Friday, August 1st, Hilo HI, 09:12: Known by some as “Hawaiian Time”, I arrive 120-some minutes late to collect the yellow envelope with bold lettering. A sign hanging near the desk in the FS Club lobby reads, “Flight Delayed Please Check Back.” See, living on this “Hawaiian Time” is no big deal. "Soh, I stay wit D’kine an fly’um latah.”Friday afternoon, same story.Saturday, August 2nd, AM and PM, same story.Sunday, I only check in once, what’s the point?Monday the sign has changed to read “Prepare for departure, proceed to Honolulu.” Maybe it said that Sunday too, I really didn’t read it very carefully, just kinda looked around the corner to see that there was A SIGN posted.I wander casually over to the old PBY, which I had researved a couple of weeks ago (following Peter’s chastisement of last month’s choice of d’planes). ATC clears me to runway 26, and I depart at 10:46 heading back to Honolulu. For a change, the slow speed of these old planes (cruising at 125 knots) doesn’t bother me – must be that new Hawaiian attitude, “Whatevah.” ATC clears me into Honolulu at 12:10 and I make a smooth, water landing right in there amongst the big runways at 12:18. (probably not legal huh?)First I go to get a fruit smoothie from the outdoor bar here at the Honolulu International Airport. To my shock there sits Hans, dozing in a lounge chair, apparently still trying to recover from his “vacation” last month. “Dude, Whazzup wit d’kines?” I ask.“Huh?”“Hans, you fo stay? I tought you fly’um hod.”“Sie täuschen! Erinnern Sie sich an nicht, daß ich nur Deutsch und Englisch spreche? Welche die Hölle, die Sie sowieso wollen?”“Sorry mon, I like go fo da ol’time sometime. Why – Are – You – (pointing to him) Still – Here?”“Be-Cause, I – Like – It” he replies.Geez, that was a wasted paragraph! Next, I stroll over for some lunch, only to find Peter posting the last touches to the Flight Club's Hawaiian Airport onto the www.toomuchfs.com website.“Peter? Whazzup? You stay?”“No mite, change-o plans dare. We’ll be leavin’ froom the new Aeroport on Molokai.”“Moloka-ee? K-Den.”I make a quick call to the local air museum, “I AM the Cub Flounder” I tell them and before too long, a nice World War II-era Hellcat is being towed up to the parking area. I take the Hellcat back to PHFC. On approach I notice three boats out in the bay and some sunbathers on the beach! I could’ve promised that someone on one of those boats had a REALLY sunburned head. Alastair, you okay? That was really bright but by the way, nice bikini (On the girl...I didn’t really see what you were wearing!)~Picture One~ After arrival at the newest Flight Club Airport, I wander over to the restaurant were I find Tony and Rik enjoying a nice big plate of Top Round Beef, potatoes and Gravy. Tony is saying something about “This is REAL EATING” and Rik, only nodding agreement, takes another sip of...something he shouldn’t be drinking. (We gotta stop this or everyone is going to think Rik is a drunkard! But hey, I’m not the one that suggested he fly while intoxicated) Anyway, continuing the story, I head on down to the Molokai Beach where I find Bill Smith sitting under an umbrella, with a doughnut in one hand and a fresh copy of Get Real the first ever Flightsim-Based Novel in the other. (An empty doughnut box and some napkins are strewn about around his recliner)“Bill,” I say, “don’t you know how it ends?”“Sure Mite. I just enjoy reavelling in a jobe well done.”Shaking my head I walk on down the beach, I can’t help but think that there is something about this guy that reminds me of Homer Simpson. (DOH!)Now, about Peter and his whining: Last month he informed me that I hadn’t exactly used “Classic Floatplanes for a slow VFR flight around the islands.” (No fly'um by d'kines we'd say) So this month will be different. Once I find my place under the palms I pull out his July PRIEP and find that he didn’t exactly follow the rules either. Hmmmmm, guess he needs a little lesson to be taught?Tuesday, August 5th, noon: There is a big banner strung across the terminal reading,“F.S FLIGHT CLUB INTERNATIONALFOTM INFORMATION-AUGUSTFOR MEMBERS ONLY”Now that’s more like it! I open up the sealed envelope only to read, “Arrive to La Chinita International (SVMC) in Maracaibo. Then proceed on a regional flight into Josefa Camejo International (SVJC) in Paraguana.” Not much of a FOTM but we’ll see what happens from there. Might be fun to only get one leg’s info at a time! (Idea: I'll turn in just one leg until I get three PIREPS, then I'll release leg two...)