N3306TX's Extreme Airport Extravaganza

[TX_3306]

First flight from 0V2 to KEGE down. Weather was not good VFR for first half of trip...5 mile visibility, 9000 ceiling and winds 9 kts gusting to 19 kts right on the nose.
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...4zajrQWbBabpS8

[350BC_Doug]

Awesome flight Mike... I will get in a run tomorrow!

N350BC_Doug

[TX_3306]

Flight 2 complete - KEGE-KSAN
Tracking URL: http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...r7W6vQSyAeNHAg

Interesting departure...almost didn't make it. I guess the tree branches fell out of the landing gear when I dropped them on approach to San Diego! Lots of AI traffic around the KSAN area arriving on rwy 09, while I'm arriving on rwy 27. Luckily no head-on collisions, but had a close call during the set up for the final approach. Attached are some screenshots.



Ready for departure at KEGE on Rwy 25


Crossing the Grand Canyon


Close call! Traffic crossing my flight path


GPS showing traffic headed for KSAN rwy 09


Final approach Rwy 27 at KSAN

[TX_3306]

Nice early morning dawn flight into Big Bear City.
Tracking-URL: http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...jY8AQX88oKV2R8

[TX_3306]

Beautiful flight into LPMA flying along with Salt_Air. Great weather most of the way but some heavy crosswinds on short final. A few screenies below.

Tracking URL: http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...TXjzhHGI4mWigw

[TX_3306]

Beautiful sunrise departing LPMA with Salt_Air. A few bumps over the water but not too bad arriving into LPPT.
Tracking-URL: http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFli...6CMe6VNMVbiIec

Some screenshots below from the flight.

[TX_3306]

I knew I was in big trouble just before I made the turn east into the Strait of Gibraltar when the warning light illuminated. I trusted that guy back at LPPT to put enough fuel in the tanks last night and in my early morning daze trying to get out of there, I didn't properly recheck the fuel levels. My (almost fatal) mistake. But the real trouble began when I also discovered my radio wasn't working and I tried to cut the approach short and violated Spanish airspace. I went down into the water with the Gibraltar airport in sight. It wasn't long before the Guardia Civil (Spanish Civil Guard) arrived and plucked me off the wing of my plane. Boy was I glad to see them, until after being brought aboard their boat. I was then handcuffed and the questions started flying..."Who are you and what are you doing?...Why did you violate our airspace?...What are you smuggling?...and other questions mostly in Spanish. One officer just kept saying "Usted será puesto en libertad tras el pago de la fianza." (You will be released after paying bail.) Oh boy, today is not my day, I thought. But they didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave the area and head back towards shore.

I kept trying to explain that I had simply run out of fuel, my radio was out and I was unable to make it in to LXGB. It wasn't much longer before a salvage boat with a huge crane arrived and started to pluck my downed plane out of the water. With the plane now out of the water, both boats started moving east. East?, I thought. That's toward Gibraltar, not Spain. Then the handcuffs were removed as we got underway. Now, I'm really confused as to what is going on.

Fortunately, three of my friends had already flown into LXGB before me and were awaiting my arrival at the airport. Dil, Salt_Air and Wombat had noticed all the commotion going on out in the bay near the airport and when my expected time of arrival had passed, they started asking questions. The LXGB airport authority commander had asked them if they knew "the foreigner" flying a KingAir with a tail number of N3306TX. They said yes. It just so happened also that the airport authority commander not only had a great working relationship with the Guardia Civil commander across the bay, but was a friend also. He rang him up and explained the situation. When I got to shore, I finally knew what had happened. There was a crowd awaiting when we arrived and as I looked around, I spotted Dil, Salt_Air and Wombat towards the side of the crowd and all of them were bent over laughing so hard they were hurting. At that point the only thing I could do is laugh with them. But what I didn't expect was they had three things that I needed...dry clothes, a gas can and a successful landing. Thanks guys!

[RedGreen]

That money I wired to certain contacts in the Spanish government probably had something to do with your safe release as well.

[TX_3306]

Ahhhh! I knew an application of the wallet was involved somewhere!

[TX_3306]

Well after yesterday's fuel debacle, the guy at the salvage company was interested to know if I wanted to scrap the KingAir and he made me quite a generous offer. Not only was I able to pay the bail, I had enough money to buy a used Beech Baron that a local had for sale at the airport. Good thing, as it was going to take several months to restore that KingAir. So after getting everything squared away, I departed LXGB and headed for Granada (LEGR). Although a little breezy departing out of LXGB, the majority of the flight was uneventful.