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5th Annual Florida to Caribbean Trip

GalinHdz

Well Known Member
We are doing the initial planning for the 5th Annual Florida to Caribbean trip. We are tentatively scheduled to depart South Florida (KTMB) on Friday 12/05/2014 and returning on 12/14/2014. The actual dates will be finalized during November. As of today there are 4 airplanes/crews signed up for the trip. 2 Experimentals, 1 Cirrus and a Grumman Traveler but we expect more to join in. Others that have completed the trip flew a Beech Sierra an RV-10, a Glassair Sportsman and a Mooney M20J.

The flight down and back is a BLAST and we make side trips (for those interested) to other islands in the Caribbean. We are NOT a commercial operation, just a group of pilots that love to take interesting vacations. My wife and I made two of the trips from Houston Texas, but this year we are already in Florida. You can read about the 2010, 2011 and 2013 trips at our web page since my wife wrote about those three trips. There is a short video of our 2013 side trip to San Juan, PR which one of the pilots posted.

If you are interested in doing something like this but want to go with others that have done it before, PM me and I will provide details.

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Sounds great. Put me down as a "maybe". I may be out of town but if not, I am in.

apkp777; We finalize the details during late October and early November so there is plenty of time to decide. This is just for long range planning purposes.

The best part is that you don't have to make the trip during the dates we are going. If you need to go a few days before or return a few days afterwards, it is no problem.

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As of today we have a Cirrus, a Grumman Traveler, a Piper Cherokee, an RV10 and my KIS4 confirmed for the trip. We are looking at day trips to San Juan, PR; Tortola, BVI; St. Croix, USVI and St Martin, Dutch VI side during the week there.

For those that are also AOPA members, the trip is now on the December 2014 AOPA events calendar.

5th Annual Florida to Caribbean Fly In

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GalinHdz,

Please check your PMs.

David Watson

10-4. Check you PM and e-Mail.

Also; Here is a link to our proposed flight route from Florida (KTMB) to Puerto Rico (TJBQ):

VFR flight KTMB - TJBQ

The longest leg is from Exhuma (MYEF) to Puerto Plata (MDPP) which is 398Nm but has several divert airports along the way if the headwinds are too strong for a particular aircraft's range. The longest over water legs are about 105 NM, from Florida to Andros Island and from Grand Turk to Puerto Plata. Other than that land is always available from a decent altitude, say 6,500-7,500 feet. WX during December is normally severe VFR all the way down.

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Our tentative schedule for the trip:

Thu 4 Dec Aircrew briefing KTMB (3:00pm)
Fri 5 Dec Depart KTMB - MYEF - MDPP - TJBQ - TJMZ
Sat 6 Dec Day Off
Sun 7 Dec San Juan, PR trip (TJIG)
Mon 8 Dec St. Croix, USVI trip (TISX) (Low offshore San Juan)
Tue 9 Dec Day Off (Beach day)
Wed 10 Dec Tortola, BVI trip (TUPJ)
Thu 11 Dec Day Off
Fri 12 Dec St. Martin, FVI trip (TFFG)
Sat 13 Dec BBQ Fly-in (TJMZ)
Sun 14 Dec Return trip TJMZ - MDPP - MYEF - KTMB

All flights are weather dependent and may change.

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We now have 3 Experimentals (RV10, RV8, KIS4), 2 Cirrus, a Piper Cherokee and a Grumman Traveler for a total of 7 confirmed as going. We expect more to join in as the trip dates get closer.

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We are getting close to the start of the trip. Decisions and plans are being finalized. The governments of Tortola and St Martin have invited us to visit so, as long as the weather cooperates, we will be visiting them.

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As we get closer to our December 5th planned departure date, pilots with slower aircraft are doubling up with pilots that have faster airplanes. So now it looks like we have:

2 Cirrus
2 Mooneys
1 RV10
1 RV8
1 KIS4

The FBO in Puerto Rico (COPECA) will be providing a 25cent per gallon discount on all AVGAS we use while there and we might get some additional fees waived. We have confirmed trips to St. Martin, St. Croix, San Juan and Tortola . We have also been invited to the PR General Aviation Association BBQ Fly-in and Christmas party on the 13th. All in all shaping up to be a GREAT 10 days.

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Watch out for chickengunya while in St. Martin. Approx. 20% of the population has been infected with this mosquito-borne disease in the past 2 years. I recommend an industrial strength insect repellant while you are there. Sounds like a great trip.
 
Watch out for chickengunya while in St. Martin. Approx. 20% of the population has been infected with this mosquito-borne disease in the past 2 years. I recommend an industrial strength insect repellant while you are there. Sounds like a great trip.

I worry more about the +40,000 deaths every year from the common flu here in the US than that.