“Let’s see now, go foh some food. Take like one nap. Go get anod’uh D’kine one lei. Make d’flightplans...I no fo want fly’um in d’dock, so I wait, sohn come fo da sky.” I decide to leave EARLY the next morning which, for us Hawaiians, is like 10 AM! **Please note, the Club Founder is NOT Hawaiian by blood or culture**Wednesday, August 6th, Midday: ATC clears me to depart via runway 17L, I’m using real weather which has clear skies and light winds with moderate chop at 16-19,000 on the way up to cruise.~Picture Two~ I arrive in Maracaibo at dawn on Thursday the 7th. I quickly catch a Beech1900 into Paraguana and immediately download all of the add-ons receommended by Alejandro. No longer is there time to waste - already a week into August and I've just arrived in country!First up is the fine Rutan Long EZ into Maracay being sure to pass over the oil refineries along the way. I come in to runway 10 so that I can fly over Alejandro's school.~Picture Three (Peter, notice the fine job I did simulating Alejandro's set-up here)~Next is the swing over Charallave in the Starship. I followed all of the navigation instructions layed out and flew right along the same lines as the FOTM suggested.~See Pictures Four and Five (Peter, good job huh?)~Soaring from Maracau to Valencia: What a pleasant adventure this is. I NEVER use the sail planes because they are just too slow for my level of patience but this was really nice.~See Picture Six~ Please note that I was SO careful this time as to even have the on-screen instructions in Spanish. See, I CAN do the FOTM without deviating! And it's BORING. B-O-R-I-N-G, Boring! If you wanted to read the same story seven times you wouldn't need the rest of us to also fly the route. We encourage a bit of individuality even if that means you have to stoop to using submarines or starships (The Trekky kind). So, if you would all like to read on, you can see what I REALLY did.Paraguana to Maracay:I figured I could get most of this FOTM all done in one day but there were several arrangements to be made first. So after a couple days in Paraguana, I set out at dawn on Saturday August 9th in the Flight Club PC-12 with "Real World Weather." Departure was at 6:33 AM from runway 9. I flew directly until I felt I was near-enough the oil facilities at Santa Ana and turned south. Initially at 3,500 ft I dropped down to just 2,000 ft to duck under some widely scattered rain squalls. I followed the cool sandy beaches until I could make a direct turn to Maracay.As I was flying along taking screenshots it occurred to me that I "never" take cockpit shots. Now I reveal two ugly truths about myself: First I was using time compression because after all the screwing around with flying "by the book" I felt I was short on time. Secondly, when I use time compression I also use autopilot.~See Picture Seven~ I arrived over Maracay just about an hour later only to find the airport situated in a hole! Now, there was no mention of that? Maybe I should have actually done the downloads...at this point I TURNED OFF THE AUTOPILOT. After a couple circuits I landed safely on runway 10 and parked at 7:44 AM. Just 45 minutes later I set out on leg two in the FS Flight Club EMB120 Brasilia. The route I chose to follow was SVBS -> SVCS -> SVMP -> SSB -> SVJM. (Autopilot but no time compression this time)~See Picture Eight~ Just 45 minutes later I was landing (into another hole in the ground) at SVJM. I know this is not what was recommended but I thought it looked fun (and it was).~See Picture Nine~ This time I was on the ground for 60 minutes before being towed up to 9,500 ft and released at 10:29 AM. I set my trim and it was hands off flying to the BEL NDB and then into SVVA runway 28. I kept my ROD less then 400 fpm and crossed the beach at 3,500 ft With a landing next to runway 28 at 11:37 AM. One of my screenshots noted the traffic pulling in front of me. No problemo, I was headed for the grass anyway! Tell me this though, is every default Venezuelan airport sunken below ground level?~See Picture Ten~ After that sweaty-palms experience I took another 90 minute break pulling out in the Piaggio Trainer Jet at 13:08, cleared to runway 28. This time I took a 410 mile route SVVA -> SSB -> VPA -> CBL -> SVCN. Alejandro had written, "The real trip to Canaima is one I will love to do myself. You get there by air and explore it by air, land and water. It is simply awesome." So, what better way to say THANKS than to take him and his lovely wife, along? So with the little ones safely at Grandma's house the three of us set off for Canaima (I gave Alejandro the right-side seat). With a look of concern on her face Alejandro's wife asked, "¿Usted está bastante seguro que usted sabe para cuán volar seguramente esta bestia sin la matanzanos todo?"I assured her that I hadn't crashed in the last several flights and usually when I do it is either very gentle or a quick, flaming death!~See Picture Eleven~ I think Mrs. "Air" had a nice flight although I did have to drop from 9,000 ft down to 7,000 ft to avoid some "light chop" at the higher altitude. (Didn't want the passengers to "Blow their tacos") As we flew deeper into the forests of central Venezuela I dropped further, eventually ending up at just 3,500 ft. Great views from here!~See Picture Twelve~ On short final I heard Alejandro comment, "Carumba, esto es aún más hermoso que yo me había 
