Well that didn?t go to plan. I?ve just read this and wish I was a writer not just a mechanic as then I could have a good go at explaining better the scenarios and the environment and the humourous Russians and the warmth and friendship of the Russian people to an idiot in a tiny aircraft arriving out of nowhere at their airport. I?m the first British person most people have ever met?
So no the flight did not go to plan exactly, not that there was much of a plan for things to go to, but still? Unfortunately the latest report is that ?This last flight was the worst flight of my life!? to date and I?ve had some pretty bad flights.... Other flights on this list of flights really not going well, either I knew nothing about them going wrong, like the cracked oil cooler over the sea on the way to Greenland or the tumbling AH in cloud on the way to Iceland and there was little time to react. During this flight, there were some two hours and more to react, mostly spent pondering what to do. Agonising over what to do. Too far down track and not wanting to go back but still many miles form anywhere. The main problem was the engine, there was just no way to keep it warm. So eventually it went tight in flight and lost some power, a frozen throttle control didn?t help. Iced up wings didn?t seem to make much difference, but it was the uncontrollably shaking that changed the course of the flight. The thought that probably chattering teeth and painful feet were not a good combination or position to be in to try and descend back down through the cloud, in the dark, between the mountain, with no main GPS because it had stopped working and slowly faded out with a frozen screen. To land at another semi deserted airport on Sakhalin Island, even if it meant the end of the journey this year and the plane being here for a very long and cold winter, was still the best options, then things were really not going well. It was on the coast, I could go offshore, then skud run back in if necessary. The engine just wouldn?t keep or stay warm, climbing out it was ok, with normal cylinder head temps of 120 CHT, but passing through flight level 50, the oil temp and cylinder heads were back down to 70. Levelling off at FL90 the temps just kept falling and falling. Running the engine at max RPM to try and keep some heat in it didn?t seem to work with the Outside Air Temp of -32. It was -6 on the ground at Khabarovsk. The thought was that maybe it might or would go down to -25 or something like that. The engine operations book says you have to have 100+ CHT before you can run full power and take off, but CHT?s flat out were now down to +42 C. So basically the cylinders were shrinking back down onto the pistons, which were up at +55 C or that was the oil temp on the back of them. But then as the engine tightened up and lost power, flat out seemed the only option anyway, but I just sat their sometimes head in hand wondering when is this thing going to seize up. It wasn?t possible to descend as moisture below the inversion and cloud built ice on the wings and the mountains below poked between them. So the best thing to do was stay up on top of the cloud and in the dry air. I must interject that for those who do not know, I sat on the Chinese border optimistic that they would let my fly though their country and airspace and just one flight would take me to warmer weather and two flights would see me near Shanghai and in almost barmy tropical conditions. This late and final decision of the Chinese to not allow my transit of their airspace meant my only option now is to head for Japan. This means though a flight 300 miles further north to cross over to Sakhalin Island and fly 400 miles down the island and into Japan, before the artic air which is rapidly descending from the north catches up and freezes Itzy to the ground, literally. Magadan where I was last month has hit -16 already and Blagoveshchensk is -11 today. That month I sat in Khabarovsk may have cost me this year?s continuation, as now I?m trying to fly in almost artic winter conditions. I needed that month? When crossing over the sea there was little cloud and a decent was possible, except the throttle had seized up when I tried to close it and not over rev the engine. Ok, leave it running flat out or try closing the throttle? But it was tight, wouldn?t budge a millimetre. Ok, so pull it harder then, but what happens if something snaps, then I loose all throttle control over the middle of nowhere. Too late, pulling it harder and it broke free and the engine revs dropped. Luckily, when the throttle was opened again, everything still seemed connected. It would be a good idea though to keep moving the throttle every minute or so to stop it freezing again. Day light left was two hours but the flight time was three, even though - much to the annoyance of air traffic control - I had cut corners as much as dared at the top of Sakhalin Island where we crossed over the narrowest sea crossing. The reason for taking off so late was that the engine just would not start this morning after the plane sat through overnight temps of -8 c. Normally all that is needed is to throw a hot cup of water over the carburettor, but nope, it wouldn?t have it. Three buckets of piping hot water where fetched and poured over the engine to get it up to temp, call it overkill but so be it. So much hot water was poured over that engine that you had to be careful not to slip up on the pool of ice formed on the tarmac below. We were on time as well. But nope, it would not start. So my friend Andrey, who took me to the airport this morning and used to work as engineering tech here, knew there were cabin heaters kicking around. So we hauled the plane some 500 meters to the maintenance yard and between other aircraft the furnace of one of theses heaters was eventually lit to run and billow out of a big trunk pipe, hot air which was fed into the bottom of the engine cowls until warm air came out of the top air inlets. I tried three times heat for ten minutes, then try to start, no. Then again, no. The exhaust was hot, the engine was hot but it would not start until with virtually the last gasp of the battery brum? I got in and quickly taxied away from the massing crowd. Taxing