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After a long and arduous journey from Japan to Mangalore in a Cessna 402B Rex Booth has provided the following report.
When Kestrel Aviation recently bought a Cessna 402B from Japan, Ray suggested that he and I fly the aircraft back to Mangalore. It sounded like a great adventure so I readily agreed to the idea. A flight from another country, while just a long cross country, is complicated by the red tape involved in flying an Australian registered aircraft through airspace owned and controlled by foreign countries. Permits and overflight clearances were arranged by a Canadian company which specialises in this type of flying. As well as the management of paperwork, we also needed to arrange a high frequency radio and a life raft as there would be some long legs over water. Bringing all these things together took several weeks and during this time Ray's schedule filled up which meant he had to pull out of the adventure. Tony Smith was sought out as Ray's replacement. Ian McFadden also joined the crew as engineer and an extra pilot as the aircraft did not have an auto-pilot. The crew flew out of Australia for Japan on 4th October and arrived at Sapporo on Hokkaido Island late on the 5th. Monday 6th October was spent at Okadama airport where Ian and Tony worked on the Cessna installing the HF radio and making sure the aircraft was ready for the long flight to Mangalore. I dealt with the paper work and flight planning details. Tuesday 7th October was a beautiful day and we left from Okadama airport at around 10 a.m. for a flight of 2.2 hours to Niigata where we stopped for fuel; our planned destination for the first day was Naha on Okinawa. From Niigata we flew 3.8 hours to Kagoshima, because of terrain this leg of the journey had to be flown at 12,000 feet. Fortunately the aeroplane was equipped with an oxygen system. As we approached Kagoshima, the good weather we had experienced earlier in the day had deteriorated. We landed in rain at Kagoshima and upon checking the weather for Naha we discovered that a complex frontal system sat over Okinawa with lots of thunderstorms in the area. As it was now getting dark and we had already had a long day, we made a unanimous decision to stay the night in Kagoshima. The staff at the flight planning office helped us find accommodation. We were bemused when staff at one hotel wanted to know how tall we all were. It seems some Japanese hotels do not have beds big enough for tall people (and Tony is tall). The only hotel with rooms available was authentic Japanese in style, where we slept on the floor with pillows filled with sand, or so it felt! The bathrooms were efficient little rooms equipped with toilets that had complicated-looking switch panels on them. Of course, the engineer in Ian and Tony meant they could not resist finding out what the switches did, and so they ended up washing the ceiling! We were told that rooms were hard to find because many airlines had cancelled flights due to the weather and so lots of passengers had to be accommodated overnight. We were able to make an early start from Kagoshima on the morning of the 8th and we were the first aircraft to depart when the airport opened. The flight to Naha took 2.5 hours and gave us a good view of the southern islands of Japan. At Naha we had to clear immigration and customs before departing for Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. We got away from Naha for our 3.4 hour flight just as a large storm approached the airport from the north. This part of Japan is home to a large American military base and we were given radar vectors well off the course we wanted to take until we could eventually say we had reached 8000ft, this kept us clear of some military traffic. The weather was hot and we were very heavy. As we entered Taiwanese airspace we were told to contact Taipei control on a VHF frequency but, due to our low altitude, this was not possible. An Air Vietnam flight relayed for us and told us to try again when 100 miles form HCN VOR. Some time before reaching 100 miles from HCN Ian decided to try the HF radio and almost immediately we heard Taipei saying they had an important message for VH-KCL (which was us). The message was to go 15 miles south of track and climb to 10,000 feet due to live gunnery firing in front of us. This we did, and wondered what would have happened if Ian had not chosen that moment to try the HF. The weather was clear around Taiwan and we had a great view of the southern part of the island before landing in Kaohsiung. As we taxied to our parking spot we were greeted by an efficient crew from China Airlines and we all looked forward to a quick turnaround and then on to Manila. While Tony and Ian looked after refuelling I went to operations to plan the next leg of the flight. Things started coming apart as I was informed there was no AVGAS available