As we passed Austin headed for Burnet, Ken and I spoke briefly to one another, each thanking the other for being part of the extraordinary experience we had just been through. We both knew upon our return we had much to do to get caught up from the previous week.  As our home airport at Burnet came into view I felt teary. I wasn’t sure if it was the ending, the thought of seeing the family or all of it together.  We made our radio calls as we approached and as we made our last turn to land Ken radioed out into the air ” 6093 Sierra is turning final for landing 01, FULL STOP”. It struck me at that moment that this trip was coming to an end. We glided down for a great landing and we were silent as we slowed and began to turn into the ramp at the FBO. We could see a number of people outside and as we taxied in I could see my wife, my daughter Grace, my Son Ryan and my coworker Sheila standing at the ramp. The Faulkners who run the FBO were also out. They had been there when we departed and were there when we landed. When I saw the family my heart welled up in my chest, I knew I had missed them terribly but seeing them brought it rushing in.  As we slowed to a stop and began our shutdown I forced myself to keep my feelings in check and finished off the last of my tasks. When the prop stopped spinning my kids and Kathy rushed up to the plane. I popped the door and stepped out to the greatest hugs I have ever gotten. After a moment with Kathy I scooped up both my kids and squeezed them as tight as I could, it was good to be home. I gave the kids some small presents I had gotten them and that seemed to satisfy my son and he quickly started playing with his new toy. Grace however came back over to me and basically climbed up my body to get back in my arms. She hugged me tight and said ” I’m not done yet, Daddy”.

We proceeded inside after a few photos (I will post those later I don’t have them yet) and spent a few minutes speaking with a reporter from the local paper. I was feeling truly overwhelmed.

I went out to lunch with the family and came home to spend some time just kicking back with the kids. They had so many things to show me and just wanted to spend some Daddy time. It was awesome!

I also want to take a moment to thank some people who played a huge role in making this entire experience possible. First, my wife Kathy, she has never been that fond of my flying but has always endured because she knows that I love it. It was extremely hard for her this last week to manage her stress about my flying in the conditions we were working in. I can’t begin to imagine what it took on her part to do it but she did and for that I am very grateful. Next I would like to thank Ken for allowing me to share in this experience with him. For providing the aircraft and the skill, knowledge and experience it took to do the job safely. Ken is a special guy and has become a close friend. We have shared something in this journey that I will never forget and I owe that opportunity to him, Thank you, Ken! Last, I want to thank all of you who have followed along and donated to this cause. Without you none of this would have been possible and your support has been our inspiration. Thank you!

This mission is complete but the work that needs to be done is not. Please continue to keep the people of Haiti in your prayers along with the pilots and other volunteers who continue this work each day.

Fly High…

Curt..

Curt…

We are both sad to leave but also excited to get home and sleep in our own beds, see our families etc. We feel like we accomplished alot but there is so much more to be done. There are still more than 500 tons of supplies to be moved.

We are still short of our fundraising goal so if you haven’t already donated even $10 can help so please visit the link on the right to donate anything you can afford to give. Every bit will help. Thanks to all those who have made donations as your contributions have made this work possible. Our donors have been as big of a part of making this possible as we have. Even a small donation makes this worthwhile effort your own.

Fly high

Curt…

Picture is the Bahamian sunrise this am.

We had a reduced capacity due to the passenger but brought in about a weeks worth of food and some much needed surgical gloves. It’s amazing that something as siimple as sterile gloves can bring surgeries to a halt.

As we pulled in and unloaded there were probably ten or twenty children lining the fence asking for food. It’s hard to watch them and not do something more but we know that we brought food that will help them today. Pics are from on the ground in Les Cayes today.

Today we fly back to Les Cayes with supplies and a passenger. We don’t have any info on our passenger yet but they should be here soon. We shot some videos yesterday and I have been trying to get them posted online. Thus far I have gotten only a few posted.  check out this link for an interview we did yesterday with Andy a volunteer in Ft. Lauderdale that spends his time receiving new supplies from the states, sorting them and getting them prioritized and loading on planes that pass through.

http://www.vimeo.com/9793286

Andy gave us a run down of the situation on his end.

the second video we shot inflight between Jacmel and Provo.

http://www.vimeo.com/9793841

There are other videos on the site and we will continue to upload as time and internet connections allow.

Check the video channels at:

http://www.vimeo.com/channels/89731

Now its off to the races as it were!

Fly high..

Curt..

Our passenger Ruth is A missionary who lives fulltime in Haiti. When in the states she and her husband reside in Dallas Texas. They have lived in Haiti for a total of 2 years and have one year remaing on their current mission. They were near Les cayes when the earthquake hit and she described her experience for us on video .

