jaxpilot
Filing Flight Plan
It's that time of year again, aviators, and I want to invite all of y'all to join us this year. OK - you have to have an IFR pilot in the plane, but it shouldn't be too hard to find a willing one.
First, a little background. About 12 years ago, after years upon years of dreaming of flying, I started to get serious. I saw an ad for the Cayman Caravan, and thought that it would be cool to do. In fact, wanting to go on the Caravan was a major motivator to start my Instrument Training. Fast forward to 3 years ago, and I finally made the trip for the first time. IT WAS AWESOME. I went with my wife (who was then my girlfriend), and we had a blast. I enjoyed it so much, I begged them to let me join the staff. The following year, I did just that and am now preparing for my 3rd consecutive trip to Grand Cayman. This time, it will be me, Kim (wife), Sam (newly adopted son), and Cindy (sister) who will gets a free trip (paid for by me) to babysit Sam while Kim and I are working.
Anyway, the website is www.cayman-caravan.com, and we have opened up for registration. Go take a look, and then register to join us. For one low fee ($479) we do all of the paperwork for you, Customs into Grand Cayman, Customs back into the US, Cuban overflight permits, Jepp Tripkit, safety seminars, and more. We muster in Key West starting on Sunday evening or Monday. Monday and Tuesday we have seminars on Thunderstorms, Ditching, Caravan Operations, etc. There is an in water deployment of a life raft on Monday afternoon, and you can practice ingress and egress methods in the water. It is a little trickier than one might imagine.
We have custom written software that takes in all the aircraft, their capabilities, speed, preferred altitudes, and then groups them into flights of 4. The goal is to put, if possible, one twin in each flight, a radar equipped aircraft, and stratify all aircraft so that no departing aircraft overtakes an inflight plane at the same altitude. This expedites the flow of IFR traffic over Cuba and into Grand Cayman. Planes are launched about 1-2 minutes apart, as fast as Navy Key West and Miami Center can get them cleared. We use 123.45 as a Caravan frequency, and unless you are the first plane out, there is always someone just ahead of you who knows what is going on weather wise. It really is a blast, especially if you have not taken any international trips in your airplane.
The Cuban controllers are very friendly, and they love to work the Caravan. They refer to it as the GA Rally, and for them it is like getting to work Oshkosh or Sun-n-fun here in the states. They speak very good english, and communication is not a problem. The longest overwater leg is about 130 NM, so you are never more than 65 miles from land. Shipping activity is heavy, and you will frequently see cargo ships plying the waters of the Florida Straits and the Caribbean Sea. The only incident ever to occur on the Caravan was a few years ago when Amy Laboda, an aviation writer, broke a crankshaft on her Cessna just after takeoff from Key West. No one was injured.
We have taken as many as 135 aircraft over, and as few as 35. I think we took 64 last year. You meet a lot of great people, who share a love of aviation, and there are many repeat Caravanners. Some have come 10 years in a row. Just a great bunch of people to hang out with, talk aviation and diving, and party on the island with. We also have what we call a Culinary Caravan, where a staff couple hosts dinner at a different restaurant each night. It has proven wildly popular in the 3 years we have done it. The diving is incredible in Grand Cayman, and there are lots of things to do besides that. This year, we are going to try a Carat Caravan for the ladies, where we take them to Kirk Freeport on a shopping expedition while we have the aviation seminars for a half day on Friday. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Westin, one of the nicest hotels on the island, as well as a few other hotels. Special rates arranged with Avis, who has a bunch of new cars on the island.
I could go on and on about this. Just in case anyone is wondering, I have no financial interest or gain from the Caravan, and in fact the organizer usually takes a loss each year. I also cleared this post with the moderators, so that they were satisfied this was not an "advertisement". I just had so much fun my first time, and loved being able to fly over Cuba and have all the details handled for me.
Another staffer and I flew for an overnight trip to Grand Cayman on the 14th of March, and they are making good progress recovering from the beating they took at the winds of Hurricane Ivan. Everyone there on island is pulling together to help each other out. The VOR was blown into the ocean, so GPS and NDB are the only active approaches at this time. In the 15 years of the Caravan, on only one trip several years ago was an instrument approach required, and that was for just a few of the aircraft. In fact, most people cancel IFR, since Cayman has no radar anyway, and do a VFR approach. The cruise ship approach, it is called. You fly over the North end of the island, across the bay, call the first cruise ship as your base leg, and just past the last cruise ship you turn final over the fuel farm for a landing on RWY 8. It is very cool, 1000' along 7 mile beach on base.
