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   There is no way to verify the veracity of this account other than by relying on the author’s plain good will, as the flight crew exercised top airmanship in a tight ‘need-to-land’ situation.

   The context? Having to land a ‘heavy’ in Japan after a North Pacific crossing originating from the U.S., staying aloft on reserve fuel soon after the major heart quake hit the North-East area of the country, with repercussions across the country.

   This is a testimonial to the integrity of the civil aviation system in a worst-case scenario, one that does not show up on MS FlightSim.  Suffice it to say that the narrative below has been checked for reported locations, distances, aircraft type and flight time, using Google Earth among other resources.

START NARRATIVE:

“I’m currently still in one piece, writing from my room in the Narita crew hotel. It’s 8am. This is my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a brand new, recently checked out, international 767 Captain and it has been interesting, to say the least, so far. I’ve crossed the Atlantic three times so far so the ocean crossing procedures were familiar.

By the way, stunning scenery flying over the Aleutian Islands. Everything was going fine until 100 miles out from Tokyo and in the descent for arrival. The first indication of any trouble was that Japan air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive).

From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller’s anxiety level seemed quite high and he said expect “indefinite” holding time. No one would commit to a time frame on that so I got my copilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and our fuel situation, which, after an ocean crossing is typically low.

It wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes, before the first pilots started requesting diversions to other airports. Air Canada, American, United, etc. all reporting minimal fuel situations. I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding. Needless to say, the diverts started complicating the situation.

Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo, a half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya.

One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can’t just be-pop into any little airport. We generally need lots of runway. With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel critical ATC was getting over-whelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got my flight a clearance to head for Nagoya, fuel situation still okay. So far so good. A few minutes into heading that way, I was”ordered” by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka.

With that statement, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert a much farther distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands requests and threats to ATC for clearances somewhere. Air Canada and then someone else went to “emergency” fuel situation. Planes started to heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that initially. The answer – Yokoda closed! no more space.

By now it was a three ring circus in the cockpit, my copilot on the radios, me flying and making decisions and the relief copilot buried in the air charts trying to figure out where to go that was within range while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu island. We could get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the maelstrom of the Tokyo region. We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast which was later the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami.

Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit – check weather, check charts, check fuel, okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation … if we had no other fuel delays. As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process. Let’s see – trying to help company – plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away…wonder how that will look in the safety report, if anything goes wrong.

Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation rapidly deteriorating. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course…., went something like this:

“Sapparo Control – Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold.”

“Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full” <<< top gun quote <<<

“Sapparo Control – make that – Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose”

“Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose approach….etc….”

Enough was enough, I had decided to preempt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and played my last ace…declaring an emergency. The problem with that is now I have a bit of company paperwork to do but what the heck.

As it was – landed Chitose, safe, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a “true” fuel emergency situation. That’s always a good feeling, being safe. They taxied us off to some remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other airplanes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767 and another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw to American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well. Not to mention several extra Al Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.

Post-script – 9 hours later, Japan air lines finally got around to getting a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs. – that however, is another interesting story.

By the way – while writing this – I have felt four additional tremors that shook the hotel slightly – all in 45 minutes.

Cheers, J.D.”

END NARRATIVE 

Feel free to comment below

   The answer certainly does not turn on the meaning of unreal flying or on comparing simulator flying with the operation of real aircraft, for that matter.

   Rather, real flying in this post is mostly centered on a sense of nostalgia or current interest for the commercial operation, in remote areas with few facilities, of single-engine piston aircraft with proven designs that have stood the test of time: 50 years for some bush planes. Piston work horses, they just as well may be called. However, twin turbine engine airplanes, such as the Twin Otter, with the ability of landing on unprepared surfaces also fit in bush flying operations.

   Bush flying is often associated with mountain flying where wilderness encompasses both remote low-lying areas and mountainous terrain.

   Real flying is, of course, both a relative and subjective concept. An analogy can be made between real flying and non-competitive real sailing, for instance. Real sailing involves blue water cruising such as extended passage-making on infrequently travelled routes, during which the skipper and his or her crew are located somewhere offshore, days of sailing away from any source of help should weather conditions drastically deteriorate or essential equipment break down. Bush pilots sometimes meet similar situations between refueling points, especially in areas or in weather conditions making a rescue attempt difficult to achieve in a reasonable amount of time. In the case of bush flying, remoteness is not simply a matter of distance from the nearest rescue facility. It is alo the consequence of light bush aircraft, whether of the fixed-wing or rotary-wing type, being able to get into places that are downright difficult for air and ground rescue teams to reach. Isolation in distance or in time goes to the very heart of bush flying and sets it apart from other types of commercial flight operations.

