Ok guys, I should probably give yawl an update on the Honduras trip. We came down in June for the air show. Long story short, (sorry if this gets long) we were out drinking rum with one of the hospital administrators from La Ceiba. I told him I wanted to rent an airplane to see the country. He instructed me to be at the hospital at 08:00 the following morning as they were having a surgeons meeting and a helicopter crew would be there putting on a presentation. We did…
After the presentation I got to talking with the crew and they discovered I was an airplane guy. They liked me. (First mistake) When they found out I was also a helicopter guy, they about came un-glued. (Second mistake). We got to the helicopter and guess what this sucker is? A Sikorsky S62A! Heck yeah... an amphibious helicopter that could lift a Jeep. Well, perhaps not a jeep but this is one big ship! We fly from La Ceiba, out to Roatan, land on a dock, get a tour of the resort and island, head back out to the helicopter. My instructions were to take off and circle the bay. Gear up; we’re doing a climbing 180. The next instructions were to land in the bay! Oh boy! I’m giggling like a little kid. My next instruction was to make a low pass over the resort docks to “inspect for possible debris.” Wink, Wink… We head to Roatan, I shoot an approach, and land. Upon arriving the pilot wanted me to come back down to get fully trained in on the helicopter!
I returned a week ago and am writing from the isle de Roatan. We are flying medical evacuations from the bay islands into La Ceiba and San Pedro. The last flight: bad weather in mountains
Flight time:
*Roatan- La Ceiba De Antoine Hospital .6
*De Antoine Hospital- Tegucigalpa 2.4 (2 hours instrument)
*Tegucigalpa- La Ceiba 2.7 (1.8 hours instrument)
*La Ceiba- Roatan .7
*Total 6.4 hours
What a day. This was the first day of flying the Sikorsky. We had a burn patient who was working underneath a car when the gas tank exploded. He was burnt over 70% of his body. We flew him from La Ceiba to Tegucigalpa. This is where my first landing of this trip took place… the supposed worst runway in the world. I sure wouldn’t want to land a jet there! Come to think about it… a helicopter probably isn’t a hell of a lot better. On the North end of the runway is a cliff: on the South end is a mountain with a building on the top. The trip there was my first **real** I.F.R. helicopter time. My flight suite, I could have wrung the sweat out of it. The flight nurses in the back complained because it was cold at altitude. I don’t know how the #*^% they were cold.
The trip back was equally stressful, excluding the absence of the guy in the back. We had thunder storms which we needed to punch through. The helicopter did remarkably well in those conditions, with little notice of turbulence. It sure is squirrelly in the clouds though. Perhaps it is me. Nope, that can’t be it!
I’m planning on staying for 6 months. If there is anybody from supercub land in the area, shoot me an email. They’ve got good rum just down the road.
I’ll try to figure out how to load pictures…
Lippy
I seem to recall there are lots to look at in that part of the world. Other than that I can't help you, been to Panama but not Honduras.