in Kaohsiung. All information we had received indicated AVGAS was available. The staff located AVGAS at the China Petroleum depot and went off to collect it but after some time we were informed this was now not available. We found out the next day that the fuel was out of date and could not be used without being retested. China Airlines Staff then contacted the only company in Taiwan still operating a piston-engine aircraft and they said they were sending an aircraft to Kaohsiung the next day with an accompanying road tanker so we could buy fuel from them. Unfortunately the weather was poor the following day and the aircraft did not come, but eventually arrangements were made for the tanker to be driven down. We got our fuel at about 9 pm and arranged for an early departure the following morning. From Kaohsiung we flew to Manila, a flight of 3 hours; weather was good and we were welcomed by the agent and a van load of uniformed officials. I think they were expecting a corporate jet. We faced another tedious fuel situation when the agent tried to insist we pay for the fuel in cash. After several phone calls this problem was sorted out and we were on our way to Mactan for a night stop. In Mactan fuel was only available in drums and no-one had a serviceable pump so ingenuity was required. Using a baggage loader it was possible to raise a drum higher than the wing and siphon fuel into the tanks. The hotel was only 500 metres from the aircraft which helped us get an early start for Manado in Indonesia on the 11th. Once again we had perfect weather for our 3.3 hour flight to Manado. I had planned an early arrival at Manado because my previous experience with this airport was that after midday there was a very good chance of heavy rain and storms affecting all approaches. There was no agent to meet us in Manado and for a short time no-one seemed interested in us. Then an airport official drove up to ask us what we intended to do so we presented our papers and explained that we just wanted fuel and we would be on our way to Ambon. This official drove off to the fuel depot to enquire about AVGAS then went back to the terminal. Tony and Ian walked to the fuel depot which was nearby and were in the process of arranging payment for fuel when it became apparent that the only fuel they had was AVTUR. The airport director arrived and informed us that MAF had AVGAS which he would try and obtain for our use. We were left sitting under the wing of the 402 for what seemed like hours. I contacted our Canadian planning company to once again complain about the arrangements we had paid them to make and was informed that, despite several assurances from them regarding fuel in Ambon, they now had to advise us that there was none there. Airport officials had found AVGAS in Ujung Pandang but we did not have enough fuel left to go that far. We decided that when we obtained the MAF fuel we would plan on going direct to Darwin using a reduced power setting. The aircraft was fueled late in the day and we once again had an unscheduled night stop. We found out that the Indonesian President was coming to town so all reasonable hotels were booked out. We chose what seemed to be a reasonable-looking hotel called The New Queen from an advertisement in the airport terminal. On arrival at the hotel all seemed to be okay but once in the rooms we discovered things were not what they seemed. I opened the fridge and the door came away in my hand as the hinges had rusted off. The shower in Tony's room did not work and the toilets were in a similar state of disrepair. We headed to the airport early the following morning and, after chasing the airport director around, managed to get our papers and file a flight plan but could not obtain a weather forecast. While we were trying to arrange all this, a local airline HS748 landed and lost its hydraulics so off went the director to sort that out. Our Canadian planning copmany were able to provide us with the Darwin TAF along with an assessment of enroute winds. Finally we were away on a 5.8 hour 906nm flight to Darwin. The weather for this leg was again good and we even picked up a slight tailwind. We entered Australian airspace after 4.5 hours flying and there was a discernible calmness that swept over us. All arrangements for our arrival in Darwin went according to plan so after a quick but late lunch we took off for Mt Isa where we eventually got to our motel at 10.30 p.m. It was a long day with three weary but relieved crew. Monday 13th saw us in the air at 6 a.m. for a 3 hour hop to Charleville then 2.2 hours to Tamworth where Ian lives. Ian removed the HF radio and left Tony and I to fly the final 2.6 hours to Mangalore. The flying was great, the Cessna 402B flew well and despite all the hassles with agents and fuel, I think each of us would put our hands up to do it again.
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