OUR DREAM PLANE

Our names are Nik and Judy and we live on a very tiny Island in the Windward Islands of the Caribbean called “Bequia”. The Island is very much a sea-faring one, and in days gone by the only way to get between the Islands was by boat. Ugh! Now we have a wonderful airport and this means we can FLY.

Nik owns tugs and barges that transport sand and stone between the Islands. He runs operations from shore now after many years of plying the Caribbean Sea. Judy owns a restaurant that she started over 25 years ago, and her capable staff are resigned to the fact that when the summer months come Judy & Nik take a long flying trip.

Nik started out with a little Cherokee from which we graduated to a Cessna 182. We had many wonderful adventures in the Cessna, the best being our trek from the Windward Islands to the Arctic Circle in Alaska, also from here to Yellowstone Park and back. Wonderful!

The day came when Nik decided that we had pretty well used up our “area of probability” when it comes to flying a single engine ‘plane over so much open water and that we should start thinking about getting a twin-engine ‘plane. We mentioned this to our doctor ( and friend ) from Barbados while visiting with him on the island of Mustique. Dr. Brown immediately suggested we look into buying a Partenavia, as in his opinion it’s the perfect ‘plane for the Islands. “Perfect” for the Islands means fixed gear to us , and fixed gear twin-engine ‘planes are not to be found in abundance unless you want an Islander or a Twin Otter.

The Internet is a wonderful tool. Nik sat down the very same day to do his research, and realized that Dr. Brown was absolutely right; the Partenavia DID seem to be the right ‘plane for us and there happened to be a used one for sale in Sanford, Orlando. Our only hesitation was the fact that Partenavia was no longer manufacturing the aircraft and what would we do when it came to parts? We then found out that Vulcanair had bought Partenavia and were once again making the P68C in Italy. This was good news indeed.

The P68C has a lovely sleek Italian body with good American Lycoming engines. For Judy’s photo habit there are wide, wrap-around windows and even a little hatch that can be opened during flight for superior shots. There are six seats ( one of which we have removed to provide lots of cabin space ) and a very large luggage compartment to help out with Judy’s shopping habit! It’s a very beautiful ‘plane and it causes a stir no matter where we land. I tell people that Nik has a beautiful Italian Mistress and that the three of us happily take all our vacations together;

They look aghast until they realize I am talking about a machine!

Nik and Judy packed the Cessna and began the flight up the islands to Florida in search of their dream ‘plane. This leg of the trip in the Cessna required fuel stops in Tortola, The Turks and Caicos and sometimes the Bahamas. The flight from Tortola to Providentiales always made us somewhat leery, as for about one hour of the 5 hour flight there was no radio contact with ANYONE. That makes you feel very alone, and that’s when your single engine all of a sudden starts to sound like it’s running a little rough! All in the mind of course, but that’s the point when I would double-check the location of the life raft in the ‘plane ………………

We landed in Sanford Orlando in July 2004 and went straight to the hangar with the OSAS ( Orlando Sanford Aircraft Sales ) sign on it. It was a Sunday so we knew we would not be able to talk to anyone about the Partenavia, but at least we might be able to see the ‘plane from the other side of the fence. There it WAS, and Nik fell in love. The owner of OSAS ( Larry Tague ) happened to be there and we set up a time for a test flight the following day. That’s all it took – one minute for Nik in the left seat with a panel of avionics he had only ever dreamed about! He just had to have the ‘plane. Larry agreed to take our Cessna as part of the deal, also to teach Nik so that he could pass his multi-engine exams.

Larry did not have to work very hard to encourage us to buy the ‘plane but ended up having to spend more time with us than either party had anticipated! That was fine though – Larry and his wife Carol are incredibly nice people and they helped their new Island friends weave their way through the complexities of owning a twin-engine ‘plane.

That was a summer and a half for Florida. Bonnie, Charlie, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne all worked hard to frustrate us in our plans. We already owned the ‘plane but Nik couldn’t fly it until he got his twin-engine rating, and THAT was proving impossible due to the weather conditions. We spent a memorable 5 days in Tuscaloosa Alabama, which is where we flew the Cessna we no longer owned to keep it safe from Hurricane Frances while a total stranger flew our new ‘plane to North Carolina! At least our time there gave Nik a chance to study for his multi rating, which he passed on our return to Sanford from Alabama.

Finally the day came when we could pack the ‘plane for our trip home, and PACKED it was! In addition to our luggage we had bought a tractor tow with which to move the new ‘plane, and in my opinion we were a titch heavy, meaning we were pretty much gross weight. We had to wait for hurricane Jeanne to move, then scooted across to Provo in the Turks and Caicos. This was my first time flying in the right seat and the new panel in front of me had my head spinning as I struggled to learn anything and everything. Sure was different from what I was used to!

We decided not to fuel the ‘plane in Provo until the morning; why add 800 pounds on top of an already very heavy ‘plane? At 9:00 A.M. on Sept 20/04 we took off from Provo full of fuel and started our climb to 7500 ft. Fifteen minutes out I noticed that the right engine cylinder head temperature had gone from the green arc and was slowly but surely moving down. I pointed it out to Nik, who immediately started trouble-shooting. The right engine rapidly lost power and we had to turn around and fly the 90 miles back to land in Provo. We were SO upset – we had spent all this money on a ‘plane with bad engines!!?? However, we DID comment on the fact that although we were at gross weight and had lost an engine that aircraft still climbed like a champion at a rate of 400 feet per minute. We landed and had the engine checked, and it turned out to be bad fuel in the right wing. It was full of water, and three out of four of the injector plugs were clogged with sediment. To this day I wonder what would have happened if we had been over the water with the Cessna on that day? We felt like we had won the Lotto.

Nik and I have enjoyed the P68 ever since. Nik flies a lot for business between the Islands and at this point has bonded totally with the ‘plane.

We flew to Florida for Sun ‘n Fun and ended up being part of Larry Tague’s static display for the new Vulcanair P68C. Larry had just been made the U.S. distributor for Vulcanair and the brand new P68C was at the show. Sun ‘n Fun was our first aero trade show and we had a great time meeting new people, all of whom shared our passion for flight! I even flew aerobatics with Dick McGlashon in his wonderful Pitts once the show at Lakeland was over and we had returned to Sanford. Fun!!

Last week a hurricane by the name of Emily threatened our part of the Caribbean. Nik and I talked about flying the ‘plane to Anguilla to get it out of harm’s way, but when it became apparent from the satellite pictures that we would not take a direct hit from the storm we decided to stay on the Island. Bequia was spared but the storm wreaked havoc once again in Carriacou and Grenada, neighbouring Islands located just half an hour from us.

Several vessels were ripped from their moorings and sent adrift. One was a tug and barge owned by a friend of Nik’s, and he called to ask Nik to fly his ‘plane over the water in an attempt to locate his vessels. Also missing were a Moorings 54 yacht and a local cargo ship. Due to the fact that the ‘plane is excellent for surveillance Nik managed to locate all four vessels from the P68C. The ‘plane has a very long range ( 9 hours, more if you fly gently ) and it is quite willing to fly very slowly at low altitudes without complaining. The ‘plane also has high wings, making it very easy to see everything below. These attributes without a doubt made the search a success. The boats and the barge would not have been found without the use of the ‘plane, and the owners of the vessels are very grateful to Nik for the 15 hours he spent in the air over a period of three days. I call the picture of Nik’s tug “America” towing the Moorings yacht, the tug-boat and the cargo boat “Catch of the Day”!