out the engine was still not happy, but I thought I could clear it on the way to the runway with an An24 taxing out behind me. But I couldn?t clear the rough running engine and with more power it just got worse. So nope, no take off this time. I couldn?t go back as the An24 was blocking the only access to the Runway, 23Right was being dug up for relaying. But I was asked to move 5 meters forward so the An24 could back track the runway, I requested to taxi back in with a technical fault. On the way back the tower asked what my technical fault was. Not being funny, but what good was telling him and anyway I didn?t know. I felt like telling him it was the ?Flux capacitor!? for all you ?Back to the Future!? film buffs, but decided to tell him my EGT?s were too high. That would and did stop the questioning, because why would they be??? I felt tired as I?d been up all night waiting for my flight clearance to come from Moscow who are 7 hours behind us time wise. I received it at 2am and then went into action to prepare. But luckily Andrey had waited to see me take off with the Airfield FIS manager Alexander and they again helped me strip down the ignition. Normally it doesn?t happen but indeed I had managed to fill up one of the distributor caps with water from my attempts to get it going earlier. With the cap dried and all back together and Alexander doing magic with my flight plan to go again straight away, I taxied back out and away from the massed crowd. Now I knew it was too late but the weather is naff tomorrow and I?ve got to try something to move on. I knew there were other airfields on route, so go and see what would happen. There was a question earlier of how can you put up with minus 20 Celsius for a few hours. It had been done before on the flight from Magadan. I?m in my survival immersion suit, so its not a shocker, but you simply can?t move in the cockpit or move your feet because they are jammed up against the extra fuel bladders, so there is no way of shuffling and creating heat. Minus 20 is minus 20, but minus 32 seemed something else. 3 hours in and it was hurting. The chocolate bar just had to be licked as it was teeth braking rock hard and yep the drinking water was frozen. I?ve heard and read of many pilots and their around the world flights and never really have I read any lines about being in pain. Why should this journey cause me hours of pain, really couldn?t feel my feet now. That was it sod it, time to land. Like I said, not a good option as if they did not have a heater on the ground to restart the engine, that would be that for the year. The plane would stay there until next April. Again the controller did not understand the comment of ?I?m going to land at UHSK!? ?KR121 remain at flight level 90!? This repeated statement of intention to land was followed by a request to inform them of why I was landing. A technical fault was reported. ?What is your technical fault?? I was asked? ?Heating!? I replied, ?I have a heating fault.? Like no heating installed? So I flew out back towards the coast, I knew there would be no cloud there and indeed I dropped down to 1,500 meters and run the coast a little, regaining some of the engine temps in doing so with the warmer air lower down. Now out of radio range at this height with Khabarovsk Control, a KLM airliner relayed my intent and stayed with me as Khabarovsk tried to give the wrong directions to the airport. They said I was south of the airfield but it was just coming into view, approaching from the north. With a report of ?field in sight? KLM whished me well and in to a left hand circuit we went. Landing at a great little airfield, much to the surprise of the ground staff who came out to meet me, there was again a sense of relief that everything was ok and all in one piece. But as I got out the plane I found I couldn?t put pressure on my feet, toes or heels, so I couldn?t move. I tried to explain to the ground crew who I was and explain where I had come from and where I was going in my now excellent Rusky, but not how I was or even where I was. I only knew this airfield as UHSK as that is all there was on the map. Shactorsk I have subsequently learnt, but that is not how you spell it, just how they pronounce it. Like Tractor but Shactor sk. I was helped to stagger to the terminal building and up the stairs to the control tower, eyes watering with the pain of my feet. Sergei, the ATC guy, spoke good English and I explained as much as I could and answered phone calls from concerned airport staff at Yuhzon Sakhalinsk, my destination, that all was ok, while I took my immersion suit off and went for the feet. Oooh, removing socks, they were a nasty colour of blue, especially the tows. I know probably all doctors say you should not heat them too much too soon, but next to the antique electric Russian heater they went until they turned a nice shade of red. Red I thought was better than blue and certainly felt that way. So that was the day. Not really, the adventure just goes on and on as I was driven to the hotel into the biggest mining town on the Island where coal mines from the fifties still churn out coal to go to Korea, Japan and China. I simply do not have time to write down what goes on each day, I must go now and assess weather. While I?ve been back at the airfield and checked over the aircraft, the engine seems fine, still good compressions, the fuel filter was full of green stuff that I had noticed on a fuel drain inspection. I refuelled from the bladders I was carrying and all seemed ok. This was done during snow storms and blizzards, I kid you not and there was no continuation yesterday or today as there is no visibility due to a frozen and moist sky. No idea of the cloud base as you can?t see the clouds for the ice crystals. BUT and a big but, there is a cabin heater and it works. So if I get any decent weather, which is doubtful for the next week, we should be able to start the engine and fly on the 1:20 to Yuzhno Sahkalinsk and if the Japanese let me in and I get a weather slot, we should be able to head further south. One more flight to Japan and the pacific sea should keep things warm enough to continue on this year. Ideally I would like to reach India by the new year? We will see?
