Another late night update on Wednesday night, 13 August 2011 -231

We need two kinds of permission to have ZU-TAF “released” from her grounding so that we can go on to California and beyond. The first is the “TSA” (Transportation Security Administration) waiver letter which relates to the protection of US security. Although we received this document some weeks ago, it expired just after our arrival.

Quick update from Jean -229

Howdy All. I have just spent half an hour on a very expensive computer line updating latest news and somehow it has dissappeared. I hope it somehow gets to the site. Basically we will still be here for another 18 plus hours, James is in the FAA offices smoothing things out and lucky me is

A day with the Feds -230

Okey dokey! So here goes. Somehow call it luck, fate or devine intervention.I have ended up in a backpackers lodge using reasonably priced internet. I have had comms with a bunch of good friends, and when I saw James in the hotel a few hours ago he said he would read his “Economist” for another

Departure from Hawaii delayed -227

Howdy Everybody! Just a quick update. James is fast asleep snoring away peacefully after a morning at the field chatting convincingly to our new friends at the FAA. They are doing all they can to get us out of here ASAP. It certainly will not be today, 30th, but we are confident all will be

Mike reporting from LA -228

Yayyy … I am in LA anxiously waiting for J & J and the Bullet to arrive. The flight here was interesting – I went via Dubai (Emirates Airline) and if you do a quick check on Google Earth you will find the shortest path to LA is over the North Pole and that is

Late night Monday 29 August 2011 – Quick update -226

(Actually early morning Tuesday 2011) It’s past 1 o’clock am in Waikiki and we’ve been back from the “T-hangars” at the Honolulu International airport for just two hours. There seems to be a misconception out there that we’ve been resting up all day! Actually it’s quite different – our aeroplane is grounded by the FAA

Photo log from Marshall Islands to Hawaii -224

Shots from the last 48 hours. Write-up to follow sleep. One piece of news – we’ve located a portable HF radio, so LA’s back on the cards. USD500. Steep, but not prohibitive, even for airpackers! We’ll be onto fitting that tomorrow with our leatherman. Thanks Gary (and Darryl).

Weather prediction for the leg to Hawaii -220

Expect rain and overcast conditions 3-5 hours into the flight, wind 094/17 @ 7500ft Condition will start improving 700nm from Majuro (09h00 into flight) with low cloud up to 5000ft and high cloud at 25,000ft with no rain expected between the 2 layers – wind 078/20 @ 7500ft Majority of the middle cloud are right

Departure to Hawaii -221

It is now midnight Saturday night in South Africa (and 10 am on Sunday in the Marshall Islands) and I guess by now J & J must be on their way. For the first time they will have to deal with headwinds of  15 to 20 knot all the way which will make the flight

ETA Updated -222

UPDATE: ETA moved forward to 21:04Z (23:04 SA local time) Sias managed to catch an airline doing a position relay for ZU-TAF. The ETA for Honolulu is now 22:30Z, though there is a good possibility they might land a bit earlier even than that. Below is the relay message: * Thanks goes to liveATC.net for