My company had a requirement to move an S61 from Aberdeen to Dhaka in Bangladesh for a new contract starting in the January. The ferry flight was due to depart on 1st December and the ferry crew would return to Aberdeen towards the end of January. It is probably for this reason, that I and a very good friend got the trip as all the senior pilots didn't want to be away over Christmas. I had only been a captain for 2 months at this point, so i was stunned to be offered this trip of a life time.
So, on 1st December 1997, we departed Aberdeen in S61 G-BBHM with $20,000 in cash, two ferry tanks and the instruction "be in Bangladesh by Christmas".
After leaving a very cold Aberdeen for Humberside and then Great Yarmouth to pick up our engineer we spent the night at Orleans just south of Paris. The next two weeks took us through Briare, St. Yan, Nice, Naples, Corfu, Heraklion, Alexandra, Cairo, Luxor, Medina, Riyadh, Dhahran and Dubai where we went u/s. We could have gone u/s in Dhahran but we all felt that Dubai would be somewhat more refreshing. We spent three nights in Dubai while an engineer from Redhill flew out with an engine front-frame assembly to cure our oil leak.
After a couple of ground runs, it was off to Pasni (that's another story), Karachi, Ahmadabad, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar and Calcutta where we spent a couple of nights waiting for final diplomatic clearance into Bangladesh.
On the 15th of December, G-BBHM finally touched down in Dhaka after 63h 20m flying time and the best part of 5,000 miles.
Apart from a few administrative issues on the ground from time to time, it was, without doubt, the best flying experience of my life. Even looking back at the administrative issues; they were the source of many a story to tell on our return.
A truly memorable experience and in a couple of days time it will be 20 years ago. Where did all that time go.............