The Bahamas At Last! Fort Lauderdale to Governor's Harbour

This was the 10th leg on our trip to the Bahamas and back from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Our preparations were complete.

We had life-vests, a life-raft, EPIRB (Emergency Position Indication Radio Beacon), provisions, a ditch bag and VFR hand-held radio in a waterproof bag. Our SPOT device, as always, was attached to the sun visor.

We rented the life-raft, EPIRB, and emergency provisions, paying for them to be delivered to the FBO the previous afternoon. Upon looking over the rented equipment BigNut noted the inspection card on the life-raft made no mention of the emergency provisions. A quick telephone call to the supplier later we realized that the provisions were attached to the back of the life-raft, complete with its own inspection card. Oh, well.

We wore fishing vests carrying all our small emergency supplies, including passports, licenses and money in a waterproof bag. As the saying goes: “What you carry on you is emergency equipment, the rest is camping gear”. Over the vests, we wore our life-vests. The cost to remove them from the packing was so prohibitive that we chose to buy rather than rent the vests. There is no way to put on a life vest in a small aircraft whilst dealing with an emergency.

We had filed an eAPIS departure notice, and received a confirmatory email. We did not need to make arrangements with the Bahamian authorities, needing only to land at an airport of entry.

Although we were ready early - we arrived at the FBO when they were opening - the weather over the Bahamas was not co-operating. It was already fiercely hot; so, after preparing JYM for the flight, we waited in the air-conditioned FBO for an hour or so before departing.

Finally, we were ready to go! We were very excited, and it showed, as we fumbled our first few radio transmissions, but then things settled into routine, and we were off!!

The airspace was very busy, and the radio was congested as heck. We needed to ask for higher to clear clouds in our way, and also to change frequencies to open our flight plan, and it was very difficult getting a word in edgeways.

It was only after clearing the ADIZ (air defense identification zone), and drawing abeam with Freetown, that the workload reduced, although the frequencies remained congested.

Our track from KFXE to MYEM. (Download KML here)

We had elected to fly a route that would keep us closer to land. We headed direct east to the Abacos, and then turned to the south-east once there. On our return trip, we would be much more comfortable, and followed a more direct route back. We were concerned that we would be trapped above a layer when we arrived over Governor’s Harbour, so we elected to descend once we reached the Abacos, and fly the remainder of the trip at about 1500 feet. Although this was a little anxiety provoking, the views were spectacular, and we seldom flew any higher while we were in the Bahamas.

As we descended over the islands, and began to take in the wondrous colours and shapes, we realized again just how fortunate we are to be able to experience our world in this way. It is almost impossible to describe the beauty and gem-like clarity of the turquoise blue water.

The flight was entirely routine, other than Miami Center asking us to relay control messages to an aircraft that was too low to pick them up.

The AWOS (automated weather observation system) on Eleuthera was completely out of date, and hence worthless. We elected to follow what other traffic was doing at Governor’s Harbour, but found out on short final that we were landing with a tailwind! We did not make out the windsock until we were exiting the runway. The runway is very long, however, and the wind was not too strong, so there was never any worry.

We could not raise Nassau Radio to close our flight plan whilst in the air, as is suggested. There was a dedicated telephone in the customs building that we used to do this. Clearing customs was a breeze, and we found a taxi that took us to our resort - a whole mile away!!

Island Time!!

Learning how to use in-cockpit weather (1): Miles City, MT (KMLS) to North Platte, NE (KLBF)

After about 45 minutes on the ground in Miles City, we fired up JYMmie again, this time headed for North Platte, Nebraska. We were hopeful that we would get to North Platte, as the weather there was steadily improving, but not at all confident of our success. We headed first toward Gillette, keeping an eye on the weather on the GPS.

We have not had in-cockpit weather available to us before. Before our trip, we invested in a Garmin Aera and XMWeather subscription. There is no training available on how to best utilize such a resource, but here are some nuggets we gleaned:

1. Understand the limitations of the information:

By the time the information is displayed, it is always old, sometimes by as much as 20 minutes, or more.

For this reason, one should not use in-cockpit weather (ICW) as a tactical decision-making tool, but rather for strategic planning. One should not use it to decide where to go between two cells of heavy precipitation. Of course, this rule is not rigid, for example where cells are widely spaced and slow-moving, especially if VFR.

Interestingly enough, here is an example that negates the tactical/strategic rule.

On our return from the Bahamas we were dodging rain showers as we approached the Miami coastline. We were VFR, but it was comforting to use the ICW to confirm that the cells were isolated.

About 56 nm miles out of Fort Lauderdale Executive airport, we are just inside the ADIZ. The scale of 20nm seems ideal for making strategic decisions at JYMmie’s airspeed. The stationary front to the south, with its associated weather, is shown. Note that this image was obtained 3 minutes ago. The information could be significantly older than this, however, and there is no way to know exactly how old it is.

