[Part 1: The Journey Begins | Part 2: Storms, Mascots and the Flight to Rockland]
When it came time for this next leg of the journey, we were supposed to head to Halifax, but weather blocked us in. Vlada had a flight booked back to Boston at the same time we were planning to make our way north, but that’s the beauty of the trip… nothing went to plan.
We had to book an extra night at the hotel, and Vlada canceled her flight so we could fly her back ourselves.
When we got to the airport, I learned two lessons:
- Always (given weight, balance, and runway lengths allow) top off the tanks on landing.
- You don’t always need full fuel to fly.
The fueling truck had broken down. Nobody could get 100LL at the airport! Throughout my flying career, I had a habit of not flying unless the tanks were completely full. Maybe not the worst habit, but compulsive for sure. I did the calculations and found that I would still have two hours of fuel by the time we reached our destination, way more than enough to safely find an alternate if needed (even though it was VFR all over the region).
The truck ended up being repaired right before we started the engine and we got fuel, but we would not have even needed it.
The flight over was smooth and pretty, intermittent clouds along the way and beautiful ocean views.
A Lucky Break in Boston
Remember all the stuff we ditched to accommodate Vlada and her bags? Well, we decided to pick it up since we were back in Boston. The only issue was that we didn’t want to pay a ramp fee at KBED.
Upon landing, with movie-like timing, the pilot in the hangar across the ramp was heading out for the day and very kindly offered to let us stay in it for a few hours.
That made our day. We went to Belmont, picked up our meticulously calculated supplies, came back to the airport, and flew back on another uneventful flight, minus the manifold pressure gauge failing…
We also saw one of the most magnificent sunsets of the entire two-month trip during that flight.
Some say everything happens for a reason. The night we got back to Rockland from Bedford, we got a call from my dad saying that family friends were going to be in Bar Harbor the next day.
They offered to treat us to lunch, and we gladly accepted. That meant we had to get to Rockland airport early to get the manifold pressure gauge checked out.
It turned out to be a simple solution. The wire just needed to be grounded. That set us back $500, the one maintenance mistake I made during the entire trip.
The labor was maybe 30 minutes cumulatively, and the part was probably $5. Given my age and the limited maintenance options in the area, I guess they figured I would accept, which I foolishly did.
To be fair, this was the price I got after the fix. The A&P was a young guy and couldn’t have been any nicer. He wasn’t the one who priced the repair.
The Halifax Scare
Either way, we hopped over VFR to Bar Harbor and chowed down on some lobster. The next flight would produce the single biggest mini heart attack of the entire trip, in the air.
After filling out all the paperwork and loading up the charts for Canada, it was time to head to Halifax.
Everything was smooth, except the right fuel gauge started dropping rapidly.
Dylan and I ran through everything we could think of to figure out what was going on. No smell of fuel, no leaks on the wings, nothing unusual with leaning, no visible issues.
Then: POP!
I immediately grabbed the controls and prepared to disengage the autopilot and aim for best glide. The engine made a sound I had never heard before, but it kept running.
The most important thing is always aviate.
The plane was still on autopilot, so the next step was figuring out where we would go if the engine failed. We decided:
- Turn away from the water, which was getting closer.
- Aim toward the direction of Bar Harbor Airport.
Then we carefully analyzed each engine gauge. Everything looked normal.
In the end, nothing was actually wrong, but we paid extra attention for the remainder of the flight.
I would give us a B+ for how we handled the situation. The difference between a B+ and an A is that we fixated on the problem for too long.
Our attention completely shifted away from monitoring the right tank while we tried to diagnose the engine sound. Once we reached cruise, leveled out, and switched tanks, the right tank suddenly gained 20 gallons.
That’s when we realized it was nothing more than a gauge issue.
Even though we were a bit on edge for the rest of the flight, everything else went smoothly.
Four Days in Halifax
We ended up spending an amazing four days in Halifax with close family friends.
Halifax, and more specifically Hubbards, was one of my favorite places. The coast, the people, and the food are all incredible.
We even got to tour the practice facility of Brad Marchand, the new Florida Panthers star.
You’ll also be happy to know that our first and only fish of the trip came during night number three, a mackerel.
Ironically, we were actually fishing for squid.
That night alone, the three of us must have caught 50 squid. Fishing off Hubbards Wharf in early July for squid is like shooting ducks in a barrel. It is so much fun, and they fight surprisingly well for their size.
It was the most action the Ugly Stick saw in all 70 days.
A great way to end my birthday, and test flight day.
IFR Test Flight
Earlier that morning, our mechanic had us go up and run some tests on the engine. He was confident it was either some water in the line (though I am not sure how it would have gotten there, since we sumped every flight) or some residue on the spark plug.
It was during this flight that we learned something interesting. On an IFR flight plan, you do not necessarily need a destination.
It sounds silly, but in flight training flights are always point A to B to C. This flight was simply point A to point A.
All we did was file a plan on ForeFlight to and from the same airport and ask for “IFR vectors” when we called for clearance.
The controller was very helpful and sent us out to the east while we conducted our tests.
Everything checked out, and most importantly, we did not get stuck for maintenance in Canada.
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