Flight Control Failure in the Mountains
It had been ten years since I had flown to The Bahamas.
That’s too long for anyone, it was time to go back!
I gathered a foursome and planned a day trip from Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) to South Bimini (MYBS) for some snorkeling. The daunting challenge this time was navigating through the myriad of government websites, new since 9-11, and clearing the trip for departure (stand by for a step-by-step blog post of how to do this). Kristy, a former corporate pilot, manned the right seat and set the avionics for departure.
We met at Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE) and loaded a days worth of luggage into the Baron. Since she had not flown in almost a decade, Kristy took the right seat and wanted to act as co-pilot. Kristy did the takeoff and departure, then entered the Miami Center nightmare of vectors on departure. Even after numerous wild vectors for traffic, we were just 7 minutes late. It was beautiful day to fly with 5,000 broken cumulus and clear blue water. It was an 18 minute flight to begin with and we were looking at 25 minutes total. Not bad for going from the real world to paradise. With the island in sight we canceled IFR and began a descent around the island. We did a cursory loop around the island to scout some snorkeling sites and then lined up on final. There was a twin about a half mile short of the runway, slowly decaying in the surf. I noted its location for a future snorkeling trip. Customs here was slow but effective and we were on the beach within 30 minutes of landing.
Life is good in the islands!
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