suspected culprit. Luckily, they had vendors nearby that had the right alternator in stock. It took about 5 hours to get it picked up and installed but we were bundled up and able to leave before nightfall!

We flew 3.5 hours to Santiago de Cuba that night. It got dark shortly after leaving Florida. The darkness over the Ocean on a moonless nigh is quite eeire. This definitely counted as "actual instrument conditions." Without the instruments or auto pilot, there would be no way to fly by visual reference. I tried to stay relaxed and let the heading hold and trim do most of the work. We stayed up at 7 thousand until past Santiago and over the ocean before we could turn back and start descending. I flew the ILS approach to runway 6. Interestingly, this ILS is offset a few degrees to keep you clear of the mountainous coast on approach. I didn't run my gopros on the first flight cause it was just in the US and not for the second cause it was mostly night. What bits of footage I do have, are in this video:

 

[Piloto]

You were lucky the alternator failure didn't happen over Cuba. They would have probably scramble an old 1957 Ford Fairlane generator for your plane.

 If you had that selfie with Fidel it would had made the news.

Thanks for sharing your trip.

José

[thinwing]

I like the old three speed shift on the column at the end of video..reminds me of my first car

[flyboy0681]

14 hours ago, Piloto said:

You were lucky the alternator failure didn't happen over Cuba. They would have probably scramble an old 1957 Ford Fairlane generator for your plane.

 If you had that selfie with Fidel it would had made the news.

Thanks for sharing your trip.

José

I think his luck was that it didn't fail over the ocean.

[gsxrpilot]

A lot of folks worry about woulda, coulda, shoulda. While others of us just go. 

*Sending this from Santiago Chile on our way back home. We spent Thanksgiving out on Easter Island. We had to go commercial as the Mooney just doesn't have the range to get to the MOST remote airport on the planet.

Well done to Mike for getting in the Mooney and getting it done.

[Piloto]

On his way to Hell the Devil told Castro: "It is already too hot in here, go to Miami" Castro replied: "But, but it is full of Cubans"

[Piloto]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 11:56 AM, flyboy0681 said:

I think his luck was that it didn't fail over the ocean.

Airplane engines do not need battery to keep running. He would had made it to Florida. I had same experience 250nm SE of St. John's CYYT.

José

[PTK]

Both are for the birds! I hope they got together and shared bird stories...

Fidel:  "Hey Mikey, what do you call an American eagle from the 1960’s??!"

Mike:  "Ah...dah...I don't know Fidel... what??!"

Fidel: "A funky chicken!!"

Mike:  "...hahahaha...I get it Fidel...that's funny...hahaha hmmm...not funny Fidel!!"

[cnoe]

Is it just me or did anyone else notice that Mike went to Cuba and then Castro died.  Hmmm can we start the conspiracy theories please.   Just remind me never to invite Mike to my house.   

Don't think we didn't notice but I do my best to not become involved in CIA matters.


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[cnoe]

IDK, nothing's on the news here about a "Bay of Parrots".


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[cnoe]

But then again I camped right next to Mike at Oshkosh and I swear I heard him and the Mrs. talking in their tent with a British accent so may be 5 operatives. I also think he had nightmares as I awoke one night to screams of AOA AOA coming from his tent.


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