The ICW display shows precipitation density, not cloud density. So, although it appears that there were only isolated clouds, in fact there was a complete ceiling, with isolated showers. We have found that we can usually comfortably traverse green areas. The yellow not so much, if we are to remain VFR.

Watching the cells to our left, we were doing well, until Miami Approach called us up, and made suggestions for a heading for us to fly. Remembering the fact that our information is often old, we followed their advice and were turned directly into what showed as an orange return on our display. We flew into fairly heavy rain with reduced visibility as a result. We were just starting to clear the rain, when we were once again vectored into another orange area! A look out the window confirmed what our display was telling us, so we declined the vector, and remained in the clear for the remainder of the leg.

Looking back along the reciprocal of our course after landing. As always, we were reminded that final decisions regarding any flight rest with the pilot, and not with ATC, and that weather is a fickle mistress!

Here, however, is an example of how ICW is helpful for more strategic planning.

Check out the video below (there is no audio). The green line is the heading we are trying to steer. Do we go to the left or the right of the rain cell?

At first glance, it would seem that we would be able to go to the left, the more direct way. However, the ICW NexRad showed us that we would end up in a dead-end of heavy precipitation and need to retrace our route. It also showed us that we had better options to escape worsening weather to our right.

We steered to the right of the cell.

(More on using in-cockpit weather in later entries)

Changing Plans for Weather : From KCTB (Cut Bank, MT) to KMLS (Miles City, MT)

After clearing with customs, we entered the old airport building that brings back memories of times long gone. There are even showers and beds available, should you need them. We always seem to meet interesting traffic at Cut Bank, but today we were the only aircraft on the ramp. The Chinook Arc that had been present when we left Lethbridge was very prominent here, and the winds seemed to be increasing, so we were keen to get going.

Close to the ground, the going was bumpy, due to the high winds. We were seeing great ground speeds, due to the westerly flow over the Rockies behind us.

Just before this trip, we acquired the ability to download live weather updates via satellite into the cockpit (For the pilots reading this, we use a Garmin Aera and XM Weather). We were not sure that the investment would be worth it, but this leg was the first of many that made us grateful for this tool.

Our plan had been to fly to Miles City, MT (KMLS), where we would refuel, then on to Pierre, SD (KPIR), before heading to Lincoln, NE (KLNK) for the night. A low that was blocking our route to the east was expected to move on as the day progressed, but this did not seem to be happening. We would be able to get to Miles City, but not much further, it seemed.

Using our on-board weather, we could evaluate multiple plans and contingencies. We were headed southeast, so if we could not go east, we figured, we may as well go south. Having weather in the cockpit meant we could see beyond the rain showers that were visible ahead, and make informed decisions that improved our ability to continue flying and making progress in our journey.

A very handy tool to complement our weather decisions is a new product from the FAA: a VFR planning map. Covering the entire continental USA on a single sheet at a scale of 1:3,100,000. It worked quite well in the cockpit, once we had it folded sensibly.

Our weather-enabled GPS could tell us where to fly, and perhaps more importantly, where not to go. The planner gave us a quick reference to what airfields, terrain and airspace lay on our new course. We could then use that information to further refine our plan, by using the identifiers to find more weather on the GPS. Voila!

RegularNut was suffering from a bad flu bug. Ear aches and a headache made the first few days of flying uncomfortable for her, and piloting out of the question. She remained an able and very helpful co-pilot despite being unwell. It is always easier with two pilots in the cockpit, even if one of them is under the weather!

By the time we landed at Miles City, we had our new plan well formulated, and I went into the FBO with the portable GPS already loaded with our new route.

It was as well, as the FBO had no Internet connection, only a tired telephone with which to call Flight Services. The lady behind the counter gave me a funny look when I explained that we had pulled up at the self-service fuel, but then taxied over to the FBO when we saw there was one, as we try to always support local business. She told us that they owned the self-serve as well. I was not willing to taxi back to the self-serve bowser, so I asked her to top JYMmie off, although it seemed we were imposing somehow.

Fortunately, all I had to do was make the call, ask about TFRs, Notams, and file a flight plan, while RegularNut settled the fuel bill, and we were ready to go.

On our return flight, we were happy to be able to overfly Miles City for Lewistown, which is a very friendly little airport.

Back to Leg 1

Making flying videos with the GoPro: Getting rid of the floppy propeller

The Gopro is an amazing little camera. We have had one for a few years now, and have used it everywhere, from biking to swimming and snorkeling, and of course, when we fly.

Even if you haven’t heard of rolling shutter issues, you have most likely seen this effect. In our case, the problem is with the propeller, that appears as a banded, wriggling structure, and is quite distracting.

