A few years ago while filming “Dangerous Flights” my copilot Marcio (the big Brazilian) were ferrying a turbo charged SR22 Cirrus from Munich to Las Vegas. Along the way way had some minor audio problems which “forced” us to land in Annecy France. (poor us) Annecy is one of the most beautiful places if ever been to and definitely where I want to be next time I have mechanical problems with the plane.
On this particular flight we were in a race with Cory Bengtzen and Pete Zachinino to see who would get to Wick Scotland first. You see they were flying a Cessna Grand Caravan to Africa about the same time and it looked like our paths would cross somewhere over the North Atlantic so why not make it a race. And if you’re going to race, you’re going to bet. And if pilots are going to bet, they are going to bet booze. Because why not bet on something practical? That everyone could use everyday? Like socks. Or whisky.
So the race was on, our honor, (and a bottle of Glenfiddich), were on the line.
It started out poorly for team Kerry. We had no sooner left Munich when the Cameraman riding in the back (remember, we were filming a TV show) reported that he had some kind of mistry feedback in the audio and we needed to land and sort things out. Crap.
We shot a pretty low approach (which I love) into Hamberg and after some head scratching decided that the problem was too much for us. We needed the help of the guy who installed the video/audio system, and luckily he was still in Europe and could meet us in France.
So back in the plane we go. Only instead of heading north west toward Scotland and victory we headed south west toward the land of great cheese and wine. Bummer. I guess. Sort of. Not really.
Meanwhile Pete and Cory were dealing with problems of their own. It started out with a major snow storm covering the entire east coast. Followed by Major cold weather in Northern Canada and Greenland. (Cold in Canada and Greenland, in the winter? Who could have seen that coming?) Then a major drunk front rolled into Iceland and cost them more time. (I’ve had that happen to me more often than I can’t remember)
Both teams were dealing with some serious obstacles. Bragging rights and, more importantly, a bottle of fine Scotch was on the line. Who would prevail?
To be continued: