Captured

Chapter 24. Stealing a private jet airplane.

There was a lot of research to do, lots of phone calls to Cyprus. I found very few people in Nicosia able to speak English or Spanish, I had to use a translator app on my cell. I put the phone in speaker mode and hoped it translated correctly. Most people on Cyprus spoke Greek or Turkish. The island nation is divided sort of like Ireland. Prior to calling them I had no idea it was a divided country and the reasons are understandable considering the location of the island.

After two days of calls I hired a lawyer in Cyprus (who spoke Spanish) to confirm the laws and procedures for what I was attempting to do: to purchase the delinquent debts for maintenance and storage on the jet then take possession of it and fly it back to Morocco. Like so many of their other business dealings they were years late paying the bills for the private jet too.

I had to explain to the lawyer that the entire family was dead and they had no known heirs so their estate was going to be at a standstill for years while France and Spain tried to figure out who owned what, but in the meantime I wanted to take advantage and obtain their airplane for my own use.

I also had to find someone to do a spy mission after I located the jet, I needed to know what services were available in the hangar and its exact condition. Did the hangar have electricity? Was there enough stuff to jack up the wheels off the floor to check the hydraulics? I also needed someone to examine the logbook inside the aircraft. If I found the jet was damaged I would abandon my interest and say goodbye to the thousands of Euros I'd gambled on it so far.

The next day I located a man with a graduate degree in mechanics and he was available so I hired him for the day, the guy worked cheap but he usually worked on imported cars and trucks, especially commercial vehicles. He knew hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical, and luckily was also experienced in small propeller airplanes. He was self-employed with his own service van. He spoke Turkish and Greek, so we'd have to rely on a cell phone app to translate, but supposedly Cyprus was fully served with 5g service.

The first thing I wanted was for him to go look at it and give me a full report including photos, he agreed and said he knew that airport rather well and had an idea where the jet was stored. He also agreed to keep his mouth shut about what he was doing. So I agreed to pay him a down payment with the credit card and pay him the rest in cash in person. He said the rental hangars are on the south end of the airport property, most were old WW2 buildings that were still in use today.

He tried to explain to me how Cyprus was a divided country and he was northern (Muslim and culturally Turkish) but the old international airport was southern, so he might have some problems, but he'd do his best. I had no idea what it involved but I think that was why Nicosia had two big airports, one was southern, one was northern. I tried to understand but the entire story made no sense and it had nothing to do with an airplane so I really didn't want to invest time in hearing about the history of Cyprus. The island is in that part of the world that has had religious wars for thousands of years and probably always would, but I had no interest in who did what, who started it, etc.

I learned the jet was parked in a hangar at Nicosia International (west of the city). That airport has two runways, one short that runs east-west, the long one runs NW-SE. Ercan International Airport on the east side of Nicosia is where the tourists fly in and out of Cyprus, it's pretty and wide open, larger and busier.

The lawyer I hired said the island is trying to shut down the old Nicosia International; it appears to be a relic from the wars and has seen better days. Some of the videos we watched on youtube showed weeds growing through the taxiways and crumbling runway pavement. And it looked like nobody has opened a can of paint on that property in over twenty years. There is gang graffiti on many outside walls, so I feared the jet might have been turned into a secret party spot for local meth addicts.

The airport closed daily at 5pm, which meant nobody was in the tower and the runway lights would be off. This time of year the sunset there about 6:15pm so we'd be taking off during the time between airport closing and sundown. Most jet re-possessions are done quickly and sneakily because if the police are called the entire project would be stopped for a few business days so they could confirm the jet was not being stolen. It was very likely nobody on Cyprus knew the owner was dead and the entire family went down with the yacht to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean! But airport security would probably call the police if they saw someone unknown to them attempting to fly off with the jet, and looking suspicious at the same time.

Once we got it in the air we'd fly from Cyprus south to Alexandria Egypt and stay the night and address any mechanical issues that appeared along the way, if any. That first leg of our trip would be the most dangerous, totally over water its 380 miles from Nicosia to Alexandria.

Dan talked to someone he met in AA in Houston, the guy worked at the airport as a certified aviation mechanic, the question was: what can we expect to find with a jet that has sat in a hangar for three years unused.

