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Finished the Bahamas Challenge in My DA40

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:50 am
by gandalfim
Hi All,
Back in November I completed the 2013 Bahamas Pilot Challenge in my DA40.

Trip details: 3000 km, 21 airports (US and Bahamas), 9 islands, 8 days. (We made it all the way down to Inagua and could see Cuba while on approach.)

For those who would worry about flying single engine over the ocean, for the most part, we were always within sight of an island or boat. Besides, we had a raft, so I was never worried. (I was more worried by the bad weather in FLA on the way down from NJ.)

It was a great experience and I highly recommend it to everyone.

I uploaded my flight reports, they start at 5250.

Take Care,
Dan Ferry

Re: Finished the Bahamas Challenge in My DA40

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:13 am
by eHotAir
Congrats Dan. That is a dream that I will have to accomplish. Where can we find your flight plan?

Re: Finished the Bahamas Challenge in My DA40

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:00 pm
by Gnomad
Very cool Dan! This is near the top of my list, considered it in the last months of owning my 40, but decided to wait until my 42 was ready. Did manage to hit Key West on my last flight as a primer. ;)

I'm curious as to your thoughts on your favorite spots, which ones to avoid etc...Been reading a lot of opinions on the Red/Blue board. Going to have my wife along for the trip this Spring, so need to make sure I do it right! :D

Re: Finished the Bahamas Challenge in My DA40

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:22 am
by gandalfim
Doug,
I uploaded my flight records to the REPORTS section above. They begin at #5250. I don't know if there is a way for you to sort/isolate my uploads, but my UID is gandalfim if that helps.

Eric,
I'll have to think about where my favorite/avoid places are. Off the top of my head, I'd say Long Island is my favorite (I'm going back at the end of Feb. for two weeks.) but I can't think of any "avoids". All the islands are pretty awesome and have their own +/-. I'll think about it and try to come up with some thoughts...

One thing I learned is that you need to pay CLOSE attention to the NOTAMS for airports down there and make phone calls if there is anything you're not sure about. Example: After leaving Inagua we planned to land at Mayaguana. (report #5266) We had the NOTAMs for Mayaguana, and knew there was construction on the runway, but we interpreted the NOTAM as saying that the runway was open and that most of it was usable. (This isn't unusual, we had the same thing at KBQK... landed over constrution equipment on the runway.) Anyway... as you can see in the report, we were on short final, past the "numbers", at 45 feet when I saw rebar sticking up, running the length of the runway!! I wasn't flying, so I called (perhaps screamed) "PULL UP...GO AROUND!", as soon as I saw the rebar. They would have destroyed us if we had hit them. (There were no X's at the end of the runway.) ...We continued on to San Salvador.
When we landed we double-checked the NOTAM and saw there was contradictory info. (It did say the runway was "closed to all but helicopters".) I guess we chose to see the part that said the runway was usable and "got us there"....?

As I said in my initial post, it was an awesome experience. Highly recommend it!

(Tip: When booking hotels, tell them you are a pilot and many will give discounts. Also, I wouldn't pre-book hotels. Instead, I recommend you have a list of places you'd like to stay and call after you land. I lost $250 because I pre-booked a place on Eleuthra, and due to a miscalculation on where it was relative to the airport, decided to not stay there, and they would not refund my money due to 21 day refund policy... even though I had only booked it 3 days before. ...There are always rooms available down there.)