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Point well taken, but telling folks you had chickengunya would make a much better bar story. :D It has been my favorite disease for 45 years, mostly because of the strange name. It is the only word of Swahili that I know.
 
Jim,
Im sure when people look at your profile and see "retired", they don't know you are a retired doctor. I have to say, when I saw the name of the "chickengunya" I read "chimmychunga" and thought you were talking about a big burrito!! You have to excuse me, I am reading this on my phone while freezing watching the MSU - Ohio State game. MSU is getting waxed.
 
Point well taken, but telling folks you had chickengunya would make a much better bar story. :D It has been my favorite disease for 45 years, mostly because of the strange name. It is the only word of Swahili that I know.

OMG it would make for a good bar story, but one I would prefer not to be able to tell.

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Jim,
Im sure when people look at your profile and see "retired", they don't know you are a retired doctor. I have to say, when I saw the name of the "chickengunya" I read "chimmychunga" and thought you were talking about a big burrito!! You have to excuse me, I am reading this on my phone while freezing watching the MSU - Ohio State game. MSU is getting waxed.

Rocky,
I would much rather have a chimmychunga (with a side of green chile) than chickengunya. Are you back in MI for the winter? Whenever I am having a less than perfect day, I remind myself that I could be in Detroit. My apologies (and condolences) to any Detroiters.

And to keep this RV-related, I could get out of town quick in my RV.
 
We will be departing on Friday so I will try to post pictures of the trip. But if I don't it probably means we are having too much fun.

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1st day of the trip and already adventure kicks in. Two of the airplanes cancelled due to mechanical issues. Nothing serious, just better to stay in the US than to maybe have a worse situation later.

Todays flight(s) were KHWO - MYEF - MDPP - TJBQ and took an average of 6.5 flying hours. The stops at MYEF and MDPP went super smooth, especially the MDPP stop. We will be using MDPP a lot more since there are no fees for stopping there. Our next flight will be to San Juan on Sunday so for now time to rest.

Pictures will follow as soon as I get a good INTERNET connection.

:cool:


5th Annual Caribbean Trip Photos
 
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Trip

1st day of the trip and already adventure kicks in. Two of the airplanes cancelled due to mechanical issues. Nothing serious, just better to stay in the US than to maybe have a worse situation later.

Todays flight(s) were KHWO - MYEF - MDPP - TJBQ and took an average of 6.5 flying hours. The stops at MYEF and MDPP went super smooth, especially the MDPP stop. We will be using MDPP a lot more since there are no fees for stopping there. Our next flight will be to San Juan on Sunday so for now time to rest.

Pictures will follow as soon as I get a good INTERNET connection.

:cool:

I hope these trips are available in the future. Now, back to the hangar to pound rivets:)
 
Hey Galin,
Enjoy Aguadilla. I hope you took your surf board.
Safe trip to all.
 
Fuel pump trouble.

1st day of the trip and already adventure kicks in. Two of the airplanes cancelled due to mechanical issues. Nothing serious, just better to stay in the US than to maybe have a worse situation later.


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Unfortunately RV-10 C-GMDV was one of the "Mechanicals" Galin mentioned, I will let him tell you who the other one was. We were in fact well on our way, the trip from Florida to Exuma was great with good weather. It was on the departure out of Exuma the trouble began.

In a nut shell, during the climb the engine driven fuel pump failed to deliver enough pressure causing the aux. pump to come on. A VP-200 is the heart of my electrical system and within it the parameters are set for the aux. pump to come on automatically when the fuel pressure drops below 18psi. At no time did the engine hesitate or stumble during these events so in this case the automation worked to perfection.

This happen numerous times during the climb, every time I turned the aux. pump off after a few seconds the "Master Warning" would light up and the aux pump come back on.

We continued to altitude (FL110) and after everything was stabilized in cruise flight with a fuel flow of about 9.5gph (LOP) the fuel pressure, without the aux pump, was steady at 24psi right where it should be.

Obviously a decision had to be made as to the safety of going on. Between the 3 of us, all of us pilots, we decided that with this situation it was not prudent to continue. A 180 was made and we are now back in the US and will have a new fuel pump installed first of the week.
 
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Unfortunately RV-10 C-GMDV was one of the "Mechanicals" Galin mentioned, I will let him tell you who the other one was. We were in fact well on our way, the trip from Florida to Exuma was great with good weather. It was on the departure out of Exuma the trouble began.

In a nut shell, during the climb the engine driven fuel pump failed to deliver enough pressure causing the aux. pump to come on. A VP-200 is the heart of my electrical system and within it the parameters are set for the aux. pump to come on automatically when the fuel pressure drops below 18psi. At no time did the engine hesitate or stumble during these events so in this case the automation worked to perfection.

This happen numerous times during the climb, every time I turned the aux. pump off after a few seconds the "Master Warning" would light up and the aux pump come back on.

We continued to altitude (FL110) and after everything was stabilized in cruise flight with a fuel flow of about 9.5gph (LOP) the fuel pressure, without the aux pump, was steady at 24psi right where it should be.

Obviously a decision had to be made as to the safety of going on. Between the 3 of us, all of us pilots, we decided that with this situation it was not prudent to continue. A 180 was made and we are now back in the US and will have a new fuel pump installed first of the week.

The other airplane was mine with an annoying oil leak. :(

So I flew Commercial to PR, got checked out in a C172 which I have rented for the 10 days and have continued with the trip.



We flew to San Juan today and tomorrow we fly to St. Croix.

:D
 
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Today we flew to Gran Case (TFFG) St Maarten and made a visit to Princess Julianna (TNCE) for lunch. We got to watch all the "brain surgeons/rocket scientists" standing near the runway getting blasted by the jet engines.

Thursday we rest with a beach sunset BBQ then get ready for Friday's trip to Tortola (TUPJ).

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Click HERE for 5th Annual Caribbean Trip Photos
 
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Just so you know, my wife (who I call the Paparazzi) took 1,290 photos yesterday in St. Maarten. :eek:

It takes a while to go through all of these. So in the mean time here are some photos at the Mayaguez, PR airport (TJMZ) which is our operation base during the trip.

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The Caribbean Cowboys at Mayaguez.

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Enjoying the "cold" December weather in Puerto Rico.

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Getting all our Customs/Immigrations and ICAO paperwork together for the flight to St. Maarten.

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We landed at Gran Case (TFFG) in St. Maarten.



Our "mandatory" visit to the TNCM airport and the warning nobody heeds.



The surfboard with the flight schedule.



Under the landing UAL B737 from KEWR.
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Tortola, BVI (TUPJ)


We had typical December weather for the flight.


The "Gang" at lunch


Saturday is the Mayaguez (TJMZ) Fly-In BBQ, then on Sunday we head back north.

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I forgot to post some pics from St. Croix, USVI (TISX)

The "Gang" at Bohlke Aviation in front of the C172 I rented.


Being interviewed by local TV channel 2.


Multiple kegs of rum being aged.


The three amigos


Departing TISX heading back to TJBQ and TJMZ


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nice going guys. brings back a lots of memories from the islands. did you get to fly around the bvi? we just got back from virgin gorda about a week ago. water temps 82. could stay in the water for hours. thanks for posting on this.
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The local pilots had an AWESOME fly-In and Christmas Party our last full day of the trip.

The beautiful RV8A that made the trip.


Everything from a C421 to several ultralights flew in.


Even helicopters showed up at the Fly-In.


The youngest PIC in attendance.


We had a full house.


With beautiful weather


and everyone had a great time


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Good for you guys!

I would love to know how that RV got the apparently temporary 12" N numbers.
 
Good for you guys!

I would love to know how that RV got the apparently temporary 12" N numbers.

They got a local vinyl shop to make them up. Once they get back to the US, they will just peel them off and nobody can tell they were ever there. Temporary numbers like these are completely authorized for international flights.

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They got a local vinyl shop to make them up. Once they get back to the US, they will just peel them off and nobody can tell they were ever there. Temporary numbers like these are completely authorized for international flights.

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Thanks. Most RV-ers are going to have to face this scenario if they want to cross a border.
 
One of the nicest video trip report I've ever seen. Thanks. Cruzan tour, women to fly etc. good laugh. I am wondering if they fly VFR in PR like here in CONUS?
 
One of the nicest video trip report I've ever seen. Thanks. Cruzan tour, women to fly etc. good laugh. I am wondering if they fly VFR in PR like here in CONUS?

FAA is FAA is FAA so you fly exactly the same in PR and the USVI as you do CONUS. Now getting to and from PR/USVI is a different issue. But maybe you can join us next time.

;)
 
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I'm for the year 2018!

Man, that video is inspiring! My family and I went on a cruise in 2014 and visited many of the same places, so it was neat to see some of them in the video. However, nothing beats flying there yourself. I plan to participate in things like this when my RV-10 is done. Thanks for showing me what it might be like, when it finally happens for me (minus the laser guns, hoverboards and teleportation)..:(

P.S. Nice interview with the local news. Supporting GA and flyers who've never gotten their "feet wet." Well done.
 
ppilotmike/andyrv7 - Two of the pilots that made the trip flew from Denver CO. The RV8 flew from Georgetown TX. Last year we had an RV10 do it from Canada and a Glasair 2+2 do it from near Poughkeepsie NY . It shows that something like this can be done, you just have to want to do it bad enough.

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