The PBY-5A Catalina departing St Croix, U.S.V.I. enroute to St Maarten.

 

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About Bluegrass

How I fly the Catalina

 

 

 

 

Our Objective

To provide a fun event for flight simulation pilots to compete with others from every corner of the globe and to test the flight and navigation skills of pilots not only over the route but in various weather conditions utilizing both land and water based terminals.  

 

NEWSFLASH:    Entries and Flight Reports and now being accepted until 31 December 2002.

 

Welcome to The Catalina Jaunt

 

Have you ever wanted to do the "grand tour" of the Caribbean?   Have you ever wanted to test your flying skills over a mixture of terrains?    Ever wanted to test your skills at the controls of the Bluegrass PBY5A Catalina?     How are your water landing skills?

Well here's your chance.

The event starts on 1st September 2002 at the PamAm Dinner Key Terminal in Miami, Florida, USA and more or less follows the east coast of South America to the Argentina Seabase in Buenos Aires.

The event is divided into twenty one (21) sectors most of which are fairly short and each one has its own weather conditions ranging from "hey the suns out let's work on the tan" to "oops who turned the aircraft around while I wasn't paying attention".

The aircraft to be flown in this event is the Bluegrass PBY5A Catalina.    This aircraft has been fully tested and meets all specifications.    It can be downloaded from the downloads page on this site.

In retrospect, since this is a “fun” event, it has been decided to open up the event to any amphibian.   We have a FS2002 Grumman Goose in our hangar, but you may bring any amphibian you like. 

This is not a race.    It is a test of each pilots flying abilities using an amphibian in varying weather conditions.    You do not have to finish the event by a certain time although progress recording will cease on 31st October 2002.

There will be no declaration of a winner.     The winner will be the pilot who believes he completed the event to the best of his ability.

This event is open to anyone and everyone who would like to join in.    Bluegrass pilots will be credited with their flight hours on completion of the event.    Pilots requiring a certificate of hours flown for their own Va should make a formal application to the Events Director once they have completed the event.

Please check out the rules page then send your application to join the event using the Pilot Application link.

Acknowledgements:

This event is the culmination of a great deal of planning, and preparation not the least of which is ensuring that the aircraft meets all design specifications   The organizers wish to thank those members of the Bluegrass Team who have given so freely of their time and skills to assist in the preparation of this event.

In particular we wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of:

Senior Captain Bill Von Sennet, Chief Executive Officer of Bluegrass, for the many hours he has put into perfecting the aircraft for the event and for his efforts in putting together many aspects of the event route and this web site.

Senior Captain Coleman Green, Divisional Director, Alaska Division for his most valuable expertise in designing and producing many of the float base terminals used in this event.

First Officer Rob Finn of the Australian Division for his efforts in planning the event, researching local weather conditions along the route and producing typical weather settings for use in the event and for the many hours he spent in the air testing the aircraft and navaids.

Chairman of the Board, Senior Captain Joe Deering for putting the finishing touches to the aircraft.

In addition we thank Harry Follas and Brian Horsey for the design of the aircraft and giving us permission to repaint it in Bluegrass Colors.

We also thank Michael Vader for the panel he created from an original bitmap by P Casey.

 

Do you enjoy flying light aircraft and float planes and historical aircraft of the 1940's and 1950's?    If so then why not consider joining a Division of Bluegrass?    Check out Bluegrass Headquarters for the Division or Hub that takes your interest.