OUR FLIGHTS TO THE PHILIPPINES
As mentioned, our departure out of Taipei is a go! Our routing is set to take us around the weather with blue skies in no time on our way south to Davao, located on the most southern island of the Philippines.
G has worked wonders and the Philippines have revised the permits for the 4th time - and rushed the revisions!
We launched the planes by speed - sending the Pilatus PC-12 out first, followed by the Citation Mustang, the 2 TBMs and finally the 2 Citation CJ3s.
Weather conditions at the airport are quite wet! All have taken off with the exception of me in the Citation CJ3 since a re-positioning of the aircraft was needed due to wind direction for the engine start.
Our engines are running, the other CJ3 is at the end of the runway, rolling for take-off - they have lift off! Just as we are getting ready to make our move, an FBO agent comes out requesting us to cut our engines and tower telling us our flight plans need to be refiled.
Strange...
It turns out our flight plans were not accurately filed by our Taipei handlers and Japan never received them. What was wrong? The flight route filed was between 2 way points and not on an airway. The PC-12, who had launched first, had their flight plan accepted while the following 2 aircraft - the Citation Mustang and one of the TBMs, were intercepted by the Japanese Air Force at FL380 - not the most calming situation mid-flight. An F-15 circled around them for a few minutes. The next two aircraft - the other TBM and the first CJ3 - were not authorized to fly in Japanese airspace based on this reasoning however they were provided deviations due to weather - thankfully they were not flagged by the Japanese Air Force.
As though there wasn't enough excitement between our aircraft, one of the TBMs had their emergency depressurization descent modes activate resulting in a dive from FL310 to FL150 - this new emergency descent mode was created to automatically descend the aircraft from 31,000 feet to 15,000 feet in case of depressurization sensed by the aircraft computer - an additional aid against possible pilot hypoxia and safety.
The good news is the sensor was a false alarm and no actual depressurization occurred, however, this rapid descent burned unexpected fuel and the TBM was no longer in a comfortable range to go non-stop. An additional tech stop was planned mid-flight for Cebu, Philippines, with minimal delay.
G has worked wonders and the Philippines have revised the permits for the 4th time - and rushed the revisions!
We launched the planes by speed - sending the Pilatus PC-12 out first, followed by the Citation Mustang, the 2 TBMs and finally the 2 Citation CJ3s.
Weather conditions at the airport are quite wet! All have taken off with the exception of me in the Citation CJ3 since a re-positioning of the aircraft was needed due to wind direction for the engine start.
Our engines are running, the other CJ3 is at the end of the runway, rolling for take-off - they have lift off! Just as we are getting ready to make our move, an FBO agent comes out requesting us to cut our engines and tower telling us our flight plans need to be refiled.
Strange...
It turns out our flight plans were not accurately filed by our Taipei handlers and Japan never received them. What was wrong? The flight route filed was between 2 way points and not on an airway. The PC-12, who had launched first, had their flight plan accepted while the following 2 aircraft - the Citation Mustang and one of the TBMs, were intercepted by the Japanese Air Force at FL380 - not the most calming situation mid-flight. An F-15 circled around them for a few minutes. The next two aircraft - the other TBM and the first CJ3 - were not authorized to fly in Japanese airspace based on this reasoning however they were provided deviations due to weather - thankfully they were not flagged by the Japanese Air Force.
As though there wasn't enough excitement between our aircraft, one of the TBMs had their emergency depressurization descent modes activate resulting in a dive from FL310 to FL150 - this new emergency descent mode was created to automatically descend the aircraft from 31,000 feet to 15,000 feet in case of depressurization sensed by the aircraft computer - an additional aid against possible pilot hypoxia and safety.
The good news is the sensor was a false alarm and no actual depressurization occurred, however, this rapid descent burned unexpected fuel and the TBM was no longer in a comfortable range to go non-stop. An additional tech stop was planned mid-flight for Cebu, Philippines, with minimal delay.
Our revised flight plan now took us west of Taipei, a request made based on our radar reading before leaving. Very hot conditions with ISA at +22 for most of the climb but we made it to FL450. We stayed clear of all the red on the radar and the bumps. Taipei gave us a direct line to the entry point of Philippine airspace and flew straight down the middle of Taiwan.
By dinner time, all were on the ground and reunited in our unexpected next destination - Davao, Philippines.
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