stu7708 244 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Part I - Port Elizabeth into the unknown. Life was good. There I was in Port Elizabeth ready to bring the challenge and baton further along its journey. The freight business had been slow the past couple of months, so flying hadn't happened as often as I wished. Most of my time had been spent managing the company. This would actually be the first airtime I'd gotten since New Year. To top it off I could leave the cold and snowy Stockholm to get some warmth and sun down in South Africa. Life was good, but things were about to take a turn for the worse. After picking up the baton in the bar and sharing a few drinks with Kieran I went over to the company where my assistant had arranged for me to charter a plane for the trip. The receptionist welcomed me, and handed over a couple of papers for me to sign. I read through them, and was shocked to see that the plane they had reserved for me was a glider!! I told the helpful clerk that there must be some sort of mistake, there was no way I was going to make a 700nm trip in a glider. The clerk was very surprised since my assistant had been very clear on that this was exactly what I wanted to rent. And to make things worse they had no other plane to offer me, they were all booked for the next week or so. With a deep sigh I headed back to the bar, and made a mental note to have a serious talk with my assistant when I got back. Just because I had forgotten to send out her paycheck in time for Christmas, three years in a row, this was no time to get even.. Some things are just too important. As I got back to the bar I could clearly hear a very upset man talking to the bartender.. something about pilots not honoring their commitments, having to get back to his office in time, and fearing bankruptcy if he was to late... ... but where can I find a pilot willing to fly me and some equipment 300 nm north, to a undisclosed destination, in a big transport at this time of night?, was the last thing he said before I sat down next to him... If you can arrange a transfer flight to Polokwane from your destination I'm your man, I said and started to tell him my story. As long as you can live with not knowing our destination until we are on the way, we have a deal., was his response. Not having much of an option at that time we agreed to sleep our alcohol of and meet at 5 am the next morning. We met up the next morning and walked out to the plane. As I saw it I was very shocked to see this waiting for us. How did you get your hands on that? I didn't even know that was in production yet. It's not., was the short response. Going through the checklists we tune comms to ATIS for some information. Strange.. No mention of the thunderstorms I can see and hear. As we taxi to the active I turn to my co-pilot/benefactor and ask him for his name. You can call me Al., was the, once again, short answer. With that we came to the end of a short taxi, got our take off clearance and started our take off roll Rotate.... V2 ... positive rate, Al informed me Just in time to, the end of the runway was coming towards us fast. Gears are coming up as we clear things up for our climb. Leaving Port Elizabeth behind as we climb out over the sea. And then we were in the grey and bumpy stuff for a while. But the ground did show itself at times. If you need to visit the men’s room I suggest you do that now, because once I tell you our destination and why were going there I won't allow you to get out of my sight until we land. Security reasons. Just to be sure, I took a quick visit to the bathroom, and then headed back to my seat. As I sat down Al informed me that our destination for this flight was Kimberley. A short factoid on Kimberley (according to wiki). The first diamond find was back in 1866, and it was a active diamond mining city until 2005 when the last mines were closed down. I had hoped to show of the famous "Big Hole" mine, a 240 meters deep and 42 acres big mining hole, during the flight, but the weather gods wanted otherwise. Good to know, but I'm more interested in how you got your hands on this plane and how i'm getting to Polokwane., was my quick response. First I have to apologies for the secrecy last night and this morning, but I couldn't risk telling you anything until I was sure you couldn't inform my competitors about it , Al said as the sun rose behind him. The reason for this is that I have found a new source of diamonds in Kimberley, and this plane is full of mining equipment needed to start mining. This is also the reason for me having this plane. Airbus lent me this plane for a while, and got a share in my company for their trouble. If there's as much diamonds in the new source as I hope that share might help Airbus with financing the final part of development of this fine plane. Al told me as we passed a small airfield about halfway. This photo was sent to me later on by the controller in the tower. As for getting you to Polokwane I have a Private Jet standing in Kimberley that will get you there without trouble. It's your choice if you fly it yourself, or just sit back in the cabin and enjoy the flight. The regular pilot will come along for the trip anyway to fly the plane back. And as a special thanks my staff has done a quick repaint on the plane. I'm sure you'll like it Al continued, and with that we were told by ATC to begin our decent. ATC in Kimberley didn't have the best of days. We were cleared to land in this position. I was at that moment heading due east and was cleared to land on runway 02. Go figure. I did give it a try, but couldn't get this bus to turn tight enough, so a go around was needed. This time the ATC gave us a longer final for the runway, but the approach wasn't one to be proud of. Coming in a bit low perhaps. I think Al pulled his feet up at this point. Still very low... easy does it. Al is starting to look very tense now... Almost there now.. Relax Al.. start breathing again... Safe on the ground, slowing her down Taxiing to parking.. a tight fit Welcome to Kimberley. The South African diamond capital of the past, and perhaps of the future. Now where's that Jet? As me and Al got of the plane a man came running towards us, calling out to Al that they had a big problem. After about 10 minutes of heated discussion Al came over to me. Looks like I need one more favor from you my friend. One of our geologists with important information about our diamond finds has gone missing. By a strange twist of fate we think he ran to Polokwane, his hometown, but we will need some help in finding him. I have a good friend that makes her living as a private investigator that has agreed to help us with this, but she lives in Botswana, Gaborone to be precise. I need you to take my Cessna Mustang up to Gaborone, and fly my friend to Polokwane. Who am I to turn down some extra time behind the stick of a mustang.. of course I'll take that detour for you, but where's the plane? They are just putting the finishing touches on the repaint as we speak. Grab some lunch and the plane will be ready for you in about an hour. I thank you for your help, and hope you get to Polokwane in time. And here we leave the story for a little while. The rest of the leg will be up in a while. Link to post Share on other sites
simi_av8r 0 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 no! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! you cant stop there Mikael!!! You got me captivated...glued to the screen, its like an episode of Prison Break, what happens next - i need to know now! in all seriousness mate, i think this is definitely the best leg so far! Fantastic story, great narration and a fine choice of aircraft :biggrin: ...i'm glued for the next episode now, i'll have MH on constant refresh just hoping it's up soon! Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 A great story! Link to post Share on other sites
rob16584 42 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Great story and a great post! Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 I love a good story. Very interesting and almost plausible. Looking forward to the next two hops, but it's hard to beat a big ol' trash-hauler. John Link to post Share on other sites
rosariomanzo 545 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Wondeful story, captain!!! Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted April 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 ...i'm glued for the next episode now, i'll have MH on constant refresh just hoping it's up soon! Wow, I actually managed to make it a cliffhanger for someone... wow... many thanks for the kind comments everyone. I'll keep you waiting until tomorrow morning for part 2 & 3. Any guesses on what plane I'll follow up with.. I guess it could almost fit into the hull of the A400M :biggrin: Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Micke, you have surpassed any expectations with this post, a superb imagination and exactly what we like for the challenge. Like the others, I am just aching for the next instalment. Well done, you have more than earned your rewards with this one :biggrin: Cheers Joe Link to post Share on other sites
The red barron 41 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 :biggrin: Micke! I want the rest now not tomorrow, where is the plane from? Link to post Share on other sites
Edward Longe 3 Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Good shots, nice story but that VC is vile! Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted April 4, 2010 Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 I belive the A400M is from Wilco/Just Flight. Noooooooo - please sir, can I have some more screenshots? Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted April 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2010 Thanks everybody.. Yes, it's the wilco version of the A400M, and yes the VC isn't the best I've seen... part 2 and 3 will be posted as soon as i'm done with this post. Link to post Share on other sites
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