Four Aircraft Head for Greece. Day One

On Saturday the 29th, Teams Alaska (Nick and Lita), Barnstormers (Keith and Colin), SoCal Travel Air (Pedro and Emily), Frog and Kiwi (Cedric and Alexandra), and a support flight piloted by Manfredo and Francois with a Piper Warrior departed Charleroi with the intention of making it to Avignon, France.  We all looked forward to the first day of flying to the rally's starting line in Crete.  The weather in and around Charleroi was beautiful and weather enroute looked pretty good.

In a spacious briefing room at the back of a large hangar, we all gathered around to sync our Sky Demon and Air Nav Pro programs on our devices to the routing Cedric had devised for us after we all had had time to evaluate weather forecasts, com (communication) frequencies, and clear up any questions.  iPads and GPS devices aside, it felt a bit like being in a mission briefing before scrambling to our biplanes to head out in pursuit of the Red Baron.  Snoopy would be jealous.

With Cedric and Alexandra in the lead with their Stampe, we took off with a clearance for Vintage Air Rally aircraft 1 through 4.  We got off an hour later than we had hoped as some media people arrived to take pictures, ask questions, and do a little filming.  We were delighted they came as for all of us, this is a big undertaking and we appreciated the attention.

Taxiing out for take-off from Charleroi.

 Cedric and Alexandra's Stampe leading "the Pack".  The rally organizers made up flag decals for each aircraft which went on the vertical stablizer and rudder.




 Looking over my shoulder and seeing the other aircraft lifting off the runway behind us and climbing to our pattern altitude made me realize we were really on our way and soon we would be linked up with the rest of the rally participants in Greece.  It was such an exhilarating feeling to see all of us climbing in unison. 

Teams Barnstormers and SoCal Travel Air doing their runups in Charleroi.




 Alexandra handled a lot of the radio work and weather updating which she passed on to all of us on the 123.45 frequency.  The coordination was great, as were the great views of French farming country.  As in so many remote places in the world that have come to recognize the necessity of cleaner energy, giant wind generators whirred efficiently on various plateaus along our route.  Seeing these ones made me think of the ones erected on the ridge above Unalakleet that I always admired every time I had a flight there with PenAir.

The landscape also showed thick, autumn bronze tinted forests corralling luscious green fields dotted with sheep, goats, and cows peacefully sharing space.

We approached our first refueling stop in Dijon.  With coordinated formation we landed one after the other.  Space in the Travel Air is a little cramped. We are quite limited in what we can carry on board with us (hence the support aircraft).  My back pack is under Nick's seat, our life vests -- when we're not wearing them over water -- are under my seat, an army bag the size of a large purse is also under my seat, a first aid kit is in Nick's cockpit, the raft (approximately 14"x14"x3") is on my seat to my right being a large armrest, and Nick's bag is on my seat to my left.  On the panel in front of me is mounted my iPad which gets programmed every morning with the flight routing for the day.  Nick has a smaller iPad mounted on his panel with the same program.  Sky Demon seems to work best for us.  Colin has his iPad programmed with it too, and Keith uses his GPS.  So, getting out of the Travel Air after two and a half hours of flight involves a bit of twisting, turning, and high stepping all at once.  On the ground, it felt so good to stretch and stamp our feet.

We oversaw the  refueling of our aircraft and then made beelines for the small terminal and the restrooms. A slight misunderstanding with a couple of pilots in crew uniforms in what we all thought was an FBO since it was marked as such caused a little stir when Keith innocently availed himself of some coffee from a beverage service table with stacked ceramic cups and saucers, and cream and sugar containers. Cedric and Alexandra had already passed through this area into an adjacent building where the restrooms were and where passengers board their regional small aircraft for outlying villages.  Poor Keith had barely taken a sip when one of the pilots approached him and in rapid fire French made it clear that a serious breech had been made.  Apparently, this "FBO" was for flight crews of high-end executive jet aircraft and not crews of vintage aircraft wearing coveralls and sporting 'helmet hair' and 'goggle noses'.  Keith offered to pay for the coffee but the damage to the prestige of this office with all the trappings of a modest crew lounge was too severe.  I wanted to inform the men that if they cared to know our resume, we had dined in the best restaurant in Namur, Belgium dressed just as we were, but thought better of it....of course.  No time for an international incident over a cup of coffee.  Also, we became aware that these "pilots" may have been employed in some security capacity as well when one of them brought a pair of handcuffs.  Needless to say, we retreated into the other building where a coffee kiosk dispenser was and where a customs official had a desk.  We gathered once again as a group to get briefed on the next leg to Avignon.  We rose to exit and head to our aircraft when one of the FBO pilots went to the customs official and spoke to him in low tones while looking over at us.

It took us 20 minutes to fill out forms, have our passports checked, have pilot license numbers entered in a database, and in general be given a thorough once over.  The delay made it clear that after our late start in Charleroi, we would not make Avignon well enough before dark.  So, on to Macon instead.

 Posing before leaving Dijon

Cedric and Alexandra going over flight plan.

 

 Approaching Macon where we RONed