PRB's CCAA DC-2 Thing

PRB

PRB

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Just went wheels up from Cabo Rojo on the southern coast of Dominican Republic for the short hop across the Caribbean Sea to Maracaibo to get this cargo caper under way. Took all the seats out of the back of the Douglas to make room for more cargo stuff. Hope I didn't forget nuthin.

 
Taking off SVMC-SVBK.
Take off weight: 17588 LBS
Fuel: 918 LBS
Cargo: 4000 LBS
14 crates of peaches.
13 boxes of used monkey wrenches.
10 bags of concrete.
9 drums of relative bearing grease.
7 cases of corn flakes.
1 engine block.
 
Dang it, I knew I forgot something. They would have made me overweight anyway. Taco can take them in the C-82 “Pack-it”...

Arrived SVBK.
Flight Time: 01:05:45
Fuel used: 364 LBS.
Maintenance Points: 0.
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=5VFRpFmxapahXwuCJvYFRumtw0U

Down safe at Bocono and delivered the cargo. Got a receipt too. Even for the grease... VFR nav went pretty good. My first waypoint was the airport at Bachaquero (SVBQ), which was right along the course and has an NDB station. Next was this big lake, then some arbitrary point in the mountains six miles from the airport. That's not going to work. I'll have to pick waypoints that I can easily identify from the flight deck (duh!) Took some kodaks: 1) Approaching the big lake. 2) Final approach (missed the ridge.) and 3) Almost touch down. Note the angle of the plane's shadow to the runway. Nice cross wind!
 
Taking off for LEG 2 (SVBK-SVMD)
Take off weight: 17,159 LBS
Fuel: 489.6 LBS
Cargo: 4,000 LBS

This flight will take us along the “Sierra Nevada de Merida” range, which is the bit of the Andes that stretches into Venezuela. It route to SVMD will take us past Venezuela's highest mountain peak, Pico Bolivar, east of our track (hopefully.) The plan is to avoid getting too intimate with the 16000 foot peak...
 
Arrived SVMD
Flight Time: 00:33:15
Flue Used: 172.0 LBS
Maintenance Points: 0
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=0kq7uUk7HXR34eMACjLQ3NAoc

Made it safely to Alberto Carnevalli airport (SVMD). I never did see the 16000 foot mountain. I guess that's a good thing. The kodaks show the tall building(s) at Merida strategically placed in the approach path of runway 24. I thought for a moment I would bust the altitude ceiling on this one, but there was a nice pass to sneak through.

 
PRB said:
The plan is to avoid getting too intimate with the 16000 foot peak...
Click to expand...
Ah yes, I know that one! I went over it's flanks at barely below the alt cap and at one point my rad alt gauge showed 250ft of clearance! The trees were looking awfully large at the time.
 
Tako_Kichi said:
Ah yes, I know that one! I went over it's flanks at barely below the alt cap and at one point my rad alt gauge showed 250ft of clearance! The trees were looking awfully large at the time.
Click to expand...

Big trees at 15000 feet can get "interesting" ... :icon_lol:
 
In their livery, Panagra was surely keen on "showing the flag."
Perhaps they wanted the bandidos to refrain from taking pot shots...
 
MM said:
In their livery, Panagra was surely keen on "showing the flag."
Perhaps they wanted the bandidos to refrain from taking pot shots...
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. They sure wanted to eliminate any confusion in that area!
 
Taking off for Leg 3 (SVMD – SKBG)
Take off weight: 17588 LBS
Fuel: 918 LBS
Cargo: 4000 LBS

Thanks Rob, and thanks for the great plane to fly! Time to get this show back on the road. It was tough finding appropriate cargo. First the company wanted me to take a full load of toilet paper. Heck, that would have filled up the plane and weighed hardly nothing. I told 'em to give me something heavy, so they pointed to this 850 pound generator, but the darned thing wouldn't fit through the door. After some more arguing and phone calls, with appropriate arms waving, the DC-2 is loaded. 4000 pounds exactly. Ten pallets full of bull dozer spare tires, four cases full of anti-freeze for some DC-4 engines, and six drums full of prop wash.
 
Arrived SKBG
Flight Time: 01:00:34
Fuel: 403.0 LBS
http://fs-duenna.com/flights/ShowFlight.php?detail=flight&value=IwlR94P9NKHuEzZ6VVoUEUyMQ9M

We finally crossed the border into Columbia, landing at Palonegro (SKBG) basically without incident. There were thunderstorms and moderate turbulance from the moment we started down from the last ridge into the valley where the airport is. The kodaks show 1) What it looked like as we approached the last tall mountain range (oh, great!) 2) Flying low over the field to check the wind. 3) Final. 4) Touch down.

 
robcap said:
Hi,

can you show a close-up of the nose art, and of the operator ;-). Looks cool!

Rob
Click to expand...
I added the “operator” to this otherwise beautiful paint just before starting on this operation... :icon_lol: Merc Air is an outfit started by Willy in the CFS2 days. Now that the war is over, Merc Air, still headed up by Willy, is a “for hire” organization that engages in various operations of questionable repute and borderline legality, depending on the laws of the coutries we're operating over... The nose art is “Buzz”, from the cartoon character “Buzz Buzzard”, from some decades ago, the “official/non-official” mascott and logo for the outfit. The orange thing is the logo from a real squadron that I was in when I was in the navy, VA-94, in the 1980s.

 
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