Enough rambling, feel free to ask questions or go to http://www.cayman-caravan to register or get more info.
First, a little background. About 12 years ago, after years upon years of dreaming of flying, I started to get serious. I saw an ad for the Cayman Caravan, and thought that it would be cool to do. In fact, wanting to go on the Caravan was a major motivator to start my Instrument Training. Fast forward to 3 years ago, and I finally made the trip for the first time. IT WAS AWESOME. I went with my wife (who was then my girlfriend), and we had a blast. I enjoyed it so much, I begged them to let me join the staff. The following year, I did just that and am now preparing for my 3rd consecutive trip to Grand Cayman. This time, it will be me, Kim (wife), Sam (newly adopted son), and Cindy (sister) who will gets a free trip (paid for by me) to babysit Sam while Kim and I are working.
Anyway, the website is www.cayman-caravan.com, and we have opened up for registration. Go take a look, and then register to join us. For one low fee ($479) we do all of the paperwork for you, Customs into Grand Cayman, Customs back into the US, Cuban overflight permits, Jepp Tripkit, safety seminars, and more. We muster in Key West starting on Sunday evening or Monday. Monday and Tuesday we have seminars on Thunderstorms, Ditching, Caravan Operations, etc. There is an in water deployment of a life raft on Monday afternoon, and you can practice ingress and egress methods in the water. It is a little trickier than one might imagine.
We have custom written software that takes in all the aircraft, their capabilities, speed, preferred altitudes, and then groups them into flights of 4. The goal is to put, if possible, one twin in each flight, a radar equipped aircraft, and stratify all aircraft so that no departing aircraft overtakes an inflight plane at the same altitude. This expedites the flow of IFR traffic over Cuba and into Grand Cayman. Planes are launched about 1-2 minutes apart, as fast as Navy Key West and Miami Center can get them cleared. We use 123.45 as a Caravan frequency, and unless you are the first plane out, there is always someone just ahead of you who knows what is going on weather wise. It really is a blast, especially if you have not taken any international trips in your airplane.
The Cuban controllers are very friendly, and they love to work the Caravan. They refer to it as the GA Rally, and for them it is like getting to work Oshkosh or Sun-n-fun here in the states. They speak very good english, and communication is not a problem. The longest overwater leg is about 130 NM, so you are never more than 65 miles from land. Shipping activity is heavy, and you will frequently see cargo ships plying the waters of the Florida Straits and the Caribbean Sea. The only incident ever to occur on the Caravan was a few years ago when Amy Laboda, an aviation writer, broke a crankshaft on her Cessna just after takeoff from Key West. No one was injured.
We have taken as many as 135 aircraft over, and as few as 35. I think we took 64 last year. You meet a lot of great people, who share a love of aviation, and there are many repeat Caravanners. Some have come 10 years in a row. Just a great bunch of people to hang out with, talk aviation and diving, and party on the island with. We also have what we call a Culinary Caravan, where a staff couple hosts dinner at a different restaurant each night. It has proven wildly popular in the 3 years we have done it. The diving is incredible in Grand Cayman, and there are lots of things to do besides that. This year, we are going to try a Carat Caravan for the ladies, where we take them to Kirk Freeport on a shopping expedition while we have the aviation seminars for a half day on Friday. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Westin, one of the nicest hotels on the island, as well as a few other hotels. Special rates arranged with Avis, who has a bunch of new cars on the island.
I could go on and on about this. Just in case anyone is wondering, I have no financial interest or gain from the Caravan, and in fact the organizer usually takes a loss each year. I also cleared this post with the moderators, so that they were satisfied this was not an "advertisement". I just had so much fun my first time, and loved being able to fly over Cuba and have all the details handled for me.
Another staffer and I flew for an overnight trip to Grand Cayman on the 14th of March, and they are making good progress recovering from the beating they took at the winds of Hurricane Ivan. Everyone there on island is pulling together to help each other out. The VOR was blown into the ocean, so GPS and NDB are the only active approaches at this time. In the 15 years of the Caravan, on only one trip several years ago was an instrument approach required, and that was for just a few of the aircraft. In fact, most people cancel IFR, since Cayman has no radar anyway, and do a VFR approach. The cruise ship approach, it is called. You fly over the North end of the island, across the bay, call the first cruise ship as your base leg, and just past the last cruise ship you turn final over the fuel farm for a landing on RWY 8. It is very cool, 1000' along 7 mile beach on base.
Enough rambling, feel free to ask questions or go to http://www.cayman-caravan to register or get more info.