There are several approaches to fixing the problem, one of which you can see here. If we only wish to address the strange propeller, the solution is quite simple. In essence, the issue is that cheap cameras such as the GoPro, do not have a physical shutter, but control the aperture synthetically by electronically rolling the sensor sensitivity, thereby mimicking a mechanical shutter. The only way for the user to control the rolling shutter speed is by changing the available light. Limiting the incoming light with a neutral density filter is very useful in improving the rolling shutter effect.

I thought it may be helpful to present my solution for fitting the filter to the GoPro, which seems to work well, and could easily be adapted to other cameras.

I purchased a second camera case, as this is a semi-permanent solution, and I wanted a dedicated case for the cockpit. Using oven-cured clay, such as Fimo or Sculpey, I made a collar that is attached to the black ring that holds down the outer lens. The most challenging part was finding appropriate screws. I was fortunate to find several in my scrap-bucket which work well.

The filters are about the largest that it is possible to use

The screws are very close to the back surface, but seem to stand up well to use

Another view

I used 2 stacked 58mm neutral density filters. The lowermost filter is embedded in the clay, while the uppermost one can be removed. The filter did well when repeatedly baked in the oven. Fingerprints are an optional security feature!

The floppy propeller is (mostly) a thing of the past, as you can see in the video above.

The solution is both ambient light and propeller-speed dependent, so there are times when things are not perfect. The main problem with this method is that the lens is too small, and there is an element of vignetting. This is due to the design of the GoPro camera body limiting the filter size that can be used. Given the GoPro’s amazing field of vision, this is solved easily by using a video editing application to zoom in slightly. Using Cinelerra, I found that changing the Z-axis of the camera in the compositor from 1.0 to 1.15 improves the vignetting issue nicely.

Due to the filtering, the video becomes quite grainy in low light, as is to be expected. Light is seldom an issue when flying, but it is noticeable at startup early in the morning. Once in the air, there always seems to be enough light to eliminate this concern.

Hopefully some of this information is useful to others out there. If so, please leave a comment and/or a link!

Dancing with EAPIS: Crossing the USA border - CYQL to KCTB

Today was the first day of our new adventure, and we were eager to get going. After loading up JYMmie, we did our preflight checks and run-up, and departed Lethbridge (CYQL) at 13h31 Zulu (07h30 local).

It was -1 C on the ground, and we were happy to have fleece sweaters to keep us warm until the big Continental 0-470 started producing heat after take-off. There was a broken cloud base at 10 000 feet, and the winds on the ground were around 13 knots, almost straight down the runway.

Approaching the border, we managed to obtain our squawk code without difficulty.

The thin yellow horizontal/diagonal line on this image taken from our portable GPS shows the Canada / USA border.

Our track from CYQL to KCTB. (Download KML here)

We landed at Cutbank Airport uneventfully after a 38 minute flight. The customs officer, who needs to drive out from Sweetgrass, was already there. After clearing customs, we filed our next leg, and departed. The temperature in Cut Bank was +4 C, and we were anxious to find warmer climes. RegularNut was under the weather with a bug that made her dizzy, and plugged her sinuses, so it was up to BigNut to fly the first several days.

What do you need to do if you want to cross the Canada / USA border in your private plane?

It’s simple, really. All you need to do is:

• Obtain an EAPIS access account with the Department of Homeland Security
• Obtain a customs decal from USA Customs and Border Protection services
• Submit a crew / passenger manifest, and flight details to EAPIS via the web
• Obtain permission to enter (or leave) the USA via an email from EAPIS
• Make arrangements with the customs office where you intend to clear
• File a flight plan
• Depart from an Airport of Entry
• Open the flight plan on departure
• Obtain a transponder squawk before crossing the border
• Arrive at the pre-arranged Airport of Entry within 15” of planned time of arrival
• Clear customs

Phew! If it sounds complicated, it is, although not as much as one would think at first glance. We follow a checklist to (hopefully) ensure that nothing is missed. Fines for even unintentional non-compliance START at $5 000 USD, and include incarceration, so it adds significant stress to flights to and from the USA. Things that make it difficult to comply is the fact that one needs to file electronically, have access to an email account, and that making changes have lead times of 2 hours. Small plane flights are very dependent on weather, and plans can change rapidly. The rules seem to have been made for the folks who fly airliners who usually can fly above the weather. Another problem is the fact that we tend to fly a lot lower than our bigger brethren, so contacting ATC for a squawk code timeously can be problematic.

Despite the above, things usually run remarkably smoothly. We like clearing at Cutbank, MT (KCTB). It is only 64 nautical miles away from Lethbridge, Alberta (CYQL), our home base, making timing easier. Lethbridge is also an Airport of Entry. The traffic at KCTB is not heavy. The building housing the Customs offices also houses a remarkable FBO run by the Cut Bank Municipal Airport Authority. Besides flight planning facilities and fuel, you can have a shower, or even a bed, if you need. It is a feel-good place for folks who like a feel of how it was to fly in the good old days. Our kind of folks.

On to Leg 2 of our trip