Abaco Travel Rant

[ScottB]

[FONT=Arial]Not really a rant at all

[two rock reef]

There have been many experiences traveling to and from Abaco, some good and some not. One experience that comes to mind is one of my 1st trips, I think it was around 1977 and I was flying with my 1st cousin on Mackey Airlines. The aircraft was a DC-3 (like the one hanging in the Smithsonian), the interior was trimmed in bamboo and the ventilation system was 2 school bus fans on the bulkhead. When you entered the aircraft you just threw your bags in the back. Half way over to the island I got up to use the restroom. While I was in the restroom I noticed you could see the ocean through the floor, I could actually see whitecaps on the ocean. I returned to my seat and told my cousin of my obsevation. He couldn't believe me and went to see for himself, on his return he said he needed a beer badly after seeing the ocean through the floor. The gentleman seated across from us overheard my cousin and asked what kind of beer would he like, foreign or domestic? He pulled up a cooler from the floor and pulled out two cold ones. He was the flight attendant! He said people never asked so he kept the beers for the crew on their lay-over on the island because beers are so expensive there. There was no charge for the beers, the flight attendant said that all of Mackeys planes were 1st class!

[Jerry S]

I can certainly relate to that story. My first visit was in 1979 and we flew on the Mackey DC-3. The experience was very similar only we weren't smart enough to ask about the beer.:eek::D

[SamFamAustin]

What great stories about the DC-3. Wasn't that the one that could shake your bones and make you go nearly deaf? :)

[Jerry S]

The best I can remember the flight was fairly comfortable.
The DC-3 was a great airplane, used a lot in the air travel industry.

[oudi14]

Back in the late '70s, when I was in college in West Palm, I went back and forth on Mackey. They had, among other things, an old DC-6 that leaked oil all over the place. But they always got you there.
Talking about problems getting in and out of MHH, and missed connections, I can probably come up with the oldest story, if not the most exciting. This happened to my family in 1958, when the airport had just opened, and I was 3 years old. We left Hope Town on the Boney, captained by Dave Gale; I assume it was what passed as the ferry back then. Albury's ferry didn't start operating until the following year. The Boney was very, very slow, and it had to go all the way around Matt Lowe's cay and into Marsh Harbour to the Govt. dock, where the port is now. From there, we were picked up by Mr. Victor in Taxi 1, and rushed out to the airport. Alas, the Bahamas Airways DC 3 was taking off without us. I can still remember seeing the little speck in the air as it flew away. My Dad said I cried, but I don't remember that.
Now, remember, that in 1958, Marsh Harbour was a small village along the harbourfront, no hotels, nothing. Bahamas Airways had one flight a day to NAS, and Mackey flew daily to MIA. And that was it. Fortunately for us, old Dr.Stratton and his wife very kindly agreed to take us in for the night. I can remember during the night, being told by my Mom, as my little brother and I were being noisy, to be quiet so we wouldn't disturb Mrs. Stratton.
And the next day we caught the flight to Nassau, and all ended well.

[JJ]

I wonder if that was the same DC-3 we flew home on once! Our trip was around 1987. My husband, a magazine editor, had done some free on-the-side work developing a brochure for a friend in the travel business. He was promoting a new airline to the Abacos and Schooners Landing on Man O'War Cay. As payment, we got a free trip to Man O'War and stay at Schooners. I can't even remember the name of the new airline. I don't think it even lasted a year. We had a nice flight out of West Palm Beach on a small plane. For the return trip, something had happened to their plane so they had a loaner and our jaws dropped when we saw that DC-3 sitting on the tarmac. As we climbed aboard I remember thinking that I hoped their money was going into keeping the engines running since the interior did not look like it had been touched since the 1950's. We ended up hitting really bad weather returning to West Palm Beach and still today I describe this as the worst flight I have ever had. The plane started bucking and rocking and doing what felt like sudden free falls. My husband and I were in the last row and the exit door was right behind us. It sounded like it wasn't shut all of the way and was rattling like crazy so the flight attendant came back, no kidding, and was holding the door closed. She was thrown to the ground at some point and we found out later she had broken a collar bone. Our friends on the same flight had their seat come unbolted from the floor and they were also tossed to the ground. When we landed, everyone cheered and someone announced "I need to go to the bathroom" and someone else chimed "I already did". I fortunately controlled my bowels, but I did grab my husbands thumb and held it so tight it took hours to regain circulation. What a way to end our first trip to the Abacos!

[BahamaAngie]

JJ, that is a terrible experience! I don't know if I would have flown again!!!!

