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Ferry Tales
The Coldest Caravan
by Joe Casey
Glaciers in Greenland.
Ilove an adventure. A real adventure. The more weird, interesting and off- grid it is, the better. I’m not sure
of all the psychological issues associ- ated with the way my mind is (un) wired, but when I got the call to fly a Cessna Caravan on amphibious f loats from Nigeria to Minnesota, a smile spread across my face.
The flight started with all the is- sues to be expected coming out of a third-world country in Africa. I could write a book about the first half of the trip, with long airline f lights, heat, humidity, unfamiliar customs, odd regulations, the Sahara Desert, high- density altitudes, people helping me, people trying to steal from me, low fuel levels on long legs, scenic flight through France, and unbelievable views from my moving window. The first half of the flight from Nigeria north through the Sahara, across the
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Mediterranean, up through France and Ireland to Iceland was full of great stories. But it was the second half of the f light where the experiences tested my ability as a pilot.
A Caravan on amphibious f loats is a wonderful airplane. It feels like an overgrown Cessna 210, except that the floats lower the CG and add a “pen- dulum effect” to the f lying charac- teristics. Tried and true, trustworthy and tall (really tall), the Caravan has a big presence on the ramp. I’m not the only one that thought well of the amphibious Caravan. Everywhere I went landed, people came out of the woodwork to see the special bird.
For the second half of the trip (Ice- land to Minnesota), Warren Lovell joined me on the trip. Warren is a team member with Shepherd Aero, the company that manages my inter- national f lights. I’ve done many f lights
Landing in Minnesota.
Refueling in Iceland.
for Shepherd Aero, and I think they are singularly outstanding. Warren asked if he could join me on the flight, and I was thrilled to have him along.
We departed Belfast, Ireland (EGAA) on a clear Friday afternoon for Kefla- vik, Iceland (BIKF). It started to get cold in the cockpit, so we turned on the cabin heat. But, the cabin heat did not work. In the Caravan, a switch opens a bleed air valve, allowing bleed air to enter the cabin. For some reason, the bleed air was not entering the cabin as anticipated. I suspect it had not been opened the entire time the Caravan was in Africa. There simply was no reason for it in that heat.
Leaving BIKF, we climbed up to FL120, and our problems started. The