Page 30 - Volume 13 Number 8

As we neared the half­way point in distance, about five hours after takeoff – still thinking we would soon have to admit defeat and turn around – we hear a U.S. Navy C­130 on the oceanic HF frequency that we were using for ATC communications. He reports that he is at FL270 (just 1,000 feet below us), eastbound to his station in California, at a reporting point near but west of our own position ... and he is complaining of the strong headwind that he’s been fighting! “What?! How can that be? But if it’s true, then maybe the average wind forecast is not as messed up as we think it is!”
Sure enough, in the next hour, without penetrating any obvious weather front, the wind does a tremendous shift of nearly 180 degrees and turns into a strong tailwind. Now the calculations indicate we can indeed make Honolulu with a comfortable fuel reserve. Nick and I both breathed sighs of relief and began to think that our decision to press onward perhaps wasn’t the most conservative course of action but at least this time it appeared to be leading to a successful outcome.
I mentioned earlier about the tendency of the VLF navigator to go into DR (Dead Reckoning) mode whenever it saw a cloud. This primitive system was “position tracking” not a “position finding.” When working properly, it knew your track and speed over the ground but it had to know your starting point. In our case that was KOAK. When it went into DR mode, it retained the same track and speed information based on where you were when it lost a navigable signal. When the signal returned, it would become the new starting point from which it continued its position­tracking. All told, I estimate that it was in DR mode for at least three hours.
28 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
When we finally got line­of­sight reception of a VORTAC on the islands, it was with relief that we realized we were quite close to where the VLF thought we were. As we shut down on the Honolulu ramp, the VLF had a position error of 6 nautical miles. Guess what? We considered that absolutely fantastic! How stunningly amazing is the accuracy of the modern GPS system to us old­timers who flew for so long without it! Our total flight time was 10:41.
The California­Hawaii leg is the longest overwater crossing there is. Our next legs were Honolulu to Majuro, Majuro to Port Moresby, then Port Moresby to Kota Kinabalu. Unlike the leg we had just completed, not only were these upcoming legs a little shorter, but also there were some alternates within range – a comforting thought. In addition, strong headwinds were unlikely.
When we started up the next morning – following a nice dinner, a good night’s sleep, a hearty breakfast and a refilling of all the tanks – we encountered a surprise: The right generator would not come on. It had just worked in its starter mode so the unit was not completely shot but no matter what we tried, we had no generator function. Darn! We told ATC to put our departure on indefinite hold because we had a problem and would not be taxiing out at this time.
We shut down, opened the cowling, visually confirm that the starter/generator seemed fine, and made a call to maintenance back at Beechcraft West in Hayward, California. We agreed that the GCU (Generator Control Unit) was the most likely source of the problem.
Four days later, we finally departed Hawaii. “Oh sure!” my friends say. “The generator just happened to fail,
Sabah
AUGUST 2019