[Patti Puzo]

The first time we flew over with Vintage out of Orlando. We had to wait for about 3 hours before our flight was allowed to leave. It was raining and blowing all morning.
We joined 2 other couples on the plane, finally. The couple right in front of us was a pulmonary surgeon from The University of Florida and her husband. They were first-timers as well. We could see into the cockpit, and Mark and I laughed as one of the pilots started banging on the instruments.
We were finally airborne, and the little plane rocked and rolled in the winds.
The doctor in front of me kept her hands tightly wrapped on the seat in front of her, knuckles white.
As we got closer to Marsh Harbour, we could tell things were a little stressful.
Then, the doctor, looking out the window, noticed the infamous upside down white plane on the approach. The copilot quickly turned and told us the winds had drastically picked up, and to hang on. We all watched as the large pine trees swayed back and forth.
The copilot said because of the intense winds, they were going to have to drop quicker than normal.
The doctor started screaming, and my (ab)normal reaction was to start laughing. Weird, I know. I do the same thing on roller coasters.
Just before we set down, she turned and yelled "What the hell are you laughing at? We're all going to die"! Mark looked at me, and if it was a bigger plane, he would have moved to a different section.
The pilot set the plane down abruptly, but perfectly.:o

[two rock reef]

My best flight over to Abaco was on US air's Dash-8 (great Canadian plane) out of West Palm. I was traveling with a friend that worked for US air. We landed at Treasure Cay 1st and then on to Marsh Harbour. When we were at Treasure she asked the pilot if he knew where Elbow Cay was located and if he could fly over the North End so that I could see my house from the air. The pilot replyed that he would give us the "island tour". Well, we took off out of Treasure out over Green Turtle and flew along the ocean fronts of all the cays and it seemed as if we never got above 500 ft! When we arrived on the island a neighbor asked if we were on the US air flight that she thought was going to crash because it was so low. We just looked at each other and replied: Yes, it was the "island tour". My neighbor replied she could see the faces of the passengers in the windows and was looking for me!

[BahamaAngie]

Wow Patti! Scary flight!

[ScottB]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Patti, that plane has been a major conversation piece with each newbie I

[tmccaffery]

These stories remind me of one of my earlier trips to Abaco. We were scheduled to fly back on Mackey's DC-6 from Marsh Harbour to Florida via Treasure Cay. For some reason they were one seat short but more folks were getting off at Treasure Cay than were boarding so the solution was to have me sit in the cockpit jump seat for the hop from MHH to Treasure Cay. Quite an experience even to my jaded 15 year old eyes.

Years later I introduced my wife to Abaco on our honeymoon. I forget which no longer flying commuter airline we took over and back but it was a small twin. On the trip back I was doing the co-pilot thing that others have talked about above. However, I clearly remember looking at the fuel guages and fervently hoping that the pilot had calculated his fuel consumption rate with at least a little bit of a reserve.

We still figure that the trip to Abaco really begins with the flight from Florida.

[LuvDeIlons]

Our first visit in May 1977 was to take the CSY Cruising Course out of Marsh Harbor. We flew on an aged DC-6 with all 4 engines leaking oil at an alarming rate. They created an enormous smoke cloud when started that would set off EPA alarms in today's world. It had huge leather seats in a nicely redone interior. The 2 pilots were supported by a non-pilot engineer/navigator to deal with the big radial engines. Two things I remember well from that first flight over. First was my concern over the dark areas of "oil spill pollution" I saw in the shallow Abaco waters. Turns out they were coral heads and reefs. Just shows how the inexperienced eye can misinterpret things. Second was the number of downed/crashed aircraft we could see below our flight path. Those were the days when lots of drugs transitted the area and the value of a lost plane was just a small part of the cost of doing business.
On a more recent visit, we flew on an Air Sunshine C-402 the day before they had their deadly water landing accident. I have pictures out of the window showing the engine cowling covered with oil. Don't know if it was the same plane, but we often wonder. BillR

[DrRalph]

In the mid-90s we flew from MIA to Georgetown, Exuma, on the old Gulfstream. The pilots were two males of "middle Eastern descent," no prejudice intended, but they spoke very rapidly in what was, I believe, Farsi. When we fly I like to have a chart on my lap so I can identify the islands, etc. The guy sitting next to me had a sailboat anchored in Elizabeth Harbour, and he was doing the same thing. The flight was supposed to take just under two hours.

With what we figured was maybe 20 minutes to go, the pilots became very animated, looked back at us, saw us looking at charts, and asked us to bring them forward to the helm. My new friend and I pointed at a couple of islands, identified them on the chart, then the two pilots motioned us to return to our seats, but kept the charts. They then resumed their argument while the lady in front of me started crying:eek:.

We identified Great Exuma and the Mosstown area where the "airport" is. They overshot it, then made a severe left turn into a brisk wind, and dropped us onto the tarmac, and I mean dropped!! No explanations, just 'thanks for flying, please choose us again,' that rap.

At least we knew we were on the right island:rolleyes:.

[tim abbott]

Great stories. Fortunately for me I don't have any to add. I have done alot of flights on Vintage and private two enjine charters, but all were cool. Wen't through a couple of storm cells that bounced the plane around. I got airlighted out of Marsh Harbor in 2005, that sucked, but the flight was ok.

Tim Abbott

[Patty&Rudi]

These really are wonderful stories!!

Dr. Ralph - did you ever get the charts back from them? Or did they need them to fly back? :D

Thank you, everyone, for the great rememberings!!

[DrRalph]

Dr. Ralph - did you ever get the charts back from them? Or did they need them to fly back? :D

The sailboat guy went up to the helm just as they were about to make their turn and got them back. I'm not sure they wanted to part with them, though.

[cookie909]

December 2004, Air Sunshine. Don't know much about airplanes, but the reading on the fuel gage kind of scared me!

[Patty&Rudi]

The sailboat guy went up to the helm just as they were about to make their turn and got them back. I'm not sure they wanted to part with them, though.

I guess not!
I wonder if they ever found their way back to Miami?? :eek: