Mahon, Menorca, 29.7.2003
Flying the Caribou from Madrid, Cuatro Vientos to Menorca, Mahon
OK, so while I was on tour the past few weeks, remember? from Red Lake via Toronto to Esperides, Menorca, Ukraine, Australia and Northern China... I didn't go directly from the Archipelago Esperides to Mahon (Menorca), I made a stopover at Madrid and went to Cuatro Vientos - LECU.
There I saw -at first sight- two nice Caribou's, probably not airworthy anymore but looking quite nice. Before I left for the remaining part of the tour, I did decided to bring out an offer for buying them; provided one of them is flyable again and asked the officials to give me a call should they make up their mind.
Anyway, after leaving Abu Dhabi -enroute from Singapore to Amsterdam- I got a call from a spanish gentlemen about those Caribou's at LECU... They had another offer for me, though that would mean a higher price: I can buy both the ex-Spanish Air Force T9-9 and T9-10 -the not airworthy examples- plus a flying model: EC-GQL, also at Cuatro Vientos in maintenance (as far as I know it was still flying by 09-2002, for Avinsa and later for BDE)...
Yep, you guessed it; I flew from Amsterdam to Madrid, to settle that deal.
I've just made arrangements to have both T9's partially disassembled, containerized and transported to dESPair/AeroPedro's Menorca facility.
The EC-GQL is being readied for a cargo flight (need to get generate some cash) to Alicante - LEAL followed by another cargo charter to Palma de Mallorca - LEPA and onwards to Mahon/Menorca - LEMH
Leg 1, Cuatro Vientos - LECU to Alicante - LEAL, 28/7
Not much to tell you, after all it's summer, weather is fine and the plane seems OK. Took off from Madrid at 16.11 with some 5912 lbs of cargo on board, to cover the expenses of the trip. After leaving and partially circling around the closed (for GA and VFR) Madrid CTR zone, I headed directly for Alicante, autopilot set for heading and altitude and checking the GPS once in a while; cruising at 8.000 ft and ±135 kts. Arrived at LEAL and got set up by ATC for a landing on runway 10; manual approach and landing from the ILS marker, turned off at the first exit (of course she lands short :-)) and taxied to the ramp, park and switch off at 17.41.
(click the snapshots to enlarge)
Leg 2, Alicante - LEAL to Palma de Mallorca - LEPA, 29/7
Next day, after having unloaded yesterdays shipment -that was most of the cargo onboard, excluding a few crates with destination Palma and Mahon- and taking on a new load -again mixed destinations- we proceeded to leave Alicante just after lunchtime, 14.10 (we lunch late in Spain). Weather was still quite nice; temperature on the ground of around 30º C, a few scattered clouds hanging low, mild winds (5 to 20 kts) and mild turbulence. Upon leaving LEAL we went 'feet wet' and followed the coast up to Javea and then over the Mediterranean and Ibiza on to Mallorca. Picked up Palma ATC to south of the island and got directed, over the mountains in the West, to the North approach for rwy 24L. After a short landing, touching down halfway 24L -with permission- and taxiing to the western ramp, I closed the flight at 15.48.
(click the snapshots to enlarge)
Leg 3, Palma - LEPA to Menorca, Mahon - LEMH, 29/7
At 18.32 we were ready again for a new flight, after exchanging a number of crates and pallets from the cargo hold, which is quite easy with that loading ramp in the rear. Weather at Menorca was slightly different with the evening coming in; temperature was beginning to fall -about 27º C, wind and turbulence had picked up a bit. Left LEPA from 24R and followed the coast first East and then North to Capdepera; then followed a short stretch of water to Menorca. Flying in the sunset at 6.000 ft and 135 to 140 kts. Mahon ATC vectored us for a landing on LEMH 01 just, where we landed just before dark. Left the Bou parked right in front of the dESPair/AeroPedro hangar by 19.27.
(click the snapshots to enlarge)
Total time (excluding waiting time between flights) 4:09 hrs. Fuel consumption 2589 lbs. Flown distance 514 nm. Cargo: LECU-LEAL 5912 lbs, LEAL-LEPA 8634 lbs and LEPA-LEMH 6950 lbs.
[] see flight log flightno. 903
Tomorrow, 30/7, I'll continue my journey back to Red Lake by commuter/commercial flight: Menorca - Madrid - Toronto - Red Lake.
Cheers,
Brick
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