The picture is Ruth standing with ken in Provo. More to come.

Belinda & Esther at Provo Air Service

Any time a pilot begins a story in this fashion, you know something out of the ordinary is coming. Experienced pilots are happiest when things go as planned. There is an old expression that describes  flying as “hours and hours of sheer boredom punctuated by start terror.”  While this experience has already been anything but boring, it has held several moments of high drama rather than stark terror.

Today was no different. We took off from Provo, Turks & Caicos around 8:30 AM under beautiful clear skies and light winds. It was the best weather of the trip so far and we thought maybe we were finally done with the clouds & rain that have plagued us each day. We have received wonderful service from everyone throughout the Bahamas. Belinda keeps all the relief pilots stocked with sandwiches and drinks at Provo. Esther works the counter and handles our flight plans, fuel orders and paperwork with a smile. Both of these ladies are truly committed to helping with the effort.

As we climbed to 8500 feet and turned southwest towards Haiti, we relaxed and settled in for the 1.6 hour flight. After 30 minutes, we flew up over an undercast of clouds which stretched to the horizon. With no weather reporting from Haiti, we had to hope we would be able to find a way to descend below the clouds once in the vicinity. The pilots are all struggling with the weather and the lack of information. We try to communicate over the radio to share any observations and report on conditions, but it is often hard to reach anyone. The distances are great and the radio will not reach more than around 60 miles or so. Five aircraft took off yesterday for Haiti but only two made it all the way. The rest, including us, had to stop short or return to Nassau due to the weather.

Vacuum gauge showing zero instrument air

As we levelled off, I engaged the autopilot and noticed that it was doing a poor job of holding altitude. After trying a couple of tests, and noticing the attitude indicator showing an incorrect reading, it became apparent we had experienced the loss of our vacuum pump. This device provides a flow of air to spin the gyros in two of the primary flight instruments necessary for flight in the clouds when no visible horizon is available. With no vacuum, we have very little capability to operate safely in poor weather. Vacuum pumps are prone to failure so our airplane is equipped with a spare pump that is supposed to activate in the event of a primary pump failure. For some reason, the standby pump did not activate and could not be brought on line manually.

Covering these instruments helps avoid spatial disorientation

 This created a real problem in that we could not safely descend below the clouds unless we could do so visually and we really did not wish to fly back to Provo without delivering the supplies we had carried so many miles already. At this point we were within 30 miles of the Haitian coastline so we flew along looking for a break in the clouds. Finally we spotted a small hole that we could slip through and we made a rapid descent to 3000 feet which put us barely below the overcast. Visibility was worse underneath, running around 6 miles, with little definition between the dark gray sea and the slightly lighter grey overcast.

The north coast of Haiti obscured by mist and low ceilings

 The lack of an autopilot meant I needed to pay careful attention to our attitude using the limited outside horizon references available. We flew through a light mist until we spotted the coastline. With the hills of the north coast in sight it was easier to remain oriented and we began looking for the best way to cross the mainland. By using the GPS with its excellent terrain mapping, Curt found a valley that would let us make our way to the south between the higher hills on either side. Having a competent co-pilot abord is a huge safety benefit as the risks of today’s situation would have been much worse had I been alone. The visibility finally started to improve and we came out on the south shoreline to find the skies clearing somewhat.

Canadian Air Traffic Controller at Jacmel

 As we made the turn eastward towards Jacmel, we finally established radio contact with the Canadian military who gave us the runway information, wind and altimeter setting. (If you have been following our progress on the tracking page, you will be able to see Jacmel. Zoom the hybrid view in really close and the runway shows the black marks from the C-130 transports that have been flying into the 3500 foot strip. You will also be able to see the tents set up by the military guys. They have been in Jacmel since the earthquake, living in tough conditions and doing an amazing job.) As we were unloading there was a U.S. Army helicopter inbound with an external sling load of supplies. After unloading and paying our landing fee ($22.00), climbed back in and took off. We climbed through the valley until we found a nice opening in the clouds, climbed up to 9500 feet and turned towards Provo for fuel.

On the way back to Provo

 The trip back to Provo was uneventful unless you count flying over a solid undercast for almost 200 miles. Finally we left the clouds behind, landed and refuelled. While on the ground, I spoke with a mechanic in Ft. Lauderdale about the vacuum pump problem. We grabbed a PB & J sandwich and bottle of water from Esther at the Provo FBO and took off again. We made a quick stop in Nassau two hours later, picked up a change of clothes, filed our e-apis manifest with Homeland Security and flew on to Ft. Lauderdale. After landing and clearing customs, we turned the airplane over to the mechanics. I called Dale Faulkner for information on the vacuum system and asked him to inform the mechanics here about some possible fixes for our problems. As always, Dale offered some effective solutions that will hopefully speed the repairs along. If all goes well, we should be back in business by mid-day tomorrow. We will haul a load of food and medicine over to Nassau and plan to go back to Haiti on Sunday.

