Community Magazine May 2013

The clouds were approaching quickly, and it would be extremely unsafe - and illegal - to continue to a visual landing as had been directed by the air traffic controller. Fortunately, my airplane was equipped with the necessary instruments to fly in clouds, and I knew how to use them, a skill that requires many hours of training, testing and practice. The primary instrument is a device which artificially simulates the horizon. I immediately radioed the controller and requested a clearance for an instrument landing into JAX. The controller issued the authorization, and we descended through the clouds on instruments. Although I could not see the ground or horizon, I was able to maintain control of the aircraft using the artificial horizon. Eventually I got below the cloud deck and saw the airport. We landed and taxied to the FBO (fixed base operator), but it was getting late. No time for Kangaroo Mart here. Just fuel and snacks, and we departed for Key West while there was still some daylight. This time, I let the controllers select the route, as the South Florida airspace can be quite congested. The pink-and-orange sun set off our right wing during the flight, as we slid down the Florida peninsula with the ocean to our left. It had been a few hours since our lunch feast in Wilmington, and the lure of a hot kosher dinner, unavailable in Key West, was overwhelming. Our destination was accordingly changed to Fort Lauderdale Executive airport. The controller lined us up, and the runway lights beckoned us to the ground in darkness. We taxied up to the Banyan Air FBO. Inside, I asked the clerk for a hotel recommendation. Obviously unfamiliar with the phenomenon known as yeshiva Intersession, she wondered aloud why all the hotels were booked and so expensive, and she was bereft of suggestions. But a pilot who had just landed in a real airplane, a Hawker jet, said that he was staying at the Universal Palms Hotel near the airport, the rate was a mere $79.00, and they had vacancy. If the UPH was good enough for this jet driver, whose fuel bill cost more than my whole airplane, it would be good enough for us. We rented a car, gratefully dined on falafel and burgers at Pita Plus, and checked into the hotel. Once settled in, we painfully discovered that the hotel was adjacent to a rail line, and that the train engineers were compelled to blow the horn - LOUDDDDDDD - as they passed the Universal Palms. As Abie and I started to drift into a well-earned sleep, Lee managed to secretly find a sound-effects app on his iPad that replicated a train’s LOUDDDDD horn, and when we least expected it, a digital train passed through our hotel room. The next morning we flew the analog airplane for about an hour to Key West International Airport, our designated launching point for Cancun per the electronic manifest I was required to file with the U.S. government. The weather forecast for Cancun was for very strong winds directly across the runway, which, if accurate, would require a diversion to the nearest suitable Mexican airport - Merida - a mere three-hour car ride to Cancun. I prayed the forecast would be wrong. We climbed to our cruising altitude of 8,000 feet and leveled off, on a direct route to Cancun, guided by a GPS. A short while later the Miami-based controllers transferred us to the Havana frequency, and “Good day” was replaced by “Buenos dias” in the radio exchanges. The clouds thickened under us, creating a white magic carpet that blocked a view of Cuba. Gradually the clouds grew in height, and we were now flying in them, not over them. Those fluffy, pretty cumulus clouds actually harbor turbulence, and we were getting bounced around. When we were transferred to the Mexican controllers, we obtained a current Cancun weather report. The forecast wound up being overly pessimistic, as the wind was a benign 10 MPH! Phew, Merida was stricken from the itinerary. Lee and I exchanged high- fives - literally - as we were a mile-and-a-half over the earth’s surface. After another half-hour of flying, the Mexican coast came into view, and I yelped “land ho!” We hadn’t seen terra firma for nearly three hours. We landed at Cancun International, and knew we were in the right place when we saw a Corona beer advertisement hanging from the control tower. As we shut the engine down, the forecasted winds suddenly appeared, along with buckets of rain. The tail number had come through for me once again! But now I had to deal with a coterie of Mexican bureaucrats. If my paperwork was not in perfect order, we could be sent right back to the U.S. Two humorless inspectors with rifles approached the Cardinal, and we were ordered out of the aircraft. Mexico – On a Wing and a Prayer JOSEPH LEE MATALON Part III : Turbulence In last month’s segment of Joe Matalon’s intersession flight to Cancun with sons Lee and Abie in a small Cessna airplane, the crew was heading into low clouds near Jacksonville International Airport. Unless handled properly, this situation could end disastrously. 54 Community magazine