   Another more encompassing aspect of bush flying is that it takes place at lower atltitudes than airline operations. As a rule of thumb, the ability to fly above the weather separates commercial airline operations from bush flying.

   This is why real flying can be readily linked to bush flying. Commercial flight in today’s Canada and America’s far North started with bush flying, not necessarily far up North in the olden days of commercial aviation. 

   Bush flying is about humanity, the necessities of life in the Great White North, linking small isolated communities, applying flying skills to often unpredictable situations, knowing how to interpret surface conditions from the air and dealing with wilderness, changing weather conditions, and skimpy but gradually improving infrastructure. By and large, it is essential transportation. It is also about catering to explorers, scientists, seasonal fishermen and hunters from the South.

   For bush pilots, bush flying entails self-reliance, sound judgment and outdoor survival skills. They take flying conditions as they come, within limits of course. Planning future needs comes second ever since the early stages of aviation. Dealing with the ‘now’ comes first. Rescuing stranded people, bringing medical staff and supplies where most needed, including humanitarian and spiritual support, come first.

   Bush pilots step in where remote dirt roads end up North, where plain human and natural environment beg for outside contact, attention and protection. They enjoy their job even though it’s not a comfortable one. There is no 9 to 5 daily schedule, one of the many aspects that actually define bush flying. It is a beautiful one, though, partly because of their contact with wilderness and partly because they feel they are needed and appreciated. They can be tour-guides, paramedics, pastors to name but a few callings that make bush flying a practical job.

   They know how to land on water, on snow with properly equipped aircraft, and on unprepared landing surfaces, level or not.

   Click on the following link to access a National Geographic series on the theme of bush flying, illustrating the above observations.

   Nearly anytime people believe that all has been said and told about a deceased celebrity, something new turns up about that person, with the potential of yielding more meaningful details about the person’s life.

   The person in this case is famed aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry known initially for his contribution to the development and operation of the longest scheduled air mail service on record in the post WW1 period.  Once completed, the air mail route spanned from France to Brazil, Argentina and Peru, via Spain, Morocco and Senegal. He wrote his first novels in the same period.

   Later, Saint-Exupéry took part in WW2 initially by flying reconnaissance missions over German-occupied parts of northern France. That did not stop him from pursuing his boundless passion for writing novels inspired by his deep sense of humanity and sometimes too by his former work as an air mail pilot and aerodrome manager. In terms of fiction writing, he authored the widely acclaimed short novel “The Little Prince”.  He also left behind volumes of personal observations of current events and letters to friends and relatives quite revealing about his times.

   Briefly stated, he was a flying author, reporter, story-teller and philosopher of sorts, the inspiring figure PhD students wrote their thesis on or literary critiques turned their attention to.

   After a two-year stay in New York, he joined Allies in North Africa and was eventually posted in Corsica from where he acted as a military reconnaissance pilot. He flew one such military reconnaissance mission on July 31, 1944, but failed to return to base. Accordingly, he was reported as “missing in action” as of that day.

   The new twist now about Saint-Exupéry comes in the form of four new photographs of him and a log book of the P-38 he flew, all of which were kept by French collector, Raymond Duriez. Report of this discovery first came last week from the French daily “Ouest-France” and was picked up on June 15, 2010, in an article published in ”Le Monde”, one of France’s major national dailies and online news sources.

   What is behind the latest new twist about him? The fact is since American reporter John Phillips interviewed Saint-Exupéry in May 1944 at his military air base and took professional-quality  pictures of him, the paper trail ended there chronologically speaking, except for an entry found decades later in a Luftwaffe pilot’s log book stating to have shot down a P-38 Lightening aircraft on the day and over the area Saint-Exupéry was reported to have gone missing.

   Another online French daily, Liberation.fr  also picked up the story on June 18, 2010, and commented on the meaning of the newly found photos. However, it further commented on a  log book presumably preserved along with the photos in a small cardboard box. The log book, the veracity and authenticity of which have yet to be confirmed, contains entries stating that the P-38 Lightening flown by Saint-Exupéry and other pilots was plagued by mechanical issues and failures. Details of the mechanical problems are not publicly known yet.

   If the log book entries prove accurate and authentic, they would provide yet another explanation for Saint-Exupéry’s non-return from his last recon mission. High altitude photo reconnaissance missions on a P-38 were physically and mentally demanding by several accouns. It was originally thought he, intentionally or not, allowed his P-38 to impact the Mediterranean Sea at high speed, or that he was shot down by a German combat pilot flying above him as noted in a Luftwaffe pilot’s log book found after the war.