We have more photos and videos to upload from today, but we need to get the camera from the airplane in the morning.

We are consuming around $650 per day in fuel so if anyone wishes to make a tax deductible contribution, please visit the flight assist website, www.flightassist.org  and click on the “donate” button. Any amount will help. Also feel free to share this blog with your friends and associates.

In summary, we flew nearly a thousand miles today, delivered another load of medical supplies into a remote airstrip and overcame a serious equipment failure. All in all, a great day. Tomorrow, the mission continues. Thanks to all of you for your interest, prayers and support

Clearing customs and checking the weather we headed out to the plane and departed to the south enroute to our destination of the day before the south coastal town of Jacmel, Haiti. The sun was shining the air was smooth, all the worries and stress of the day before were quickly becoming a distant memory. Ahhh..

About 65 miles from the coast of Haiti we came across a solid layer of clouds which was well below our cruising altitude of 9500 feet. We weren’t bothered by this as at 9500 feet it was clear as a bell. Then, something strange happened. The autopilot on the plane started losing altitude. We reset it and it was still losing altitude. Upon further inspection we discovered that our vac pump had ceased working. Now, for the many that may not know the vac pump drives a devices inside the aircraft called an attitude indicator, this is the insturment that we rely on to tell us the current positioning of the aircraft in relation to the horizon. Meaning, if we are going up, down, left or right and if so how much. In poor weather it is easy to become disoriented and without this insturment a pilot could find himself thinking up is down left is right etc. You can imagine without visual reference this would not be a good thing. After determining the vac pump was toast we tried to select the backup pump, flipped the switch, nada. No backup. It had been tested previously but it wasnt working now and we were 9500 feet above the open ocean and at least 60 miles from the nearest land.

Given that we were well above the clouds there was no immediate concern. However, at some point you have to come down and we really were not wanting to be stopped twice from delivering these supplies. We located a small break in the clouds below us and flew circles around it until we could pass through it and get in below the clouds. We broke the bottom of the clouds at about 3000 feet and continued on to Haiti. As previously mentioned, Haiti has mountains and many of them start close to the coastline. The one nice thing about flying over water is that you know there are no obstructions that you could possibly run in to. So, we flew the the edge of the first island next to Haiti called the Isle of torture, and flew over the area we could see was clear. Next we flew to the coastline of the mainland and flew right along the shoreline so we could fly around the western edge of the island. You have to be very careful as the western tip of Haiti is only a few miles outside of Cuba airspace and a trip to Guantanamo was not in our flight plan. With a little rain and about six miles visibility we progressed along the coastline, Ken doing the flying and me working the charts and GPS to determine elevations, obstructions and the best course for us to follow safely. There was no panic or stress really we just executed what needed to be done to get there safely. I felt like it was great teamwork. We located a valley that would allow us to pass through to the southern side of Haiti between two mountain ranges with peaks higher that 4000 feet. With the clouds at 2500 it was vitally important to use all our tools and senses to find the best way through. We located a river and a road on the charts and gps , they showed us a nice low lying path through the mountains and 10 minutes later we broke out on the southern coast ( I shot some video of this we will post tomorrow) . We turned east and followed the coast on to the airport at Jacmel. Landing with the assistance of the Canadian Military who control the airport at Jacmel we were landed and unloaded in a matter of minutes.

On the ground in Jacmel, we took a quick look around and also spent a few minutes seeing if we could fix the problem with the airplane, but to no avail. We knew the weather back in Provo was good so when we departed we climbed quickly to our 9500 cruising altitude putting us well above the mountains. If you have not done so check out the sattellite link on flightassist.org and you can track the entire days flight on a google terrain map. Its really quite cool. Apparently, during our flgiht through the valley we lost tracking due to the mountains on either side but you will get the idea!

After departure we made the 1:45 trip back to Provo, more paperwork more fuel and headed back to Nassau another 2:30 more paperwork more fuel and the on to Ft. Lauderdale 1:20. We delivered the plane to the mechanics at Banyan Flight Services 15 minutes before closing and they are coming in at 7:45 to work on our plane. They say it should be done by 11am. If so, we will load some aircraft parts to get another plane back in the air as well as some much needed medicine to be delievered in ASAP.

