My favourite aviation poem dedicated to the man that taught me to fly:)

To the late Carl Botha,the man who first taught me to fly,god speed on your final flight west:)

Flying West

I hope there's a place, way up in the sky
Where pilots can go when they have to die.
A place where a guy could buy a cold beer
For a friend and a comrade whose memory is dear.
A place where no doctor or lawyer could tread,
Nor a management-type would e'ler be caught dead!
Just a quaint little place, kind of dark, full of smoke,
Where they like to sing loud, and love a good joke.
The kind of a place that a lady could go
And feel safe and secure by the men she would know.

There must be a place where old pilots go,
When their wings become heavy, when their airspeed gets low,
Where the whiskey is old, and the women are young,
And songs about flying and dying are sung.
Where you'd see all the fellows who'd 'flown west' before,
And they'd call out your name, as you came through the door,
Who would buy you a drink, if your thirst should be bad,
And relate to the others, "He was quite a good lad!"

And there, through the mist, you'd spot an old guy
You had not seen in years, though he'd taught you to fly.
He'd nod his old head, and grin ear to ear
And say, "Welcome, my Son, I'm proud that you're here!
For this is the place where true flyers come
When the battles are over, and the wars have been won.
They've come here at last, to be safe and alone,
>From the government clerk, and the management clone;
Politicians and lawyers, the Feds, and the noise,
Where all hours are happy, and these good ol' boys
Can relax with a cool one, and a well deserved rest!
This is Heaven, my Son. You've passed your last test!"

— Captain Michael J. Larkin, TWA (Ret.), 'Air Line Pilot' magazine, February 1995.

C208 Caravan Conversion!!!

so there i was,sandwiched on a greyhound to Port Elizabeth,uncomfortably mashed in the non-flying bus,a dream come true,i was on my way to light my first turbine,my first PT-6 ....more specifically a PT6A-114A,producing 675shp......any guess's what that may be......oh yes....caravan....cessna's swiss army knife with wing's:) and man oh man,was i excited!!!!!

i don't know why but i always had an infatuation with turbine's from day one, i couldnt explain it.....everytime a pilatus pc12 started up or spooled down on the apron where i learnt to fly,i would stand there and drool offensively onto the tarmac,i loved the wine and seemingly endless acceleration they had on takeoff,so much more refined and smooth then there piston cousin's, it's funny alot of the time when you fly a plane that you have dreambt of for a while,it let's you down,its not as cool as you expected it to be,but this time,it exceeded my expectation's:)what a plane.....

after the pax are loaded for the heavy load section of the conversion,a mixture of instructors and student's captured amongst Port Elizabeth's apron,rear door closed and latched and load bar removed from under the tail,a final walk around checking hatche's and door's closed and prop area clear,a climb up the mini air-stair into the cockpit find's me in a hugely spacious cockpit,comfy seat's and 5 point harness's,controls and instruments where they should be,familiar and well postioned,fuel tank selectors both to on, bleed air switch off,beacon light to postion on,fuel and firewall emergency in the normal position,trim nuetral position's and elevator trim for takeoff,control lock's removed,fuel condition lever in idle cutoff postion,propeller pitch lever fully fine,power lever idle position,inertial bypass seperator normal postion,call for start-up,cleared for start-up from ground control,gauge and instrument check aswell as ensuring beacon light is on, all engine control switche's in the correct position for a battery start,ensuring ignition switch in the normal postion, electronic master switch goe's on, electronic gyro's start to spin and a quick check on the voltmeter ensuring that we have 24.5 volts minimum for a battery start,confirmed,we are clear left and right, A loud clear prop to anyone around the aircraft,fuel pump to on, start switch goe's on and immediately the loud electric-like whine and woosh of the compressor of the PT6 come's to life,a quick check of oil and fuel pressure ensuring op's are normal as you do not want fuel going into the combustion chamber prior to light up,the fuel flow gauge confirm's ZERO,the loud metallic TICK-TICK-TICK of the ignitor's awaiting the arrival of fuel into the combustion chamber,back quickly to the NG gauge or compressor speed gauge expressed as a %,minimum to introduce fuel into the combustion chamber is 12%,the Ng rise's swiftly pass 12% and because the higher the compressor rpm the more smooth the start will be, i let it rise up to 18%,it stabilise's and i smoothly introduce fuel by moving the fuel condition lever from idle cut-off to low idle,a fuel flow indication of around 100pph indicate's correctly,the dull woomff of fuel igniting and the immediate smell of burnt jet fuel indicate's first stage light-up,all your attention turns now to the ITT gauge,the engine spooling up quickly now and a secondary dull woomf and woosh signal's second stage light-up and the ITT soar's rapidly toward's the maximum limit's,with one hand on the fuel lever and one hand on the start switch ready for a possible hot-start,you hope and pray that the volatile cocktail of jet-fuel and air stabilise's before it reach's maximum temperature limit's,which is by the way 1090C. for 2 second's on start-up,all of a sudden, the swiftly rising ITT needle stop's its ascent and decrease's back to a stable 650C.+- ,all engine perimetre's checked,all stable and you are ready to rock, start-switch to off,Standby power to armed postion,ensure generator is charging the battery,fuel switch to norm and avionics master 1 and 2 both on and you are ready to taxi-out.oh and get the aircon on for your pax and test the electronic master warning system prior to taxi. All this happening in less than a minute. I cant tell you the smile on my face after that little sequence. Call me easily pleased....

Once started a turbine is very simple to operate and the caravan one of the nicest flying aircraft around,a pleasure in all condition's with its beautifully harmonised controls,it really is a pilots dream machine,incredibly capable and with reverse thrust,huge flap's,de-icing,weather radar and a full auto-pilot it is capable of operating anywhere in any weather:)i loved my conversion and i cannot wait for the opportunity to fly the aircraft operationally in the very near future:)

hope you enjoyed my little caravan lecture:)fascinated by turbine's clearly....