   The pilot in question, Horst Rippert, expressed sadness in 2008, at having unknowingly shot down, in July 1944, Saint-Exupéry whom he knew as an aviation writer and considered as a heroic French aviator.

   However, the in-flight mechanical failure theory could shed a totally different light on the reasons for Saint-Exupéry’s fatal mission. An experienced peace-time and war-time pilot, Saint-Exupéry was only 44 years years of age on the day he vanished while flying an advanced P-38 aircraft. By the medical fitness standards of the day, he was over-aged for that type of military mission. Yet, through persistence, he obtained permission to fly a limited number of photo-reconnaissance missions. He most likely busted that limit too with his legendary eloquence and art of persuasion. There was no stopping him, so it seems.

   Biographers and military historians confirm that Saint-Exupéry flew successful missions with P-38 type aircraft and that he provided Allies with relevant, if not crucial, intelligence on German positions in France.

   He was too young to die and considered too old to fly but, above all, he proved himself useful to the very end. He could not live in any way other than being a novelist and a man of action, more specifically a pilot in active military duty for the benefit of France and humanity at large.

   The greatness of Concorde lies not only in the amount of engineering, flight testing, lobbying for acceptance in foreign countries, and money allocated to the supersonic transport jet mega-project, but also in the purity and elegance of its profile, lines and curvatures together with graceful manoeuvres on take-off and landing, and overall sheer good looks (decibels quite apart, I admit). Moreover, Concorde  kicked off a passionate debate in the far recesses of my own mind: did she look sleek by design or as a result of  her suitability as an airliner in both a subsonic climb to altitude and approach to land environment on the one hand, and a supersonic cruising environment on the other?

   Imagine the engineering ingenuity  that went into designing a flap-less delta-wing supersonic airliner fit for existing airports. The end result was an aircraft both so streamlined and functional that body-style designers, such as Ferrari, perhaps could not have dreamed of for any vehicle. At high levels of attack on take-off and landing with her drooped nose, she maintained a graceful look, something straight out of an artist’s imagination.

   Most people did not realise also how much engineering know-how had to be applied in order for Concorde to stretch and contract in length as her skin went from low temperatures to high temperatures generated  by Mach 2.2 cruise flight on her wings and fuselage. A civil aviation marvel she was indeed.

   By hubris or not, the magnitude of the Concorde project which, some say, helped usher France and the U.K. into the European Union, reflects the hopes and aspirations of a whole generation. Continents would be linked in less than half the time it takes for subsonic jets to fly the same intercontinental routes.

   The frailty of Concorde can be found in her anachronism. Her splendour was obvious; however, she was born out of older technology, a problem that a number of reputable aeroplanes, such as the DC-3 and the Boeing 707, to name but a few, shared with Concorde, albeit with fewer news coverage of dramatic and fatal signs of aging.

   This airliner was the subject of much attention by both pro-Concorde and anti-Concorde interest groups. A compromise agreement was struck: Concorde would be allowed to overfly populated areas at subsonic speeds only.

   Why would dual flag-carrying airliners such as Concorde be allowed to operate amongst slower jetliners built to recent, more stringent and more efficient aeronautical and environmental standards? Oh yes, I hear: “She was grandfathered in.” If so, should public authorities keep on protecting, from a regulatory perspective, a beautiful aeronautical product from a recent past at the cost of putting lives at risk until other circumstances brought its commercial use to an end?

   How many people would nowadays go for a ride in a hot air balloon built in all respects like the original Montgolfier brother’s (presumably) successful model?

   France and the U.K. had every reason to be jointly proud of Concorde. The problem is neither country knew when to confine the aging supersonic airliner to a museum before disaster struck. Did the the Concorde program change to a prestige-driven venture only? This was likely the case since a number of jet aircraft of an older vintage and no longer allowed to carry paying passengers are still allowed to carry freight. Unfortunately, Concorde did not have a  fall-back commercial niche; flying the Jet Set at premium airfares was its only remaining one.

   When Concorde crashed after her fateful take-off from Roissy, she was technologically decades behind her times by several standards, even if she could cruise twice as fast as modern subsonic  jetliners.

   On a more positive note, Concorde was the first commercial airliner to incorporate sophisticated fly-by-wire technology, a major engineering feat  in the 1960s. Her quadruple Olympus power plant was amongst the most reliable at the time. Unfortunately, Concorde’s complex design made it difficult to incorporate later on engines that were more fuel-efficient, less noisy and more resistant to FOD. 

