2-Twin Intrigue

I felt it before I heard it—a sound reverberating from the south.

I was just finishing lunch at the Fuel Up Cafe, located in Campbell River’s main airport terminal, when the distinct rumble morphed into the sound of twin turbines, but with a different resonance than a Beechcraft KingAir 350, or deHavilland Dash 8 aircraft.

The wind was out of the north at the moment, but the view of the approach from the south was blocked from my vantage point. I could’nt confirm the source of the sound, not until I saw an aircraft flare just over the numbers of RWY 30. It was then I had my first good look at what originally arrested my attention.

It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. In actuality it was an Italian made Avanti Piaggio P180. I had only ever seen this type of aircraft in photos or YouTube videos. It had an unusual fuselage and engine configuration, with rear mounted propellers. Where other normal twin  turboprops have their propellers mounted in front of the wings to pull the aircraft through the air, these were attached to the rear of the wings and pushed the air backwards. On either side of the nose section of the fuselage, were small canard wings with integrated flaps.  The overall strangeness and unusual configuration of the aircraft, gave it an alien yet elegant beauty.

The pilot touched down smoothly, just inside the start of the touchdown zone, slowing in sufficient time to exit at the first intersection. It then proceeded to pull up to a vacant parking spot just on the other side of the window where I sat.

After the engines had spooled down, I watched as two people exited the aircraft; a man and a woman. He was taller by about 4 inches, clean shaven, with a powerful build. He walked with a military bearing, and had a very focused look about him. His head was slowly tracking from left to right as he walked, as if he were identifying and cataloguing his surroundings. His companion seemed more relaxed, and was laughing at, or with him about something. I noticed no one else exited from the aircraft.

While this was all very intriguing, I didn’t have time to linger. I had my own flight to attend to. I had to prep for a last minute route diversion to Pemberton to pick up an American nurse and two of her colleagues. She had reserved a private flight through the VIP division of our company to be transported to Ketchikan Alaska.

Just ninety minutes prior, I had flown a Daher Kodiak turboprop aircraft into Campbell River after departing from our maintenance and retrofit facility in Abbotsford. Our company had just completed a new retrofit on the plane for bush operations for the Canadian arm of the Mission Aviation Fellowship relief agency. Initially, the contract called for the aircraft to be flown from Campbell River direct to one of the MAF agency’s Canadian outposts in Dease Lake, located in British Columbia’s northern interior. As was common in the aircraft ferry business, plans regularly get disrupted at the most unexpected times. The aircraft was now to be used for the short notice VIP flight into Alaska

According to what little details I had been given, this nurse had been in Pemberton attending a medical conference Target for the past two days. She needed to get back to her regular assignment on The Hospital Ship USNS Comfort. This just happened to be the world’s largest Hospital Ship, which ran under the flag of the United States Navy. It was currently docked in Ketchikan Alaska waiting for her arrival.

Whoever this person was, she must have some serious connections in the US Navy. Probably best not to speculate too much…lunch was finished and I was already past my quota limit of intrigue for one day.

I got up from the table and as I left some cash for the waitress, I glanced once more through the window at the unfamiliar turboprop that was now being refuelled. Before I exited the Cafe, I took out my phone and snapped a couple photos of the aircraft. As I was about to exit the restaurant, I saw the couple from the plane enter. The man brushed past me on the right side, with his eyes locked on me until he had walked past me. I wasn’t sure what his problem was, but I proceeded to make my way over to one of the south-side maintenance hangars where I had parked the Kodiak. It was time to file my flight plan and get moving.

I thought again of the couple who had just flown in on the strange looking aircraft, and wondered what their story was.