SunAir Express Virtual Airlines Forum

SunAir Express will be flying Col. Dave Vega SAX702 home at the end of this month now that his tour of duty in Iraq is ending.

I am looking for volunteers to pilot one or more of the following five flight legs. Pilots will need to log these flights to the POC and will receive normal credit for a flight. These are regular scheduled SAX flights.

The Flight Itinerary: Baghdad, Iraq ORBI to San Antonio, Texas KSAT
Total block time: 19.1 HR

LEG# – FLT# – DEP-DES – A/C – BLK TIME
#1 – 5247 – ORBI-EBBR – B747 – 5.4 HR
#2 – 5000 – EBBR-EDDF – B737 – 0.8 HR
#3 – 6000 – EDDF-KEWR – B737(BBJ) – 8.5 HR
#4 – 8667 – KEWR-KSTL – CRJ2 – 2.4 HR
#5 – 8642 – KSTL-KSAT – CRJ2 – 2.0 HR

The first flight leg may depart anytime after 12:01 AM UTC, Friday, February 1, 2008.

Each flight legs must be flown in order. Example: Flight leg #2 cannot depart until leg #1 has been completed and logged to the POC, etc. After a flight leg is logged pilots should email the pilot of the next flight leg so they may depart when ready.

If you can take one or more of these flight legs please sign up here by replying to this forum topic. Signup will end at 12:01 AM UTC, Wednesday, January 30, 2008, or as soon as all flight legs are taken. Backup pilots are welcome to signup should the scheduled pilot cancel. Backup pilots should indicate which flight leg they could fly. I will email each pilot the flight schedule on Thursday, January 31, 2008 and post it here, too.

Let’s see how soon we can get Dave home.

Note: FSACARS has been known to not accept METARs for Baghdad ORBI resulting in FSACARS to stop responding, lockup or just shutdown as soon as the log starts. Should this happen to you, set FSACARS to NOT use any METAR source by using the CONFIG / OPTIONS menu. This is the only airport known at this time to cause this glitch in FSACARS.

I'll take leg #2 and be a backup for leg #3, in case nobody grabs the long leg.

Hey, Dave, this sounds like fun. I will be glad to do leg #1, ORBI - EBBR.

Roy Brent
SAX 680

I can fly leg #1, but only at the beginning of the window of opportunity. In other words, if I don't do it Thursday night (Jan 31 local time, Feb 01 UTC), I won't be able to do it until Feb 10. Heck, I might just do it anyway since my plane is presently at ORBI awaiting return to EBBR (I haven't yet logged my UTDD-ORBI flight that I flew last month without FSACARS). I can be a decoy to the real flight that has Dave Vega on board.
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Neil - SAX 714

I'll take legs 3, 4 and or 5 if no one else takes them.

I am on the road and there is no way that I can fit this in the time frame. I am sure you guys will get him home and He will be greatful to get their. Welcome home Dave Vega.

orac wrote: I can be a decoy to the real flight that has Dave Vega on board.
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Neil - SAX 714

Great idea Neil. I'll bet they do that for all VIPs like Dave.

Since Neil is already at ORBI and can fly leg 1 straight away, let him do that. I would be willing to do leg 3. It would probably fit my schedule better. Just let me know.

Roy
SAX 680

Here's the pilot flight assignment schedule:

LEG# – FLT# – DEP-DES – A/C – BLK TIME - Pilot
#1 – 5247 – ORBI-EBBR – B747 – 5.4 HR - Neil Wagner - SAX714
#2 – 5000 – EBBR-EDDF – B737 – 0.8 HR - Marty Becker - SAX054
#3 – 6000 – EDDF-KEWR – B737(BBJ) – 8.5 HR - Roy Brent - SAX680
#4 – 8667 – KEWR-KSTL – CRJ2 – 2.4 HR - Dave Blake - SAX212
#5 – 8642 – KSTL-KSAT – CRJ2 – 2.0 HR - Dave Blake - SAX212

I'll email the pilots with more instructions. Thanks!

Thanks, Roy. I'm looking forward to kicking things off tonight.
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Neil - SAX 714

Flight Leg #1 Pilot Report -----

VIP flight 5247 report -
Departure delayed 75 from schedule for arrival of VIP passenger Dave Vega. No delays enroute, but unexpectedly strong headwinds in western Europe and a 360 on final for spacing extended my block time 10 minutes beyond scheduled. Sun was just beginning to light the high overcast as Dave deplaned and I wished him well on the rest of his long journey home.
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Neil - SAX 714

Thank you Neil. It was a great flight. The service was excellent. My compliments to you and your crew.

Dave Vega
Almost Home

Leg #2 - EBBR-EDDF

The flight was fairly routine. Caught departure pushes, both EBBR and EDDF, as the photos indicate. Col. Vega is now off to catch the SunAir Express - Jim flight to the States. I'm sure he will enjoy the homemade cookies, that are a specialty on all Jim flights.

Safe travels on your journey home, Dave!!

Thank you again for your service, both to your country and to SunAir Express!

Thank you Marty. Great flight. Enjoyed the German beer at Frankfurt.

Dave Vega

It's winter and the weather is acting that way. Welcomed Col. Vega on board and left Frankfurt ontime with light snow and stout winds. Unfortunately, we econcountered strong headwinds for the whole trip, some up to 153 kt and this really slowed us down. Even went up to 38,000 to try to get better winds but no such luck. We just landed in strong crosswinds at Newark, 40 minutes late. I hope our service on board made up for the late arrival. Welcome back to America, Col Vega. He is now off to meet Capt Blake for the journey on to St. Louis and San Antonio. Hope the weather is better in that direction.

Roy
SAX 680

Col. Vega took the walk through the Newark terminal to board the CRJ-200 flight #8667 to St. Louis still snacking on a few of the gourmet cookies from his Jim flight from Frankfurt. Weather at Newark was good and allowed for an on-time push-back and departure.

I'm afraid the service on the CRJ flight wasn't as fancy as the JIm flight however we did try to make up for it with one of Dave's favorite meals, Chilli and a grilled cheeze sandwich.

Even with a 100-120 kt headwind our VIP's flight made it to St. Louis only a few minutes after the scheduled arrival time. With only one more leg to go Col Vega's long journey home is almost finished.

Excellent chilli, good beans, though I don't know why some were suggesting I stay overnight in St Louis instead of continuing to San Antonio right away.

Dave Vega

The final leg of the long journey was delayed about 9 hours causing our VIP to spend the night in St. Louis. The mid-morning weather was hazy but it didn't delay our departure for San Antonio. Our inflight brunch was glazed doughnuts and doughnut holes, a special request made by our VIP.

Enroute weather was typical for winter but nothing that causes any problems. The low clouds at KSAT called for an ILS approach making the flight just a little over the scheduled block time. The five-leg VIP journey spanned 7,274 miles and took 20.6 hours gate-to-gate.

Col. Vega thanked the flight crew and deplaned with a bag of extra doughnuts. Walking into the terminal Col. Vega found everyone waving American flags and a very happy family waiting to welcome him home.

Speaking for everyone at SunAir Express, it was our pleasure to fly Col Vega home and thank you Dave for your service to our country.

To all who organized and participated in this event, thank you. It really meant a lot. I'm now home for real, after one year in Iraq. Thank you also for all your prayers, they worked. My family thank you.

It's good to be home.

Dave Vega
SAX702

David Vega wrote:To all who organized and participated in this event, thank you. It really meant a lot. I'm now home for real, after one year in Iraq. Thank you also for all your prayers, they worked. My family thank you.

It's good to be home.

Dave Vega
SAX702

Welcome home Dave. Glad to have you back safe and sound in the good 'ol USA!