Page 6 - May21T

Last February, while watching the Super Bowl in my socially distanced, virus-free “pod,” a
Doritos commercial aired featuring Matthew McConaughey and the classic Queen song, “I Want to Break Free.” That song, being the earworm that it is, became my personal anthem of sorts to figure out as soon as humanly possible when we could safely and legally start traveling in earnest. Last year, we missed out on our annual f lying adventure to the Bahamas, something we’ve been doing for nearly 20 years. With the vaccine roll-out going quickly and more and more states and countries easing restrictions, I was ready to break free.
The ramp at Georgetown International (MYEF) was full of general aviation aircraft.
Last year, like a lot of aircraft owners, the pandemic made it a perfect time to undertake a major avionics upgrade, including a new autopilot. There is rarely a time when putting our aircraft out of service for a month is workable, but it seemed ideal with no trips on the books. The KFC 150 pitch trim servo had been threatening to fail for a few months, and replacing it was surprisingly costly. What started as an autopilot upgrade grew to a much bigger overhaul. In the end, we installed a Garmin G500TXi, Gi275 standby, GFC500, and a GTX345 transponder with ADS-B in and out.
Our friends at Columbia Avionics in Columbia, MO, did an outstanding job on the install and we left the shop virtually glitch-free. If you don’t know them, they have done some innovative STC’s over the years. Most recently, they certified a complete retrofit package for the Citation 525 that includes the G600TXi, GFC600 autopilot, GTN Xi and GWX75 radar. To say they know their way around a panel upgrade is an understatement.
4 • TWIN & TURBINE / May 2021
by Dianne White
Withthisbeautifulnewpanelwith all its capabilities installed, I was ready to break free of the Midwest cold and head south to the Caribbean sun. Four friends who happen to be experienced Bahamas island hoppers decided to join in the fun flying a Piper Meridian. We settled on Exuma as our destination and began planning in earnest.
In light of the pandemic, flying to the Bahamas requires a few extra steps. Before entering the country, you must apply for a Bahamas Travel Health Visa. In addition, you must obtain and upload with your visa application a negative COVID-19 RT- PCR test taken no more than five days before the date of arrival. That 5-day requirement sets up your window for obtaining approval to enter the
Bahamas. Even if you’re vaccinated, you are still required to complete the test and visa application.
It took two days to get our negative test results back, putting us three days before arrival. With results in hand, we immediately applied for the travel visa. Then we waited. And waited. Numerous calls to the number listed on the website went unanswered. On the day before we arrived, one of our friends who was traveling with us sat on hold for four hours before reaching someone in the Bahamas Travel Compliance Unit. She gave the official all of our visa application numbers, and within minutes, we had approval. At that point, we were 14 hours before our planned arrival. (Thanks, Susie!)
How serious are Bahamian customs about the 5-day requirement and health visa approval? Very serious. Asked what would happen if we had arrived without it, the customs official in Georgetown, Exuma, looked at us very sternly and said, “We send you back to the United States.” And he meant it. Earlier in the day, the FBO personnel told us of a planeful of vacationers who arrived and were summarily send back to Florida. Just because you applied doesn’t mean you can show up and hope they will sort it out once you are there.
Here’s another thing we weren’t expecting. An approved Travel Health Visa arrives as an email with instructions to download the visa, which includes a QR code. Before departure, I called Odyssey Aviation at Exuma International (MYEF) to assure parking for our two-ship. The helpful representative told us we must arrive with a literal print- out of our health visas – the electronic version would not
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