   The Concorde disaster in Paris has a positive fall-out: the growing opinion that high-speed intercontinental travel should perhaps be carried out above the atmosphere, i.e. with suborbital spacecraft. This approach is supported in part by the major airlines’ reluctance, in today’s economic context, to place orders for new supersonic transport aircraft operated at higher operating costs on a per seat per mile basis. 

   The short to medium solution now being considered and tested is not an improved existing SST concept, but a totally different one: a suborbital spacecraft such as the Virgin Galactic SpaceshipTwo recently unveiled by Virgin Air’s CEO, Sir Richard Branson and by Dick Rutan, a well-known pioneering  expert in composite materials applied to innovative aircraft designs.

  NASA is wise in phasing-out the current space shuttles. In fact, the U.S. space agency had set a life expectancy for its fleet of space shuttles.

   Were the U.K. and France in the process of acting likewise for Concorde when the Paris crash occurred? Civil aviation authorities in both countries may have set a time limit only as a result of Concorde’s unfortunate crash in Paris.

   Having said this, the future looks promising for supersonic intercontinental travel using suborbital trajectories with whatever vehicles will foot the bill in terms of commercial feasibility. For now, suborbital transportation remains far in the offing. Spaceflight bookings confidently accepted at present by Virgin Galactic will no doubt offer space tourists a sensational experience, keeping in mind however their amazing spacecraft will land where it took off from. 

Happy New Year!

   PS: With the underside of their delta wing strengthened after the deadly crash of a Concorde shortly after take-off from Paris-CDG airport in 2000, other Concorde units resumed commercial transatlantic flights under the Air France and British Airways banners. All Concorde units were finally retired in 2003, owing to excessive operating costs to both airlines. Concorde had flown commercially for nearly 30 years with no reported casualties until the most unfortunate Paris crash.  See Wikipedia for further details about the history of Concorde.

Aviation careers are often born with this kind of beaming smile

Well, what about this photo as a way to demonstrate convincingly to adult pilots, parents, educators, aviation promoters the immense joy that taking the controls of a small aircraft can bring to a youngster, even if for a few precious minutes in safe and stable flight conditions?

Need I comment on that young guy’s smile? Needless to say, flying attracts both male and female young flyers. Some are lucky enough to live near a youth-friendly flying club where an instructor will take them for a “short” ride with a little hands-on experience. What’s short by adults’ standards can feel like being lost in time – but not in space – for the youngster at the controls.

Other youngsters have a relative or a family friend who is a careful and youth-minded pilot and will gladly take them up for an initiation ride.

And then, there are organizations, mostly non-profit, dedicated to giving youngsters a taste of holding the flight controls of a small airplane by taking them for a sight-seeing tour or actually training them to fly solo in gliders, for instance.

Fortunately for me and other youngsters of my age, the Aéro-Club Royal de Belgique had such a program at the Saint-Hubert aerodrome in southern Belgium (see Google Earth photo on the “About” page of this blog).

Other than licensed relatives and friends or local youth-friendly flying clubs, there are more non-profit organizations in various parts of the world than I can list here. One organization worth mentioning in particular because of the sheer span of its youth program are the Young Eagles sponsored by the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association). In addition, the Airline Pilots’ Association, International (ALPA) has put together a website invitingly called Cleared to Dream, with loads of information, personal tales and advice aimed at people planning to become airline pilots.

Also, flight simulator programs available for use on home computers go a long way to entice youngsters to go from their computer joystick to the real world of flying.

Young R/C pilot with model powered glider

In the wonderful realm of remote controlled aircraft, I have seen son-father, grandfather-granddaughter teams launching in the spring an R/C aircraft they spent the whole winter building or assembling together. This type of activity makes for special family bonds in addition to new bonds with the world of aviation. So much can be learned about the principles of flight and aircraft design from R/C flight!

After flying ‘real’ airplanes from 1969 to 2000, I switched to R/C flying. I can assure you that the joy of flying an R/C plane for the first time was comparable to the one I experienced when I first soloed on a glider in Saint-Hubert (Belgium).

Very first powered glider I flew in in 1969 (still fying in 2001)

Either way, the first time at the controls is pure magic.

Maybe Darwin was wrong after all. The human race has evolved from the avian species.

P.S.: Please note that certain licensing requirements may apply to the pilot-in-command of an aircraft who hands over temporary control of the aircraft in flight to an unlicensed person.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your future Captain speaking..."