imaginado. ¡Es apenas espectacular alrededor de aquí!" We arrived safely at 14:47 Saturday afternoon.After nearly 5.5 hours in the air I was ready for a little break. So I dished up some local hospitality and sat down near the river with www.plr.org to unwind. Later that evening a couple of the others caught up to us and rumor was afoot that Hans had again "Beamed" over to the FOTM and may actually be ahead of our schedules. Tony however was a bit...(how to say this gently????) well, he had a bit of "Montezuma's revenge". And no one had heard from Alastair or Rik. I assumed that Alastair was still on the boat with that 'Beach Babe' and that Rik was also still at PHFC - praying to the porcelain god. Too much Top Round I guess.08:00AM on Sunday, we set off in the Flight Club Decathlon. Hey "Air", you're gonna hafta lay off the Tamales my friend, 'cause we were a little too close to MTOW on that one! I had thought, after the previous evening's discussions, that I would fly the river-route to the falls. Are there Crocodiles down there? Hey Bill, I think I saw Steve Erwin ("The Crock Hunter") in a little skiff down there in the brush! (I should've circled back to see if he wanted the autograph of the famous Australian auther, Bill Smith. Speaking of which, hey Bill, how come you didn't sign my copy of the book man??) After a brief westward detour I figured out that the river doesn't exaclty go to the falls. Dang! With that discovery I turn back toward our destination and climb, buzzing over the trees and generally enjoying the views of the jungles.~See Picture Thirteen~ We fly, roll, twirl and buzz over and through the hills and valleys all the way to the Brazilan boarder until, finally, fuel forces us to land at Kavanayen.~See Picture Fourteen buzzing the airport before the half-Cuban-8 to 
land~After an additional 2 days here in the bush hiking, Land Rovering and generally "camping", I am forced to depart for the next FOTM destination. I hope the rest of you have as good a time here as I did...and kids, remember our lesson: You can follow the rules without being a copy-cat.
imaginado. ¡Es apenas espectacular alrededor de aquí!" We arrived safely at 14:47 Saturday afternoon.After nearly 5.5 hours in the air I was ready for a little break. So I dished up some local hospitality and sat down near the river with www.plr.org to unwind. Later that evening a couple of the others caught up to us and rumor was afoot that Hans had again "Beamed" over to the FOTM and may actually be ahead of our schedules. Tony however was a bit...(how to say this gently????) well, he had a bit of "Montezuma's revenge". And no one had heard from Alastair or Rik. I assumed that Alastair was still on the boat with that 'Beach Babe' and that Rik was also still at PHFC - praying to the porcelain god. Too much Top Round I guess.08:00AM on Sunday, we set off in the Flight Club Decathlon. Hey "Air", you're gonna hafta lay off the Tamales my friend, 'cause we were a little too close to MTOW on that one! I had thought, after the previous evening's discussions, that I would fly the river-route to the falls. Are there Crocodiles down there? Hey Bill, I think I saw Steve Erwin ("The Crock Hunter") in a little skiff down there in the brush! (I should've circled back to see if he wanted the autograph of the famous Australian auther, Bill Smith. Speaking of which, hey Bill, how come you didn't sign my copy of the book man??) After a brief westward detour I figured out that the river doesn't exaclty go to the falls. Dang! With that discovery I turn back toward our destination and climb, buzzing over the trees and generally enjoying the views of the jungles.~See Picture Thirteen~ We fly, roll, twirl and buzz over and through the hills and valleys all the way to the Brazilan boarder until, finally, fuel forces us to land at Kavanayen.~See Picture Fourteen buzzing the airport before the half-Cuban-8 to 
land~After an additional 2 days here in the bush hiking, Land Rovering and generally "camping", I am forced to depart for the next FOTM destination. I hope the rest of you have as good a time here as I did...and kids, remember our lesson: You can follow the rules without being a copy-cat.