What he told Dan was basically this: 1. service and charge all batteries, 2. drain and replace the fuel, 3. Drain and replace hydraulic oil. Detailed tire checks, cabin air seals, and a complete electrical/hydraulic test of all control surfaces and the landing gear. He said it might be in very good condition but it needs to be carefully inspected. He said the avionics alone might be able to direct what services were needed as long as the batteries weren't dead. He said to get in the plane and turn on the master power and see how the self-checks on the computer go - it'll show the voltage as one of the first checks. He suggested video recording the screens with a cell phone the first time the jet is powered on. And he said we should jack up the plane to get the landing gear off the hangar floor to test the hydraulics and also on the control surfaces like the flaps and trim and rudder. He said that jet would be fly-by-wire, not direct control.

He said it might be best to service it and fly it to Alexandria and land and re-do a complete cold start pre-flight. As long as it has no leaks or electrical problems then fill the tank and fly it to Morocco. He said Alexandria to Tetouan was 2200 miles, about a 4 hour flight, follow the coast and it might get us home with no problems. He asked if we were going to sell the jet and I said I was thinking of keeping it.

While all these plans were being made I got a text from Air Services at Tetouan International Airport that my Cessna 172 flight log has expired (meaning I can no longer rent a 172 until I get it current again). My ticket to fly jets and instrument rating is still valid and it covers the plane we're thinking about stealing too. The one in Cyprus is just an older version of the Citation I rent at Tetouan.

I think I would check the batteries before turning on the power. Most people who own a jet that sits in a hangar for months probably have a power supply to plug into an outlet and into a large port on the underside of the jet, which is the primary means of charging batteries without running the APU. Fluid levels in the batteries will be low after three years. Open the floor hatch (near the lavatory door) where the batteries are and check each cell, top off each one with distilled water only, then after they're all checked and filled, plug-in the ground power cord to charge the batteries. While the batteries are charging dump and replace the fuel and hydraulics. While they are draining closely inspect the tires (for damage, cracking, excessive wear, and fill each one to the proper air pressure. He said there is always a sticker on the landing gear that shows proper pressure on every tire. The Citation has six tires. He also said if we fly the jet do not pressurize the cabin, stay below 9000ft ASL and let a certified aviation mechanic check the cabin seals, do not pressurize during flight until it is professionally checked.

Because the cleanliness of hydraulic oil and fuel are so critically important both systems are designed for easy drainage at the lowest point, usually just a small bolt to remove to let it drain by gravity into some kind of pan or can. Because those systems are also critically important their drain plug bolts usually have safety wires to prevent accidental removal, or coming out by vibration.

I'd be lying if I told you I was confident in our mission. I started having jet crash dreams and other odd bad dreams almost every night while we waited for all our plans to come together and for the mechanic to do his first spy mission. I paid him $200 up front to get him started and agreed $200 an hour, cash on the day of the caper. He said the job sounded cool, but he did not know the owners or their company. I never found out why such a well educated man was unemployed and willing to work so cheap. He said the entire thing I was doing sounded neat and he was eager to help. He said he's been ripped-off by super wealthy people before and he liked the idea of getting even with one of the worst offenders.

The next week we set a date: August 10 to August 20, 2019 and Dan bought plane tickets to Tangier. That gave us nine days to get ready. During that time the mechanic dude did the spy mission and then called me that evening with his report, but I had to get the translator thing working first.

He said the hangar has 230v 50 cycle 25 amp AC outlets in the hangar and the power was on. The jet in question shared the hangar with another jet, another (newer) Citation. He also confirmed we had the correct jet, I texted him an image of the (French) aircraft registration paper which showed that it was owned by the same man who owned the yacht. He texted me back a photo of the registration plate on the outside of the jet and some photos inside the hangar. He said the hangar had everything needed to service the jet, except the tools. He would bring several 100 foot power cords and said a battery charger for the jet was on the floor of the hangar under the jet so he plugged it into an outlet and saw the meter move up but there were no fault-displays meaning the batteries inside the jet weren't dry. I asked him not to do that again.

