More formations, this time its over the Pacific, between OAK and HNL to be exact , on the first leg of a journey that will end in Bangkok. It is March of 91, what else can a furloughed DC3 pilot do except sign on for another adventure, I mean whats 10000 miles of ocean anyway? So a merry crew and I assembled in Oakland , Cali to move 3 ( count em) DC3s across the big blue pond Pacific, so what if the largest body of water I have flown previously is Lake Michigan, youth and confidence trumps all !!! Thats Fred Sorenson and his buddy JT , in N54604 aka Jersey Girl just before sunrise about 4 hours from HNL, Fred was just sidling over to say Good Morning. He was the major domo of this expedition , putting the whole shebang together , and teaching us the art and lore of ocean flying on the wing, I was just steering, and learning on the jump. It had been a night crossing out of necessity , fronts barreling out of Alaska had generated untenable headwinds all week, finally a gap between the fronts allows us a respite and a chance to make the hyper leap to the islands . So what if it meant a 2130 pm departure the 2 of us waddling aloft out of OAK, and splitting the uprights of the Golden Gate Bridge easing up to 6000 feet , huffing and puffing with our ferry overloads , keeping company with each other in the night. Thats Annie and I in 4MA The Magic Carpet, 6000 feet over the briny blue, with miles behind us, and thousands more to go, no where else Id rather be : ) . Like I said before, God bless us everyone !!!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 01:49:35 +0000