Page 28 - Twin and Turbine June 2017

On approach to Houma, Louisiana to clear U.S. Customs and enjoy some local Cajun fare.
We have a sampling of some great spicy seafood dishes while sitting on picnic tables covered with white paper from a long roll, surrounded by oil platform workers drinking American label beer from cans, then return to the CJ2 and depart for Fort Worth, Texas.
An hour-and-a-half later we land in FTW to inspect an APU unit which belongs to one of the company’s airplanes and is being repaired. But, given we only have a street address we really don’t know where on the airport the repair facility is located. As it turns out, neither does the ground controller, so we wander around in the little jet, while she finds the business on
Google, then directs us down a steep ramp on the southeast corner. I cannot help but wonder however, what the perception of that seemingly lost and purposeless wandering would have been, if sitting in back.
APU repair business completed, we depart for Camarillo, California (CMA) where we intend to look at a CJ3 that is for sale. Shortly after landing, we are met by some Hollywood types who represent the non-pilot movie business owner. The contrast in personality and cultural types between our new California acquaintances and those from the Bahamas to Louisiana, then Texas is remarkable. In 10 hours, we have gone from faded cargo shorts, old T-shirts and f lip f lops in the Bahamas,
to oil field worker overalls and steel toed boots in Louisiana, to laid back cowboy boots, Wrangler jeans and old American pickup trucks in Texas, and now in California, we see an impressive display of untucked f lowery shirts, laundry pressed jeans, designer sunglasses, garish-looking running shoes and very polished expensive cars of foreign make. It’s almost like a different country. The airplane we are there to evaluate is immaculate as is the carefully selected color scheme in the professionally decorated hangar it is stored in. It seems that owners who sit in back, equate a spotless airplane with one that is also very safe and airworthy, an assumption which holds some element of truth. In the morning, we have breakfast with the same Hollywood bunch at a very busy airport restaurant with a large prominent “gluten-free” menu, and “low calorie” section sections, then depart for the 1.5 flight back up the west coast to Seattle. The weather is clear as we descend, and we can see nearly all of Puget Sound from our seats in front.
The contrasts between the trip in back on the way out, and the return sitting in front get me thinking. No French espresso coffee, leisurely trips to the bathroom or pleasant napping when sitting up front, and the CJ2’s pilot seat is not nearly as comfortable as that nice leather passenger seat in the back of the Gulfstream. But, my view out the front window was much better, the disconcerting noises from f laps and gear operation seemed much more distant and purposeful, and the amount
Flying the nal leg back to Kevin’s home base in Seattle.
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of hand work with frequ•
and FMS inputs, seemed a lot less when you are the one doing them. All in, the outbound trip out while sitting in back was very nice, but the return trip sitting in front ... much better. T&T
ency changes
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and helicopter ratings, has more than 10,000 hours and is typed in several different business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a contract pilot for various corporate operations in the Seattle area. When not working as a pilot he is employed part time as an emergency and urgent care physician.He can be reached at kevin.ware2@aol.com
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