Hola Amigos,
Surprise!!! we are in San Salvador, El Salvador. Left Tuxla, Mexico at around 10. Headed to Tapachula to clear customs, Harold connected with a pilot of a float helicopter so what do you think Marjie, this might be the new Seawind??

Just a note to all pilot friends, its a good idea to update your GPS before a trip! as although the mountains don't move the airports do! We had a little discrepancy between GPS's as Lorne's new GPS showed Tuxla at 343 miles from Puebla and mine showed 321 miles out. Last years map showed the airport abandoned but did not show the new one 22 miles out. So just a note to be careful.

Latest news is we are in El Salvador because our high voltage indicator light was shining a Christmasy type of red. So we need to get our alternator checked out and have a meeting with a mechanic at 7am tomorrow. Sorry John, it appears that I am buying a new plane part by part.

So far the people here have been exceptionally friendly, many speak English and the official currency here is US dollars. We found a great bread and breakfast and are heading out for supper with a member of the El Salvador flight club. We were offered a ride to the hotel with an 83 year old pilot of a 303 Cessna. Said he always flies with a co-pilot just in case he forgets something. Lorne and Harold suggested that she be a nice young co-pilot, but he admitted that he had forgotten what to do and needed to read a book to remember. He also told us of his coconut groves on three islands just off the coast, that were confiscated by the government years ago. Interesting gentleman.

Pictures:

Here is the fiesta we went to last night.

Lorne flew today and here is the El Salvador landscape.

Bye for now

Special Thanks

The lost Ducks really appreciate Peter Parkinson and the technical people at Guardian Mobility in Ottawa for their efforts to provide us the instructions of “how to fix the fuse” our old tracker and at the same time provide a new unit already programmed and ready to use. Through their efforts we had a replacement unit in Mexico City in less than 24 hours – took a bit longer to get it to Puebla but that’s life.

A second acknowledgment is for Perry Casson, Medstead/Regina who provided us with the tracker in the first place and exchanged many emails and phone calls helping to get it working and fills in the comments and spaces we left blank, as in from Kerrville to Puebla.

Harold, Lorne and Barb

We are not sure Barb wants to send these last two pictures (as am I); they show Barb making sure she gets the tanks full and as you know how happy she is with success!

The first is of a helicopter that goes commercial tuna fishing, an R 22. I’m wondering if this is an alternative to the planned Seawind.

The second one is what happens when one makes an unscheduled stop for fuel (& as it turns out, maybe an alternator) in El Salvador, very friendly people but thank goodness we have a Spanish speaker with us!

How long will we be here? Tomorrow is Sunday.

Harold

Dec. 7, 2007

Hi Everyone,
We are currently in Tuxla, Chiapas, MX. The lost ducks, flying in formation, left Puebla this afternoon, after a smooth 3 hour flight we arrived in Tuxla. We thought we could clear customs here and head for Guatemala first thing in the morning but we should have known that it was not that simple. It turns out that they only have customs officials signs here but not the real people. So looks like we have one more stop in MX before we clear out.

It´s very warm here about 25C. Went out to a restaurant to where there ended up being a show of traditional music and dancing. It was a nice end to the day. Our tracker is back on track. So you can watch our progress. Can you believe it?, Lorne not only fixed the tracker with his handy jack-knife, he also picked out a new car for Frankie. Frankie please send a cheque, because between the car and Ed's plane Lorne is really short of cash.

The pilot crowd will recognize the emblem of the P51 Mustang on Lorne’s T shirt, Lorne and his son Mike flew P51’s in aerobatic formation flying. The photo itself may not be clear enough to identify the plane until attention is drawn to it.

Take care, we miss you all.

Barb, Harold and Lorne

Barb finally gets to puebla

After a few interesting days, Barb has finally made it to Puebla. It seems that yesterday while she was on her way there from Morelia, besides having some bad weather, her artificial horizon decided to take a holiday, so she diverted to Toluca to have it repaired. Meanwhile, Lorne, Harold and Antonio Bustillo tried fixing the tracking device they have been having problems with. It sounds like they had some success as now they show up on the map as being in Mexico, although the flight path looks pretty straight considering the fun they had on the way. Tomorrow the new tracking device will arrive, so they have a spare; and if the weather is good they should be on their way south. If you notice in picture #1 that one of the Canadian planes still has a winter cowl cover on - Harold really must be missing Marje - even his plane is cold at night!!

Harold and Lorne have finally arrived at Puebla. En route they decided to stop and pick up Ed Wiens' new Mooney in Kerrville Texas (Ed, you are supposed to send a cheque right away as the boys are short of cash).

H & L have ordered parts for the tracking system, but are not really sure when they will arrive.

Picture #2 Harold and Lorne with BMH in Puebla, Barb is not there yet as she ran into some bad weather on the way from Morelia, Mx. Sooner or later they should get together!!

Picture #3 Coming into Puebla

Picture #4 Puebla airfield - at last!!! Destination #1 Puebla Mexico field elevation 7352 Lat 19 9 29.32 long 98 22 17.21

Harold, Dec 2nd

After some “new flying” at least for me, we ended up in Veracruz today. We left Monterrey for Puebla via a refueling at Ciudad Victoria but 120 miles from Puebla hit some low weather & rain, we went east, tried up, tried down but nothing worked. We then went to Tampico for fuel and by this time we had Veracruz weather which was OK so we headed to Veracruz arriving ~ 10 minutes before sundown.

We expect the weather will let us cross in the AM so hope to be in Puebla before noon of Dec 3rd

We most definitely need to fix our tracker, we have several disappointed people who were tracking us, mind you today’s route really underscored our name "the lost ducks". Never have I flow in so much rain and our course was anything but a straight line – ducks fly at 200 feet right?

Barb, we hope to see you in Puebla for coffee at 10.

Harold

Hello All,
The problem with being away for a year is that you need a fresh annual for the airplane. Desafortunadamente (unfortunately) Transport Canada does not accept the services of Mexican areomechanics. Barb either had to locate a Canadian mechanic in Mexico or fly back to Canada. Luckily, Doug Baun from Shellbrook and his wife like to winter in Puerto Vallarta. They linked up and voila - Barb now is good to go for the next year..

More news from Harold and Lorne ---- it seems that they are having a problem with the locater beacon and you may not be able to follow them on the map for while - personally I think it has something to do with spending too much time with the cheerleaders at the football game, but I am sure they will clear all that up when they have a chance.

The pictures above are of Doug doing the C of A in Puerto Vallarta and later a bit of flying around PV to see the sights.

Bye for now.