PIREP Leg 46 WPDL to WADD

[SEATAC 400]

I was in the market for surplus military jet and a friend of mine told me of an old Northrop F-20 Tigershark that was for sale, located in East Timor of all places, so I decided to head down there to check her out.  Upon arrival I inspected the aircraft and she checked out okay, looked almost like new actually,  so I arranged for a test flight the following day and decided to relax on the beach for the afternoon.

 

That’s when I got a text from Micke telling me they were short on pilots for section 5 and since I was in the area could I pick up the baton from Kasper and fly it to Bali where Micke would be waiting for it.  Since this was a 618NM trip I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to try out the F20.  After all, she has a nearly 1,500NM ferry range so that should not be a problem.  I met Kasper at the airport, his plane being parked at the end of the runway. He offered me a cold drink (a Coke, no drinking and flying here), gave me the baton, wished me luck and I was on my way.

 

I climbed in the cockpit, stowed the baton, fired up the General Electric F404, loaded the flight plan into the nav system, got my clearance and I was off.

 

 

I firewalled the throttle, the afterburner lit up and this baby climbed to our cruising altitude of 33,000 ft in about 45 seconds.  Sweet!  She has a max speed of Mach 2 and I kept her close to that for quite some time before throttling back. 

 

 

Passing Atauro Island.

 

Pulau Alor, Indonesia comes up rather quickly at this speed.

 

But I spent so much time having fun with her and playing around that I had burned though most of my fuel less than half way to my destination. Even though she was fitted with external tanks, they were never filled.  So I looked for an alternate landing site and decided upon Frans Sales Lega airport (WATG) in Indonesia. Elev 3,500 ft with a runway length of 4,265ft.  Nestled toward the West of the island, it is a little short, but doable. 

 

I flew past the airport, turned and did a flyby to inspect the runway as there was no tower there.

 

She looked good so I made my turn to final, lowered the gear, full flaps and dropped the airspeed to 125 knots.

 

She settled down nicely but I was a little nervous about her ability to stop with these old brakes before running out of runway so as soon as the wheels were down I deployed the speed brakes and the drag chute.  She stopped in plenty of time. 

 

Now to see about refueling the craft.

 

I found a guy hanging around the hangar, Curtis Curtis, he said was his name. According to Curtis, there was no fuel to be had here.  The last of the fuel had just been used to fill that old cargo plane over there.  I asked if we could have some delivered today. He said “you are not in the United States Richard, things move a lot slower around here and it will be at least a week before the next fuel delivery will arrive. If you want to you can rent that cargo plane that was just fueled.”  He was pointing to an old Soviet era Antonov An-32 and said he’d be glad to come along and help out as it really required two to fly it.

 

 I told him I didn’t have a lot of faith in a nearly 40 year old Soviet built aircraft.  He tried his best to convince me of the build quality of the former Eastern Bloc era industrial might.  I had never flown one of these before and I really wasn’t looking forward to piloting a flying truck for 300 NM, but as it was that or delay the delivery of the baton for 10 days I took him up on his offer .  The first half of this trip in the F-20 was funded by me, but the rental and fuel for this beast was gonna be Joe’s treat!

 

We boarded the plane and I familiarized myself with the cockpit.  The owner of this aircraft keeps some pics to remind him of home.

 

This leg of the trip is going to be VOR, which will be nice for a change and we’ll cruise at 19,000ft. 

Engines running, flaps set, VOR set, we take off and begin our climb

 

Continuing our climb.

 

Up to cruising altitude and the first indication of a problem arises. I notice the hydraulic pressure indicator is dropping so I informed Curtis Curtis of this.  He motions to a ball-peen hammer and tells me to gently tap the guage.  After a few light whacks it settles back to a normal reading.

 

A short time later I notice the hydraulics needle is at zero again.  I tell Curtis Curtis and he motions to the hammer again so I start tapping away.  Soon enough it reads normal again.  He tells me it’s just one of the quirks of a vintage aircraft and that we’re lucky that’s all that has gone wrong on this flight but this old workhorse has a lot of life left in her. 

 

Destination spotted start our descent and get clearance for RW 27.

 

On approach, flaps set to one notch, I lower the gear and notice the gear warning light. I inform Curtis Curits and he casually replies “two out of three ain’t so bad”.

 

He starts rocking the plane gently, has me recycle the gear a few times but the right gear still would not drop. 

 

We have no choice but to land on four instead of 6 wheels.  I radio the tower and tell them we are declaring an emergency

 

We come in and I can tell Curtis Curtis has a lot of skill as he brings her down gently and holds the right wing up as long as possible.

 

Eventually he can hold it no longer and we careen off to the right skidding onto the grass and tearing up the wing. 

 

Everywhere you go there are spotters hoping to grab a snapshot of something out of the ordinary.  Looks like these two were in the right place at the right time.

 

When we come to a stop we shut down the engines.

As the engine is mounted on the high wing the propeller blades remain clear of the ground.

 

Just then the rest of the gear collapses.

 

I look out the other window and realize how lucky we were.

 

Curtis Curtis elbows me and says “Any landing that you can walk away from right?” and he starts laughing. We get out of the plane and survey the damage. I ask Curtis Curtis “do you think you can fix the damage?”  He says “No problem, a little buffing, a little work with the ball-peen hammer and she’ll be as good as new. But it’s gonna cost you big!”  As I grab the baton, I tell him not to worry.  Joe will be glad to pay for any repairs.  Micke, make sure you bring Joe’s  credit card with you.  I think we're going to max it out this time!

 

 

 

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Great shots and story there Richard - quite like the old Soviet aircraft myself. The Bear wasn't too bad.......

[brett 2,285]

Ha, good one Richard, glad you made it safe.

 

That's gonna cost us, we will be flying ultralights all the home.

[stu7708 244]

Ah chucks Richard.

Joe confiscated my credit card. Said something about me needing to start making it on my own.

So I guess you'll just have work your self out of this mess.

Doing the dishes in the staff restaurant for the next 5 - 6 years should do it

Great flight though, and some nice planes thrown in there.

Still undecided on what to use for my next leg, but if you want to go looking for me look for the strangest looking plane on the apron. That it will be regardless of my final choice

[SEATAC 400]

Ah chucks Richard.

Joe confiscated my credit card. Said something about me needing to start making it on my own.

So I guess you'll just have work your self out of this mess.

Doing the dishes in the staff restaurant for the next 5 - 6 years should do it

Great flight though, and some nice planes thrown in there.

Still undecided on what to use for my next leg, but if you want to go looking for me look for the strangest looking plane on the apron. That it will be regardless of my final choice

 

Okay Micke.  If you need me, just look for the Antonov.  Without that credit card I'll be helping Curtis repair the plane.   Beats washing dishes I guess.  Maybe you can fly this plane out of here when we have it all patched up!.

[stu7708 244]

Sorry Mate, I try to stay away from old Russian airplanes. It's a matter of personal security

Besides, it's much to small for the payload I need to fly out of here....

[stu7708 244]

Thanks for the Baton Richard.

 

I'm now halfway to Tungul Wulung in my C-124C Globemaster II...  PIREP to come as soon as I'm back on the ground.

[mutley 4,487]

Just think of all those air mile on my card, presently I have enough for a return trip to the moon!

Superb PIREB Richard, I love your choice of aircraft.