The longest day of flying (Monday, December 3) is complete and it was a big success. We flew form Easter Island/SCIP to Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia/NTAA with a fuel stop at tiny Tureia, French Polynesia/NTGY. The total trip is 2,350 NM or 2,705 SM. It was a long day (11.6 hrs flying and 13.8 hrs "duty" time), but not too difficult as the weather was almost perfect, all in good daylight, and the logistics went smoothly.
Today (Tuesday, December 4), we made the short hop (45 minutes) from Papeete/NTAA to Bora Bora/NTTB and it was spectacular.
Truly one of the best two days of aviation in my 40 years of flying experience.
I'll work on some nitty-gritty technical flying oriented posts for each leg of the trip over the next few days as we have six days "off" in Bora Bora to relax. But for now I will just post some photos of the last two days without a lot of commentary.
Departing Easter Island/SCIP...
South Pacific nothingness for the first five hours of flight from Easter Island...
Then the first view of land for almost 1,000 miles...the mysterious and uninhabited Henderson Island...
After Henderson Island, several small atolls and islands pass by. All are uninhabited. Oeno Island....
Ducie Island...also uninhabited...
An atoll I cannot find named on any map (22 00.90S 136 11.47W)...
[Edited to add that my #1 son identified the atoll above as Maria Est atoll.)
Although all these islands are uninhabited, it is nice to see land.
After a couple more hours we pass our originally intended refueling stop of Totegegie Island/NTGJ and continue on to Tureia Island/NTGY which has fuel. Landing at Tureia Island/NTGY...
On the ground at Tureia Island/NTGY...
The fueling rig at Tureia Island/NTGY...
Josh and Jack at Tureia Island/NTGY after completing the refueling....
Parked at Papeete (Tahiti)/NTAA with the "big guys"...
After a good night's rest, we depart Tuesday morning, Dec 04, 2018 for the short flight (45 mins) from Papeete (Tahiti)/NTAA to Bora Bora/NTTB. They don't have a tow bar for the PC-12 (not sure they had ever seen one), so I called tower for pushback approval and then we did it the old fashioned way with manpower. The captain steers, of course...
Some great scenery enroute to Bora Bora...
Saw a rainbow enroute to Bora Bora/NTTB which I took as a good sign for our trip....
Approaching Bora Bora which James Michener called the most beautiful island in the world while he was writing South Pacific...
Left downwind for a visual approach to runway 11 at Bora Bora/NTTB (airport built by US during WWII)...
Final approach to Bora Bora...
Parked at Bora Bora/NTTB and ready to go to the hotel for six "off" days...
