Avionics News November 2016 - 49

¿QUÉ PASA, ATC?

With all their paperwork complete,
submitted and approved, and James
pre-flighted and ready to go, the pair
launched on the morning of June 23
from Venice Municipal Airport in southwestern Florida.
"We first flew to Key West
International for fuel," Claret said. "Fuel
is available in Cuba, but I heard there
can be a wait. So I decided it was just
better to not deal with it. All I had to
do then was open our IFR flight plan to
Havana, and we were off."
"Going across 90 miles of open
water to Cuba wasn't as scary as I had
thought," Homoky added. "Perhaps
it's my inexperience as a pilot, or more
possibly my confidence in Mary Ann's
abilities, or maybe my trust that James
would keep us safe."
Although the crossing was a non-

event, Homoky admitted to being a bit
more excited than usual to see their destination appear through the Cherokee's
windscreen.
"When I first saw the glimmer of
land in the distance, it felt like such an
honor," Homoky said. "I remember
saying, 'There it is! It's really Cuba!' I
knew it was a sight that few Americans
have ever seen from the air."
While the flight itself was uneventful,
their communications with Cuban ATC
were a bit bumpy for the non-Spanishspeaking student pilot.
"I was thankful for Mary Ann's ability to speak fluent Spanish," Homoky
said. "Even though the Cuban controllers were speaking English, they had
very strong accents. And if understanding ATC isn't already difficult enough
Continued on following page

Challenger CL-601-3A/3R

ADS-B Out
STC AVAILABLE

©Frank Schwichtenberg

If anything cobbled up Plan A,
the pilots would switch to Plan
B, which was to use Homoky's
Cherokee 180. So both aircraft
needed to be compliant with all the
necessary paperwork.
Claret said that the avionics
suite aboard Sarasota Avionics' 140
helped make her task of navigating into and out of Cuba's airspace
easier than she had first imagined.
"The Garmin GTN 650 made it
easy to add all the waypoints for
our route and catch all those ATC
calls, while the NGT-9000 transponder helped with weather and traffic
avoidance (obviously more traffic in
Florida than Cuba)," she explained.
"The Cherokee also has dual Aspen
display units, which helped for
navigating around some pop-up
thunderstorms."
Claret said that the "tricked-out"
140 also had JPI electronic engine
instruments to help eliminate any
instances of "over water bump,"
which plagues every pilot making
their first open water crossing.
"We also had SPOT satellite personal trackers with us at all times,"
Homoky said. "It was there in case
of emergencies because it would let
everyone know where we were at
all times, and we could also use it to
send 'I am okay' messages back to
our family and friends.
"Perhaps I should explain that
Mary Ann and I have affectionately
nicknamed our respective airplanes.
Mine is named Gabe, and she calls
the Cherokee 140 that we flew,
James. There's something about giving our planes their own names. It
feels like they are part of the team.
We always thank Gabe or James
when we are done flying for the day
for keeping us safe.
"It was so special that Sarasota
Avionics allowed us to take James
to Cuba. They are quite a special
group of people, and I have been
thankful to get to know them all."

FAA STC# ST02460SE

The FAA mandate deadline is Jan. 1, 2020.

The modification includes the following equipment and all provisions: Two Rockwell Collins TDR-94D
Transponders (622-9210-501) upgraded to DO-260B (reference BRS-110102.7M for upgrade information) ; Pilot and co-pilot ADS-B system failure annunciation ; One Blue Avionics BA-440 Router/Filter.
Existing equipment to be interfaced: Transponder controllers; Air data computers; GNSSU ; Lighting/
dimming controls.
Prerequisite installation: Honeywell Dual NZ-2000 LPV upgrade per STC# ST01601WI-D (provides WAAS
capable GNSSU).
For more information, contact Scott Hall: (425) 407-6702 / scott.hall@safran-engineering.com

avionics news

november

2016

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