A Different Day, A Different Continent

May 31, 2007 through June 17, 2007

PHL-SLC-ANC-JFK-ILG-ATL-IAH-VCP-GRU-ATL-HSV-LUX-AMS-LAX-PPT-LAX-JFK-ORD-HNL-ATL-HSV-(side trip to Tennessee)-PIK-LUX-HSV-ATL-PHL

Houston, Texas.  We arrive at the aircraft (N496MC) and the inbound crew hasn't opened the door yet. 

The center pedestal with the four fuel control switches and the four throttles.  Photo taken in the middle of the night over the Amazon enroute to Sao Paulo, Brasil. 

We arrive in Sao Paulo (Campinas - VCP) early in the morning and after a brief stay (10hrs) I deadhead on Delta from Guarulhos (GRU) to Hunstville (HSV) through Atlamta (ATL) and after a catfish dinner and a short night"s sleep...


Huntsville, Alabama

Aircraft 499, The Spirit of Panalpina.  Packed to the gills....but still room for the helicopter in the picture below. 

JFK Based crewmember, co-worker, and friend, Ben Campanella. 

 

The knee-knocking view from the L1 door.  Time to button up and get underway.

The Tennessee River, the catfish from which sets the standard, the world over, against which all catfish can be compared!!   In the photo below, the large concrete looking block is the Redstone Rocket Engine test firing bed at the NASA facility in Hunstville, Alabama.  This was built by my grandfather, the late Silas Revere Graves while working for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), his small part of the Space Race. 


After we left Hunstville (HSV) behind, we crossed the Atlantic and headed for Luxembourg (LUX).  I immediately deadheaded to Amsterdam (AMS) on a KLM Cityhopper Fokker F50 SuperFriendship for a short overnight and and then a longhaul flight from Amsterdam to Los Angeles (LAX) on a brand new KLM Boeing 777-200ER (christened: The City of Machu Pichu) for another short overnight.  I joined another crew for a hop down to Papeete (PPT) on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti.  Nearing the equator and encountering the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the northern and southern hemisphere opposing headwinds converge (very turbulent) we encountered and circumnavigated that nasty storm in the photo below.

Shortly after passing through the ITCZ we flew over several coral ATOLLs like the one pictured below just before the top of descent.  Following the photo of the atoll are photos of the descent and landing in Papeete.  The photos were taken by Captain Tom Holman since I was very busy at work playing pilot for the day.

     

After we checked into our hotel and changing our clothes we were to meet in the lobby.  While walking to the lobby I heard an airplane flying nearby (hotel not too far from airport) and it had that beautiful whine of the large diameter fan of a GE engine.  I could also tell there where four of then humming and not two.  I thought to myself, "wow, must be a big one leaving for somewhere".  Then it dawned on me that we were the only big thing in town and the light came on in my head that it was our plane with a new crew aboard.  I was on the wrong side of the building and ran to catch the photo (enlarged and grainy as it was too far away) as the plane turned towards the southwest and set course for Sydney. 

The following photos were taken at The Sheraton Tahiti the evening of arrival.   Pictured, hard at work, in the foreground, Captain John Kearins and in the background Captain Tom Holman and myself.  John departed later that night (deadheading to Tokyo and onward to Hong Kong)  The company forgot to buy Tom's and my tickets to LAX for the next morning so we just had to stay longer so there are some photos of the next day too. Click on any of the thumbnail pictures to make them larger.


We all went our separate ways the next day.  I ended up in NY for an overnight before operating to Chicago and Honolulu and had the window been clean I would have included some photos of Oahu from the air.  We did, however, write-up the dirty windshield!!!

While standing around waiting for the wiki-wiki bus to come and get us, the mechanic crawls out the hatch and with a bottle of water, wets the windshield, and uses the windshield wipers to clean the windows (windows of the 747, unlike other airliners, don't open). 

I had to go get a picture of Duke's, but had no time to eat there.  I was on a mission!!  Had to find Pam a dress she requested and head right back to the airport to catch a flight...

...but had to step in the sand of Waikiki for half a minute...even if in Hawaii for all of three hours.


Another long-haul Honolulu to Atlanta (non-stop) a quick change of planes and onward to Huntsville.  Timing was perfect.  With our annual family reunion in Tennessee only a short distance away I rented a car and snuck up to Tennessee.  I knew I was close when I got stuck behind a logging truck for the last 5 miles...

a few pictures of the reunion and the nearby paper mill (crane unloading a logging truck with one grab), my GREAT-GRANDMA's house - the "before" picture...standby for the "after" picture in a couple of years.

no time to dilly dally...with a belly full of catfish and Tennessee in the rearview mirror, time to speed back to the Huntsville airport...


a sister-ship parked nearby during our stop in Scotland the following morning, before we continue on to Luxembourg.

offloading in Luxembourg


directions to food and a walk through town while hunting down the food...note the Cargolux 747 in each photo!!

 

BACK