My FLIGHT Series: Story #2, Stuck In Bermuda

It’s always the “other guy” who gets the great deals isn’t it?  Well one time, I was that guy!!!  After I got back seat qualified (yes that’s a real thing, click on it to see), I got a GREAT deal!  I was very fortunate to be in Carrier Air Groups that deployed on Aircraft Carriers that were home ported at Mayport FL.  This means that each time the CAG went out with the ship, I was able to drive to Mayport and walk onto the ship. 

Ground Pounders Who FLY! Since You Are Maintenance Guys You Are Getting A Great Deal

Most of the Airwing had to fly in a few days early because those squadrons were stationed at Norfolk or Whidbey Island.  Well two days before I was scheduled to go to the ship, I got a call from the Duty Office and they said I did not have to go to the ship.  I was going to be part of the “Translant” crew for two of our birds that were going to fly across the Atlantic and meet the ship when it got to the Mediterranean Sea.

Since it takes the ship about 10 days to cross the Atlantic, we got to spend an extra week home with our families.  The plan was to leave Cecil Field and fly to Bermuda to refuel and spend the night, then the next day fly to Rota Spain for fuel and overnight.  After that, we would fly aboard the ship.

Hey Riggs And Simpson, You’re Getting A Great Deal

After I got back seat qualified, there were other maintenance guys in the squadron who did the same thing.  There were probably 4 or 5 of us maintenance guys who got qualified to fly.  For this great deal, the Skipper preempted two enlisted aircrew guys, who normally would be part of the crews,  and put me and Tim Simpson (Tim was an engine mechanic which proved handy as you’re about to see) in their places.  Tim and I were also both qualified Collateral Duty Inspectors, and trained flight deck troubleshooters, so we KNEW our stuff and could do most any maintenance that might be needed during our trip across the pond.

It’s Only A Few Days, I Won’t Need Money…

Since our whole trip was only supposed to be a few days, and I was a poor enlisted man with a family (Tim and I were both E-5’s and E-5 pay at the time was $902.70 per month), I only had about $40 in cash with me.  I don’t even recall that I had a credit card at the time.  I think my “allowance” each month was $50, and Chris and the kids had to live on the rest.

So everything was proceeding well;  we had taken off from Cecil Field and landed in Bermuda.  The next morning we manned up and took off towards Spain.  However, there was a problem!  One of the aircraft lost an engine on take off so we had to make an emergency return to Bermuda.  We determined that the engine was not repairable and needed to be replaced before we could go on. 

This started a whole process that I won’t go into, but basically folks back at Cecil Field had to get another engine, all the equipment needed to change said engine, including stands and test equipment, and fly to Bermuda so we could fix our bird.  There was nothing we could do until the rescue crew arrived, so we had some good liberty in Bermuda.  I think it took 4 days for the engine and other parts and personnel to arrive. 

Four Days Of PBJ Sandwiches

Do you know how hard it is to live for 4 days in expensive Bermuda with only $40?  I went to the commissary and bought a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and jelly, and lived on that the entire time.  Thankfully, one of the officers paid for our dinner one night when we all went out in town to eat, or else I would have just ordered water and some rolls. 

We actually removed the old engine, replaced the new one, did all the tests and had the aircraft ready to go in less than a day.  The next day we flew off to Rota, then to the ship a day after that.  In total, I lived on $40 for a week.  Not easy to do. But we sure did have fun on Bermuda being “stuck” while our shipmates were hating it on the ship.  As for getting a great deal, I’ll take real beach over steel beach anyday!!