Bored with the kids Friday night movie I decided to sneak away, check my e-mail and peruse Barnstormers. Barnstormers, as it is every day, was full of aircraft I lust after but can?t afford. My e-mail was more interesting as one requesting ?a fast ride? had somehow escaped the McAfee filters. On further investigation the email was from a friend, asking if there was any chance of a ride to Maine the next morning to pick up a Nanchang CJ-6. I must confess to not knowing much about Maine but the line ?Good night you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England? has stuck in my head since reading The Cider House Rules many years ago.
A quick check on Google earth showed that a straight line from our home base of Carp (Ottawa) to Sanford (ME) was a little over 250 nm so we should be able to get there and back in few hours. Of course a straight line isn?t possible as we would need to stop for US border clearance, but Burlington (VT) wasn?t too far out of our way.
The next morning was bright and breezy. Too breezy for me. I spent the first hour after getting up doing nothing but checking the weather all over the eastern seaboard. If I looked out of the window it appeared calm one minute and the next, what leaves were left on the trees were being shaken violently. In the end I decided it was too much for me and that I was not going to look at Internet weather any more so that I could actually get on with my day. Mike completely understood and I proceeded to get on with ?stuff?.
After a while the ?stuff? got a little boring so I checked my e-mails and there was another note; ?How about tomorrow?? Bugger! Now I?d have to spend the rest of the day checking the weather for tomorrow and not getting on with the stuff.
Sunday was the school fare so I could still give Mike a ride but we wouldn?t be able to leave until noon. This looked like it would be OK so we agreed to meet late the next morning. Mike was waiting when I arrived at Carp and we pulled the aircraft from the hangar and completed the walk-around. Mike?s 6? 2? and resplendent in leather and sheepskin ?Biggles? jacket he was crammed into the 7 with his knees about eye level to ensure he didn?t foul the rudder pedals. To provide a little more room he also had his arm around back of my seat which explains the lack of in-flight portraits.
Routing just south of Ottawa we were soon crossing the St. Lawrence and into US airspace. The mountains in upper New York State and Vermont loomed large and initially looked to be higher than our 5,500? cruising altitude. The mountains were dusted with snow and we could see the snow blowers working hard in the +7 OAT.
In less than an hour we had Burlington is in sight and we are being vectored for runway 33. As we descend we are asked ?India Mike Echo, can you pull back on the speed as there is an RJ ahead of you?. It was tempting to answer with ?slowing for the jet? but Mike was working the radios and he?s more grown up than me. We followed the RJ on finals and then taxied across to US customs.
After a few minutes wait the solitary CBP officer walked out to the aircraft. Interestingly, we didn?t have to submit to full body pat downs but the officer did check the aircraft with a Geiger counter. No ?beeps? from the mostly electronic flight instruments so we were good to go. The Nanchang makes the Geiger counter light up light a Christmas tree which then induces a full body pat down.
We fuelled up at the Heritage FBO and what a facility! If I had seen the rooms in a holiday brochure I would have booked a vacation. Bedrooms, a gym, table tennis table in the pilot?s lounge and a flat panel TV to die for. All that and we got a discount on the fuel.
By now we were running late and we had more mountains to cross before heading downhill into Sanford (KSFM), Maine. Just under an hour later, and with the Atlantic as our backdrop, we landed at Sanford and Mike went off to find the ?Chang?.
Built from recycled Chinese battleships the CJ-6 looks reasonably menacing anyway but when it?s a washed out olive green that?s almost black it?s really quite scary. I wasn?t sure if it was bad paint or a poor attempt at stealth. Everything on the Nanchang is pneumatic and, as Mike had anticipated, it was out of air and would need to be hand propped. I was given a quick tour of the cockpit and shown what to pull and what to plunge.
The cockpit looked like it was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel?s long lost Chinese cousin. If Mike had told me there was a steam boiler I?d have believed him without question. ?Switches ON? calls Mike. ?Switches ON? I confirm. Mike heaves on the prop and after a few tries there is a sound like someone throwing nuts and bolts into a cement mixer. I am pumping furiously on the primer as the noise gets louder and the world disappears in a cloud of acrid black smoke. It all looks very unfamiliar and I?m not sure if I should be plunging more or shovelling coal. Mike?s suddenly at my side and pulling back on the throttle. The roar recedes and the spring mounted panel slowly stops vibrating and comes into focus.
I clamber out, none the wiser, as Mike taxies across to the pumps in a cloud of smoke (or possibly steam).
Fuelled up and with the flight plan phoned in we are ready to head home. I follow the Chang down the taxi way and take position as Mike rolls down one five. Mike keeps her low and the black shape disappears into the shadows at the far end of the runway. Just when I think Mike is going to taxi it all the way home the Chang zoom climbs like a homesick vampire before departing to the West. I quickly follow and it doesn?t take long before I?ve caught Mike and we route towards Burlington.
In the fading light the mountains look both beautiful and slightly ominous. We?ve decided that we?d stick together just in case the Chang wasn?t as fixed as it should be. It had been left there a few weeks previously when it started to run rough on the journey home. The moon was stunning against the mountains and seeing the big black Nanchang off my port wing was a sight to behold.
Overhead Burlington we made the decision to press on to Ottawa knowing it would be dark on arrival. Despite almost twice the horsepower and wheels that tuck away the Chang isn?t RV quick and it would be a 2 hour flight back at a leisurely 130 kt cruise.
I?ve not done much night flying and, although I?d done some local flights recently, this was my first big trip since my qualifying night cross country. Sitting alone in the RV cockpit was quite surreal as the gloom of the mountains passed underneath and the glow from civilization on the US/Canada border appeared in the distance. Mike, an air traffic controller by trade, was handling the radio so sitting there on autopilot gave me a fair bit of time to contemplate. Although I did think about the chances of surviving an engine failure over hostile terrain it really wasn?t, perhaps naively, much more than a passing thought.
Chinese Takeout
. The Chang that I flew back for this storey is still unfortunaetly in Ottawa , as the owner tried to fly it home yesterday and he had to RTB as the engine is acting up again.
Linear Mode
