It has been a while since my last blog, I have not flown lately due to work commitments. Now I was going to fly to Ibiza from Requena, it was an early Wednesday morning when my wife and I met up with Marcos, a colleague from work which was keen to fly with me. The three of us drove to the aerodrome in Requena. We had a quick coffee before the pre-flight checks and flight plan confirmation. We loaded the plane with our Ibiza gear, snorkel, flippers, etc.
As we approached the aerodrome apron, I saw the aeroplane, a Piper P28-161 a warrior II to be exact, white in colour and a black tail, the registration EC-GEG was printed on the fuselage just before the empennage. It looked beautiful, just as I left it the day before. At that moment I felt a chill run through my body, which was unusual for it was a hot July morning. I took another glance at the airplane, this time I was seeing a beautiful white swan. It was as if she was winking her eye to me, showing trust and confirming that everything was going to be OK. I blinked and looked again, I now saw the airplane again, the airplane which was going to take us to Ibiza, an hour over open water.
At that moment I looked up to the sky, I could see clouds, they were high and would not get in the way. Additionally I checked the meteorology report, confirmed all to be acceptable. We were ready , I attached and activated a camera on the tip of the left wing, which would record our experience. Marcos demonstrated to be nervous, but at the same time excited, similar to a young child on his first day at school.
We all boarded the plane, my wife offered the co-pilot seat to Marcos, and she accommodated herself behind. I got comfortable in the pilot seat, attached my headset and helped both my wife and Marcos with their headsets and seat belts. We were now ready for the adventure.
I was eager to get underway, at the same time I was a little bit nervous, I felt a great responsibility for myself and my passengers. After all it was the first time I was going to fly passengers to Ibiza, which entitles flying over open water in a single engine airplane. Many of my trips include cross country flights, but this time it was different, I was going to do it over open water, alot of respect indeed. I double checked everything. Engine started ......
The takeoff was smooth on runway 12, and soon arriving to the first reporting point (E) ECHO, I contacted Valencia approach notifying my intentions, they did not hesitate to clear our route direct to Ibiza. The few clouds in the sky were now no problem as we approached the Valencia coastline at 5,000ft.
Once over the coast I adjusted the VOR to assist navigation to Ibiza. After flying comfortably across the mediterrian sea for 25 minutes and tracking 100, we changed to the Palma Mallorca approach frequency, where again we were instructed to the next reporting point (N). we changed to the Ibiza tower frequency were we where instructed to enter the circuit left runway 06 as number one. On final we were cleared to land. 19 July 2017