The irony is I'm more concerned about writing than I am about flying. However, my dear friend Rod Rakic has asked me to blog about my pending adventure, and I am humbled to oblige. For him, I will set my concerns aside and focus on the mission: take you on this adventure with me.
My name is Mandy Irwin. I have seven and a half hours logged on a Cessna 172, and I'm co-piloting a Beechcraft 1900B from the United States to South Africa beginning Monday.
It'll be the second time I take the trip in a 1900, but the first time not in a passenger seat. (Okay, I did get to hold heading and altitude for a brief while between the Canary Islands and Mali last time but I was so over-stimulated it still doesn't seem real.)
I do realize how fortunate I am. This is an amazing opportunity… and for those who may be a little jealous, you'll probably hate me when you learn that that's just the front half of the trip. Once we get to South Africa, we'll be exchanging the 1900 for a PAC 750. Via several countries, we'll make our way to Guam.
Yes, from an aviation perspective, life is very good to me.
Mandy Irwin is a student pilot, writer, and travel nerd based in Chicago. (MDW)
To give you a bit of background on who I am, and how this adventure came to fruition, we'll start with my big dream. No, my aviation friends, I must be candid and admit my big dream was not to be a pilot. My big dream is to own an island and run a bed-and-breakfast on it. (I have a birthmark on the inside of my right leg. It's in the shape of a jalapeño. I'm convinced it's a map to my island. I believe it to be in the Adriatic, but I could be wrong. I simply haven't found it yet.) Anyway, while working the 9-5 in Chicago, I started researching the next and proper steps to buying an island. While I quickly learned I wasn't in a position to make those steps, I reasoned that I must do SOMETHING to move my dream forward. So, I reckoned that if I had an island, I'd need a plane, and if I had a plane, I would need a pilot's license. And with that, I scheduled my first flight lesson.
Despite my semester at the prestigious Illinois Math & Science
Academy, my first lesson left me with a feeling I had never
experienced. Piloting did not come natural. It was, and continues to
be, a mental and physical challenge for me. And, I love it.
While I officially have less than eight hours in my logbook, I have had the opportunity to experience flight from the left-seat in many great locations: 4.3 hours in and out of MDW (Chicago, IL, USA), 1.6 hours around VNY (Van Nuys, CA, USA) and 1.6 hours around FALA (Lanseria/Johannesburg, South Africa). And quite fortunately, I've had the opportunity to sit right-seat for five-times that amount of hours, in great planes like the Diamond Star and a Russian YAK. And every time I get into the cockpit (regardless of the side), I'm overwhelmed and thrilled.
It was when I was logging my hours in South Africa, after a Habitat for Humanity trip and a subsequent safari, that I met the person who would change the trajectory of my life forever. A native South African, whom I mistakenly called David for the first few hours of knowing him, was staying at the same B&B as me. He'd been stuck there for nearly a month, as he waited for his plane to be repaired so he could take it back to Pemba, Mozambique, where we was a pilot for the Quilalea Resort. DeWet (pronounced not like David, but like Duh Vet through the eyes and lips of an American) and I became fast friends.
Nearly two months later, DeWet came to the States to log hours on
the 1900 by meeting up with a ferry pilot named Denny, who was flying
from Rockford, Illinois to Johannesburg, South Africa. DeWet was
scheduled to arrive in Chicago on Friday, and depart Monday. What we
thought would be a quick three day visit turned into nearly three
weeks, as the flight plan changed on a daily basis.
What will be a story for another day, results in me quitting my job in
an industry which I'd worked for over eleven years, and boarding the
plane with Denny and DeWet for South Africa.
Why I made that decision, and what I planned on doing with my life
when I got there is also another fascinating story, but has little to
do with aviation, so I'll save it. However, what is important to know
is that I end up back in the States two months later. And, today,
seven months after my return from my adventures around Africa, I am
eagerly anticipating my opportunity to go back – and most of that
excitement has SO MUCH to do with me being able to fly it with Denny
from the cockpits of those planes.
I was suppose to leave two weeks ago, but those plans were changed
several times, and as it stands today, I will be leaving on Monday,
July 21, 2008 for this grand adventure with Denny.
From what I understand, here are some of the countries in which we'll be refueling (of course, you must embrace the fact that nothing is ever according to plan on these adventures): Canada, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Mali, Sao Tome & Principe, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, the Seychelles, the Maldives, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and potentially Australia.
And that's what I know for now.
Hope you'll take lots of pictures Mandy. You'll remember this trip forever I think.
Posted by: Rob Mark | July 23, 2008 at 10:38 AM