The next day I purchased a 1999 Citation-750-X service manual as a PDF and copied it to Dan and our mechanic. The book had an extensive long term storage checklist we will use as an outline to inspect the aircraft.

So far I've spent over $7k on stuff for this jet and partly pre-paid the mechanic. I also paid for Dan's airline tickets. Since he was flying international he was required to buy round trip fare but we'll re-schedule his return trip as needed. This job could go easy or hard, it all depends on how well the jet was handled when it was parked three years ago. The mechanic guy said it had a layer of dust on the outside which made it look like it really has sat for three years without being touched. He said the jet engines were covered and the tires looked low.

In one photo I saw that some bill collector put some kind of boot on the jet so it couldn't be moved but the mechanic said he could remove it easily with his `hot wrench."

And I think it was a lucky break but I found a complete set of filters for that 1999 Citation jet on Amazon and ordered them. The kit covers fuel and hydraulic lines, we'll just go ahead and drain everything and put in all new, including the filters.

I told Jen what we were doing and all about the original owner of the jet and she thought we were stupid for even attempting it. She asked why nobody on Cyprus tried to re-po the jet before and we learned from the lawyer that the family was well known on the island because they anchored there every summer while they made the rounds (around the Mediterranean Sea) following the better weather. They stayed two months a year on Cyprus then one month at Monaco. That was when we met up with their little party and learned about how they were financing a murder for hire operation in the EU, only killing Muslims.

I think there was also a fear factor on Cyprus, the family was known to hire goons as enforcers so people were afraid of getting involved in any way. But they're all dead now and the company was closed down, their main office was in northern (Arras) France. We also heard that everywhere they did business and lived they had a reputation for being abusive to employees and often delinquent paying bills. The lawyer we hired on Cyprus said that was not uncommon amongst the super-wealthy. He said not to worry about their muscle guys, they probably didn't get paid either and wouldn't lift a finger to protect their jet. He said the jet was probably kept a secret so they could travel without being noticed by people they ripped-off in the past.

During my research I discovered they also owned a condo near the harbor on the east end of the island and it was already in the process of being foreclosed.

Two days before our mission I got an email from the mechanic, he said he ran a 2nd spy mission to the airport and found out the big hangar doors worked, and it should be no problem working on the jet since nobody at the airport paid attention to those hangars anyway since most of them sat empty as the airport slowly went out of business. He said there was a crane with a wrecking ball already parked near the terminal! And the runways were still all open daily from 8am to 5pm, so they should be safe enough for our use. We'd probably be the only airplane moving on the property late in the day.

The days before our escapade I was unusually busy at work replacing passports and getting dead tourists boxed and flown back to the USA. I even contacted UPS myself to enquire why they turned away that business and he said they used to ship corpses but ran into problems with bodies arriving damaged from turbulence and they were sued twice so they stopped carrying them and will never fly the dead again, unless they're cremated and the ashes properly packed.

The problem with corpses in the cargo hold was in a standard casket there is no means to keep a body from flopping around due to normal turbulence and most of the carriers forgot to pack bodies with some kind of material, like shipping a glass vase in an airplane. I wrote a note to myself about another business opportunity for Daniel, to make a collapsible box for shipping human remains that included packing materials too, stuff to protect the corpse from damage. He could make it so the entire box and the packaging could go into the crematorium together. The entire thing could be made from recycled cardboard.

Dan agreed to fly here and take a bus or taxi to my apartment, I even left a door key for him at the front desk, and he should arrive during work hours and let himself in. He is packing lightly and dressing down. He said jeans and t-shirts, maybe one swimsuit and bathroom stuff, computer, cell, cash, and that's it. No weapons, no business suit, no blow dryer, no condoms.

As the hour got closer I started having memories of our last visit. But I'm not sure if we'll have time for that this time.

All the legal paperwork was done and we notified the airport we would be there servicing the jet, but I never said our work included a one-way test flight, but we would need to have the jet fueled and we would pay in Euros at the time of delivery. Cyprus is part of the EU and accepts the Euro at the airport.

Jet Day arrived!