We are tired. Even with sleep we still feel tired. I think its the level of intensity for so many hours during the day. We are focused and intent on our mission and it wears you out. The distances are long and there are so many hoops to jump through. For a little perspective at one point today Ken looked at me and said “What country are we in?” i’m pretty sure he was serious because it took me a minute to give him an answer. For tonight however, it good ol US of A.

Fly high

Curt..

Unfortunately, the farther south we got, the closer we got to the rain and clouds. We fly a route that keeps us next to the islands of the Bahamas just in case there is a need to land we can do so on some nice land rather than the water  . As we caught up with the weather the clouds were pushing us lower and lower until we decided there was no chice but to divert and land on the nearest island.  We made the decision to go ahead and land on Crooked Island. We had a little trouble locating the field as we had already decended to about 700 feet and the runway had trees on both sides so the view from above was not ideal.  We did locate it however and Ken made a great landing as always and we pulled into a small parking area.

About 2 mins after landing a car pulled up to check us out. The driver was a nice guy named Glen also know as Blackjack! He is a local who makes his living fishing and doing charter snorkel and dive trips. Blackjack had clearly just gotten out of bed and raced to the airport. We are still not sure why he was so interested in getting there so quickly. Perhaps, they don’t get too many drop in tourists and he thought there might be some business to be had. The small airport  and I mean small the only building was perhaps 12×15  with some chairs lined up as the terminal I suppose, was closed and locked up tight. Blackjack asked us if we needed anything or any help and we let him know we just needed to wait out the weather. He posed for the picture below before hoping back in his car and away he went. Shortly after Blackjack departed a police officer came to inspect our paperwork and looked us over suspiciously. We produced the needed paperwork and he sped away on his small motorcycle.

After a few phone calls ( Thank you AT&T for signal on Crooked Island ) we were able to reach the BahamasHabitat team and let them know our status. We also made calls to our wives just in case they too were watching our satellite track online. We were concerned the dot on the marker would be larger than the island giving the impression we were in the water and not moving.  After about an hour we departed a bumpy runway and were once again headed in the right direction. We had about 160 miles to cover and with the wind at our backs we would cover the ground quickly. But as before we caight back up to the weather and once again the visibility and clouds were greatly reduced. We were only about 70 miles from our destination but we were forced to turn back until we could reach air traffic control on Provo. We reached them and recieved an IFR clearance into Provo.  We turned back around and headed direct for Provo. For this who don’t know an IFR clearance allows you to fly based only on your insturments and with little to no forward visibility. In this case we had basically none. With Ken’s experience handling the IFR was no problem and we landed safely in Provo.

10 minutes later, the sky opened, the heavens boomed and a wicked Thunderstorm pounded Provo for the next 45 minutes. We were awfully glad to be on the ground. We spent the next 2 hours or some trying to get weather updates on where the weather was moving. We could see that the storm was going south southeast and we want to go south south west. But down here information isnt as easy as turning on the weather channel . The type of information we needed would come only from very specialized sources like NASA and other agencies who track weather world wide. The only problem was, when it finally started to clear in Provo and we wanted to depart the radar images we needed were malfunctioning. We had no view and no weather reports to base the final leg of the trip on. We were starting to run out of time to make it into Haiti and back out to Provo before dark and before the airport closed. We still had no reliable weather reports to base things on. The biggest concerns were:  Thunderstorms ( these cause huge havoc and are to be avoided at all costs), Low clouds into or over Haiti ( Haiti has mountains that reach higher than 8 thousand feet and we only fly 9500 maximum clouds make it really hard to see mountains ) , last was a concern that if we flew all the way there and had to turn back we would have burned a lot of fuel and thus spent a lot of money to still not complete the job.  As we labored the choice we needed to make the sky started to clear and things started looking up. We grabbed the best weather we had and headed for the airplane. We got things set, got the engine started and called the tower for our taxi clearance. Then we looked up again. More clouds, rolling in low and a new rain started to fall. I didn’t say anything just watched Ken look up, then down, then up, then he shutdown the plane.  We decided that we simply did not have enough information and the weather had become so unpredictable that we could no longer proceed safely on the mission for the day. While we know the need is great and our supplies are needed desperately, making a safe choice of when we fly is of the upmost importance.  Tonight, we stay in Provo, it was a hard choice, we felt guilty and disappointed but I think we both know we made the right choice, safety. Tomorrow, wheels up 8am and into Jacmel and get those supplies delivered, then back to Nassau and try to pickup more supplies from Ft Lauderdale. Do as much as we can do and prepare for the remaining days ahead. Now its late and time for a shower and sleep. Until then..

Fly High

Curt..