Switch it Up

So for the time being I've switched off from the Navajo to fly the 206 for a few days while our regular 206 pilot is on vacation.  The 206 was just coming out of a 100 hr inspection in Gander, and the Navajo was just heading up to Gander for its 100 hr inspection, so I hitched a ride with my AME co-worker.  It was a pleasant 1 hr flight that would otherwise have been a 6 hour drive for me if the timing didn't work out perfectly like it did.

The job we have here for the 206 is only a tiny little one-flight'er.  Logistically speaking things have gone fairly smoothly so far.  My operator arrived, and by the next day the weather cleared up enough for us to get an FOM in.  The FOM was a pass on the first try fortunately, and by day 2 despite a little bit of bad weather in the morning we were airborne by 10:30 to go get the one and only survey flight done.  Five hours later, we touch back down in Gander - done and done.  While it was all well and good logistically speaking - not so much for my operator.  It must have been something he ate (or maybe my flying?) but he was sick the whole flight.  Not much fun for him, but he's a trooper, rather than wanting to go home, he toughed it out for the whole 5 hours and we got the job done.

The flight went by fairly fast for me.  The survey lines are quite short, so the constant turns keep me busy, and it was interesting scenery.  The north end of the block contained a lake that was very much cottage country.  I flew over a couple sitting out on the end of their dock enjoying the last sliver of summer.  Each time I went over they waved.  They seemed to enjoy the show, which is a change from our experience in Ireland where we had to deal with numerous complaints.

I forgot how sloppy that airplane is compared to the Navajo, or anything else really.  I guess all 206's are like that though.  In a previous post a few years ago I described a different 206 I flew as feeling like a "flying contraption" rather than a well refined airplane - I'd still stand by that statement.  It doesn't feel crisp at all like the low wing Pipers do.  Oh well, at least it looks good.  This spring it got a beautiful fancy new paint job which is a nice change from the stripped down bare metal fuselage is sported for a few years.

I'm glad this is a small job.  This Gander airport is ridiculous for general aviation.  The Shell FBO where we are parked does not have ground side access, so every time we want to go out to our airplane we have to call them, and then wait for them to come to the gate, let us in, and then escort us in our car over to the building.  It would drive me crazy if we had to do this for weeks on end for a large job.

That was yesterday.  Today we're waiting around for approval from our geophysicist to demobilize, or rather mobilize to our next job - in Wabush.  Unfortunately we're having issues booking a hotel room... apparently they always fill up during the week due to mining crews... not quite sure how we're going to work this one out...