Dan left Austin last night and arrived in Madrid at 5am local time, then landed in Tangier at 8am and was on his own getting to my place. I worked that day and took several days off. The mechanic said he would be there before us and get the boot removed from the nose gear. He said its dusty inside but the tires are not flat and there are no fluid leaks but it appears the batteries are very low. Those planes run on 48 volts DC and have eight (6v) lead acid batteries under the floor, he said he brought two jugs of distilled water and already topped off most of the cells on his first spy mission last week.

Dan and I were scheduled to fly commercial from Tangier to Cyprus (via Madrid) tomorrow morning, we'll arrive around 9am and then take a taxi across Nicosia to the other airport where the jet is stored on the west side of town.

Everything went as planned, we were to call or text the mechanic (Tychon Papadakis) on the ride to the old airport so he knew we were on the way. The flight from Morocco to Madrid to Cyprus took almost five hours and we arrived later than expected. We had a problem getting the taxi driver to start the ride across Nicosia because the airplane hangar did not have a street address to enter into his computer for directions and calculate the fare so after eight minutes of arguing and looking at his mapping software he finally agreed and we left the airport for the other airport.

The driver told us there used to be 11 airports on Cyprus, most of them were military and most were built during the 1940s. But now they're down to about six airports but the ruins of the old ones are still easy to see, those old runways take decades to disappear into the soil.

He kind of told us the short version of why Cyprus is divided. He said almost every military power in the region has claimed control over the island over the past 10,000 years. But the last two (Greece and Turkey) were at an impasse and since the disagreements were cultural between Christian and Muslim cultures the island divided itself into two nations, sort of. The north was Muslim-Turkish, and the southern was Greek-Orthodox Christian. But there are lots of people who ignore those guidelines and live where they want.

Halfway to the airport I texted the mechanic to let him know we were twelve minutes away, he answered back and said the batteries were okay, and he's serviced them and the charger is running right now. They were at 65% charge. He also said the boot is cut in half and laid on the ground near the trash can, he said he's always wanted to cut one of those things into pieces before.

Our first task will be to visually inspect the entire outside of the jet and remove the covers, then activate the master avionics and see what fault codes are listed, like dead batteries, empty fuel, flush hydraulics, tires low, etc.

When we arrived at the west side airport I directed the driver toward a group of WW2 military hangars and was surprised the perimeter gate was wide open.

Dan spotted the service truck so we drove to that hanger and I went inside while Dan paid the taxi driver.

I went inside and met Tychon Papadakis, we shook hands and then we used the cell phone to translate for us. He brought me inside the jet and it smelled musty, probably the leather upholstery aging inside the hot hangar. He also showed me how the jet was plugged into shore power and there were no fault lights on the charger (or beside the batteries) so it was working properly. He said the fact that they had a charger for the jet here probably meant they intended to store the jet for long periods, otherwise they wouldn't need a charger (if the jet was flown regularly).

He showed me the battery compartment under the floor and lifted caps off batteries to show he filled all of them, then got out the battery pH tester and showed they were low but not dead. All the cells tested the same, two of four balls floated. He said he bet it would be fully charged overnight tonight. The charger hummed loudly sitting on the hangar floor under the jet.

He also showed me the fuel system drain and hydraulic reservoir and the fluid in the window was totally clear. Then I went into the cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat with my cell running as a video camera to film the two computer displays. I reached up and flipped the master power switch to power on the entire jet. The instrument panel slowly powered on. Each side had duplicate displays so the pilot had one display with the standard pilot instruments as displays on a small computer screen (artificial horizon, altitude, rate of climb, banking, airspeed, fuel, etc.). Both sides had a nice radar display but it was not active yet. Down on the center console are the two computer screens, each one has a small keypad similar to a computer keyboard but much smaller. We read the text screen as it did self-checks and alerted on several things: Anything on the screen that is a big deal was shown in bold red text, otherwise it was all green.

Fuel low. (was flashing red)

Hydraulics need flushing.

Batteries need service. Jet plugged into shore power. (flashing red)

Tire checks, wheel bearings due for service soon. (flashing red)

Clock not set.

Cockpit door not secure.

