Page 28 - May 2019

on the white line. My wife lets out a sigh of relief as he immediately gets on the prop reverse and exits well before the breaking waves down at the end. I note he correctly positions the controls for a quar- tering from the left tailwind, and taxis to the small terminal where he parks the airplane into the wind, pulls the fuel shut off lever, and hops out while the prop is still turning to place some chocks under the tires. He then goes around to the airplane’s rear door, opens it and invites us all out, cautioning the ladies to watch their step. Despite his worrisome appear- ances, he did a pretty good job.
The old leper colony is both an inter- esting and saddening place to visit. As it turns out, only a small percentage of the Western human population (5 per- cent) is susceptible to the disease, but among societies never before exposed the number is dramatically higher. For this reason, when the disease became evident in the Hawaiian Islands in the early 1800s, it spread quickly, leading the government at the time to banish anyone who even appeared to have the disease to Kalaupapa. But the history of this human
tragedy and how its victims managed is what makes the visit worthwhile.
After a sobering tour of the site con- ducted by a Hawaii Department of Health official, we returned to the airport to find the waves even higher – high enough to now push large volcanic rocks up onto the runway in huge sprays of salt water. Our same tattooed, goateed pilot is again nowhere to be found, but a local said he was “visiting a girlfriend” and would be back shortly. Half an hour later, we were again sitting behind the pilot as he pushed fuel to the PT6 at 10 percent RPM, quickly taxied out to the runway, took off and became airborne well before hitting the rocks now on the runway. He then makes a left 180-degree turn, which was more or less a direct heading to MKK. The nose is kept high and the IAS at about 90 knots as the old Caravan rocks in the turbulence, struggling to get to 1,500 feet in order to cross over the cliff to our left. We land 10 minutes later, with me applying full down left aileron and a lot of right rudder to compensate for the 35-knot crosswind from the left. My right hand grabs the prop reversing
lever immediately after landing, and my toes strain for the brakes. It was only after taxiing back to the terminal that I was willing to surrender the nonexistent imaginary controls in front of me.
Kalaupapa was certainly an interest- ing place to visit but left me unsure about the “sitting in the back” business in small airplanes. The imaginary controls do not work very well, and it is much more threatening than actually having my hands on the real ones.
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and heli- copter 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 corporations 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.
26 • TWIN & TURBINE / May 2019
SRS Aviation