http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acfnfCRC9NQ
Aren’t vacations great? I had a fun little surprise last month to get to spend some time in the amazing nation of Madagascar – who knew? But now I was getting Dick’s call to “fill-in” for a travel catastrophe in the Philippines. The Philippines is another scenic and colorful nation, certainly fun to visit! This was truly exciting! I had featured a circuit of these islands (not very organized) as part of my March 2005 FOTM and I visited here again just last February following Peter’s tour of Papua New Guinea. As I stated at that time, I occasionally wish that I had stayed here for college following my visit to the islands in 1983. http://www.aup.edu.ph/
Now was a chance to not only fly some commercial airliner routes but scenic ones at that - I was thrilled to say the least! I managed to find a flight out of Madagascar: Aircraft: Trans African DC-9 Destination: Mombasa, Kenya Photo: (pict1)Once in Mombasa I was seeking more information on my job in the Philippines. Apparently there was a strike of Philippine Airline pilots and mechanics halting all air travel provided by PAL. Even though I had downloaded a half-dozen nice PAL planes from FS.com, it looked as though there wouldn’t be a chance to use them.
To supplement for striking pilots, a call had been sent out for Virtual Pilots (those able, or willing, to fly almost anything) to fill in. Some of the larger Virtual Airlines would be providing aircraft for the next month until the disputing parties could find a resolution. I was thrilled, again, to learn that I was being assigned aircraft from Eastern Virtual Airlines (www.evair.com). They have what may be the BEST hanger in all the VA world (http://evair.com/eva/flthgr/hangar765.htm) – I’ve been downloading planes from them for over two years now! Besides, isn’t Manila in the far-EAST anyway? So, from Mombasa I took an EVA A330 direct to Manila. Photo: (pict2)Notes: I departed Mombasa at around 16:00 on a warm and breezy afternoon planning to arrive in Manila on Friday, September 1st. Photo: (pict3)After arriving Friday, I had the weekend to relax (I did a lot of that back in ’83 too) before taking up duties first thing Monday morning.
Monday morning I arrived at the temporary pilot’s lounge only to find that because I’m not an EVA pilot they were not going to let me fly their aircraft – at least not right away. My first duty was to catch a couple of jumpseat rides first.
Week 1 – Monday: Aircraft: A310 Destination: Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Photo: (pict4)Notes: Departure was 08:57…Arrival at 10:29 - Return departure 12:45 with arrival to Manila at 14:25.
Later that same day… Aircraft: L-1011 Destination: Hong Kong Kai Tek Photo: (pict6)Notes: Departure was at 17:00, arrival 17:43 and return departure 19:00, getting back to Manila at 22:12.
Week 1 - Tuesday Tuesday morning I arrived to find that I had done well enough on the jumpseat that I was now free to pilot my own aircraft. Following then are my notes from the month: Aircraft: Cessna 404 Destination: Fort Magsaysay Photo: (pict5) Notes: Foggy! Departure 5:45 …and back to Manila at 09:00.
Tuesday Aircraft: King Air 350 Destination: Baatan Peninsula sight-seeing Photo: (pict7) Notes: See information from WW II regarding the Baatan Death March and the Corrigidor Peninsula.
Week 1 - Wednesday Aircraft: Beech 1900 Destinations: Larap, then Marinduque, then back to Manila. Photo: (pict8)Notes: I left at 12:20 and got back by 15:40.
Week 1 – Thursday Aircraft: CV580 Destination: Tandag and back to Manila Photo: (pict9)
Friday and Saturday: Days Off
Week 2 – Sunday Aircraft: Dash 8 Destination: San Jose and back to Manila Photo: (pict10) Sunday: Aircraft: EMB-170 Destination: Puerto Princessa Photo: (pict11)Notes: Back to Manila at day’s end by 18:30
Week 2 – Monday Aircraft: Saab 340 Destinations: RPUG, RPLI, RPPA and back to ‘Nila Photos: (pict12) (pict13)
Week 2 – Tuesday Aircraft: CRJ-200 Destinations: Naga, Tacloban, and Cagan de Oro before returning to base. Photo: (pict14)
Week 2 – Wednesday: Day Off
Week 2 – Thursday: Aircraft: A320 Destination: Davao Photo: (pict15)Notes: What a storm I hit in Davao! Wow! Returned to Manila in the A321.
Week 2 – Friday Aircraft: MD-90 Destination: Kota Kinabalu Photo: (pict16)Notes: Landing = OUCH!
Aircraft: EMB-Legacy Jet Destination: Back to Manila Photo: (pict17)
Week 2 – Saturday: Day Off to enjoy http://www.plr.org/.
Week 3 – Sunday Aircraft: 737-900 with winglets Destination: Taipei Photo: (pict18)Notes: Back to Manila at 22:00.
Week 3 – Monday Aircraft: 757 with winglets Destination: Bali Photo: (pict19)
Aircraft: DC-10 Destination: Back to Manila Photo: (pict20)Notes: Back to base at 19:52
Week 3 – Tuesday Aircraft: A300 Destination: Brunei Photo: (pict21)Notes: An interesting case here…I hand-flew the departure up to 12,000 feet, then engaged GPS-NAV Autopilot. I turned AP off at 13 miles to hand-fly the approach but noticed that I couldn’t bank the wings right. I could rudder but not bank. Weird? Finally at 2 miles I had to declare missed and go around, re-engaging AP. On my longish downwind I tried to hand-fly again and couldn’t bank right so I flew a fully coupled AP ILS approach which was uneventful. Never could figure out what went wrong.
Week 3 – Wednesday Aircraft: ATR-72 Destinations: Legaspi, Roxas and Dipolog getting back to Manila at 19:07. Photos: (pict22) (pict23)
Week 3 – Thursday Aircraft: A340 Destination: Hong Kong and Back Photo: (pict24)
Week 3 – Friday Aircraft: DC-8 Destination: Hong Kong and Back Photo: (pict25)
Saturday, Sunday and Monday were days off for me.
Week 4 – Tuesday Aircraft: Gulfstream-V Destination: Zamboanga Aircraft: King Air 350 Destination: The far north end…
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ll-in-all this was a great experience – flying maybe a little lower than I would otherwise so that I could enjoy the views. I found real weather, generally to be a bit hazy but I guess that’s pretty realistic for the Philippines. Also, I can’t say enough how much I love the Eastern Airlines Virtual Hanger – and you haven’t even seen them all!
Wednesday I was off again and Thursday marked my flight back to Mumbai in a Philippine Airlines DC-10. (pict26)
Whew ~ What a crazy month! Dick, thanks for the recommendations, for the scenery and for the tours of this beautiful, volcanic land – I may never want to see the Philippines again but hey, I avoided the Squid Rice with time around!
pretendpilot@yahoo.com
