I was contracted to fly solo to Kefalonia, collect client (AE) and then onto Athens to collect additional client (Big Cheese) and commence an inspection tour of potential resorts as prospective venues for ‘Big Cheese’ client’s incentive conference tour later in that year.
Departing Fowlmere 0630 non-stop to Cannes by myself was not unusual as I frequently used to fly down to Cannes ‘empty’ to collect other aircraft owners but nevertheless it was never lost on me how lucky I was. Here I was being paid to fly a great aircraft towards the Med without having to ‘instruct’ or entertain clients!
The flight was uneventful and the Navajo ate up the miles picking up the Mistral down the Rhone and in 4hours I was descending into Cannes in sunshine and blue sky. Parking on the pumps I topped off the tanks and taxied to park on the main apron overnight (try doing that at Cannes nowadays!).
Paul Leach was waiting for me and typical of him he had arranged a ‘schedule’ which included taking his Sunseeker out towards the islands for lunch. His Sunseeker was called ‘Flyaway Again’ and off we went with Beryl and their two friends Peter and Audrey. All was fine except it was quite crowded in the bay Paul wanted to moor in and in reversing to a desired location we overran a mooring buoy and the Starboard outdrive caught the chain and wound it around the prop pitching the bow of the 32ft Sunseeker ‘up’ until the engine stalled. ‘Oops’! After 2hrs with a junior hacksaw Paul and I had cut the chain and we were able to return to base using the port engine.
We dined well and I was grateful (very) of a bed and lift back to the airport early next morning. I waved goodbye and we were off towards Corsica and Brindisi and across to Kefalonia to meet ‘AE’ who was flying in via Britannia Airways as he had had to go to a Stag party the night before. He was quite ‘Grumpy’ at not being able to fly GUMMI down the Rhone! I landed at Kefalonia and awaited his arrival having filed for Athens.
As AE came down the steps of the B757 I could see he was not in ‘top shape’! We were airborne within 30mins and off to Athens. It was hot and bumpy and on approach into Athens we encountered windshear with 4miles to run and lost 200ft. AE was not impressed, his stomach was already a bit ‘upset’ and the windshear took him by surprise and to be honest me as well! We applied full power and re stabilised the approach and landed slightly faster than ‘usual’. We taxied in to collect ‘Big Cheese’ who introduced us to his daughter as a surprise extra pax!
Next destination was Iraklion to stay overnight in the Knossos Bay Resort. AE and I sat in one of those swimming pools with a bar in it where we met ‘Stavros’ an ex Greek Air Force pilot who was amazed at our ‘mission’ and swopped stories. AE introduced me to ‘White Russian’ and ‘Zambuca’. I do not know how we found our beach accommodation but AE and I ended up in the same one which was unnecessary as we were booked into individual accommodation. Fortunately, no flying required until the day after!
Next hop was Santorini where ‘Big Cheese’ was arranging a Cruise Ship to visit with 1500 employees. It was obvious everywhere we went that word had got out about the purpose of our mission and we were very well looked after with transport and guides everywhere we went.
Santorini was very hot and GUMMI was a little tetchy starting in OAT 30c after both engines being ‘heat soaked’ but she always fired up and off we went to Rhodes for another overnight stay and then Izmir and onto Istanbul. On approach into Istanbul we were cleared to land and a little surprised to hear a King Air 200 being ‘cleared to land’ before we had vacated the runway. After parking I wandered over to the pilot and he said it was quite ‘normal’ for ATC there to clear aircraft to land and of course it was the Commanders responsibility ultimately. Something I remembered some years later!
Istanbul was amazing but very noisy with traffic noise all night at the Hotel we stayed at. Next stop Corfu. Taxying out, Istanbul Tower gave me “GUMMI cleared destination via flight planned route climb FL210 and contact departure 132.80MHz” Err I thought, I had filed FL100 but decided rather than argue I would accept the clearance and in the event we were given a direct track and allowed to stop the climb at FL120 the flight was smooth and all I can remember is it was very hot in Corfu and I was pleased when we were on our way again. Thankfully, GUMMI still had her ‘velour’ interior as leather would have been intolerable. We were all in shorts and t-shirts and glad to get airborne into cooler air.
We flew on to Pisa creating quite a stir as it was a BA ‘Hub’ and here we were in GUMMI, freshly painted in BA Colour scheme and given our own ‘stand’ upon arrival. I think someone must have thought some BA Executives had ‘dropped’ in and they must have been surprised when a dishevelled bunch disembarked in our ‘tropical’ gear.
We spent the night and departed for Cannes and then homeward bound the next day. The aircraft performed superbly. Once aboard, AE did all the flying and landings with me in the right seat and the trip was a big success. The owner of GUMMI (Mark Everts) was concerned that being freshly painted ‘bugs’ might damage the new paintwork so AE and I got some bottled water and sent photos of us ‘polishing’ bits of the aircraft at different places just to keep him happy. Thanks Mark!
Flying in Greece requires filing a flight plan for every flight and at that time it did not require a Handling Agent. ATC and refuelling etc. was quite straightforward. It is a trip I remember and that lead to further adventures with AE in both this aircraft and a few others. I have not flown with AE for a while but we keep in touch.