Cabin door not secure. (flashing red)

Test and operate all control surfaces once hydraulics are flushed. (flashing yellow)

Brakes need inspection and fluid checks. (flashing yellow)

Cabin pressurization due for routine service.

Toilet flush tank empty. Waste tank needs routine flushing.

Passenger facemask oxygen generator canister due for replacement. (flashing yellow)

Pilot's oxygen generator due for replacement. (Flashing red)

Test of all exterior lighting overdue.

I told Tychon we reviewed the service manual last night and it specified what type of hydraulic oil to use and he said he had a new can on the truck, aviation grade, factory sealed. He also asked me to call him Ty instead of Ty-con.

Just then Dan walked in the cockpit while we were huddled at the instrument panel reading the messages. I told Dan his first job was to drain the hydraulic fluid and fuel, get started now. He asked what I drain it into and I said to look around the hangar for an oil pan or bucket. I handed him the new filters and showed him the direction of flow and how they were labeled FUEL and HYDRAULIC OIL. All he needed to do both tasks was a 12mm wrench and an 8mm wrench for the hose clamps. Ty used my cell to tell Dan to use any tools in his truck.

I didn't speak to Dan again for almost 80 minutes while he did those major tasks. I shut down the avionics to let the charger power the batteries and not the dashboard. Ty and I looked around the entire hangar looking for stuff to jack up the plane to get all six tires off the floor to test the hydraulics once the fluids were replaced. We also had to operate all flight surfaces to ensure proper operation.

Luckily since this was an airplane hangar someone always kept a stack of large timbers lying around, planes have been in need of hydraulic testing for 100 years now so we worked on using his floor jack to lift one wing and block it up on a stack of timbers, then we jacked the other side and set it down on boards so now the main landing gear were fully off the floor and the nose gear was barely touching. While Ty was stacking boards and jacking wings I was crawling on the floor and inspected tires and added air to each one but found no cracks at all. Keeping them indoors saved them from sun damage. I used his bicycle tire pump to fill each tire to spec. As he raised the jet and the tires came off the floor I hand-turned each one to carefully inspect them for any issues. While I did tires and Ty jacked the jet off the floor by about two inches Dan drained the fluids into a steel pan on the floor. We got the plane lifted and the fluids drained by 10:55am. I was the first done so I used Ty's flashlight to closely inspect the outside fuselage and around all the windows and the main cabin door for any sign of pressure cracking or damage.

After Dan advised he was done replacing the hydraulic fluid and the filter I turned on the avionics and selected the maintenance mode and told the plane to raise the landing gear. Dan and Ty stepped away from the jet to watch. I raised the gear and closed the covers and they ran very smoothly with no unusual sounds or smells. So I lowered the gear and tested the flaps, and all other control surfaces and everything worked perfectly. The hydraulic system now showed green on the main display. While I was hand inspecting all the hydraulic lines for leaks inside the wings Dan inspected the fuel system and removed the drain plug. He shouted to me that the fuel system was bone dry, so he installed the new filter and called the airport for the fuel delivery truck.

While we were waiting on the fuel truck Dan, Ty, and I carefully re-inspected the entire fuselage and wings for any cracks or signs of age or damage but found nothing but dust and normal wear on the fiberglass cover over the radar antenna on the very front of the fuselage. We looked inside every space for signs of burnt or cracked wires, fluid leaks, or anything abnormal and found nothing. Dan said it looked like the last people to fly the jet took good care of it, they knew well enough to drain the fuel too.

Some of these older Citations had power stairs, but this one was manual. Someone had to open the door and jump down on the tarmac and reach under the floor and pull out the stairs and latch them in place. In some models the cabin door opened in two pieces and the bottom half was the stairs, but on this plane the door is a single piece and the stairs slid under the floor. They're short, maybe 40 inches long since the jet sits rather low.

Dan got into my briefcase and removed a wad of Euros to pay for the fuel truck, they were supposedly on their way 15 minutes ago (3:45pm) so he went outside and saw them trying to figure out where we were. One of their fuel guys opened both hangar doors for ventilation and ran the ground wire and then the hose and gave us a full load of jet fuel (551 gallons), which was more than I wanted so Dan paid the bill ($1600 Euros) and they left, but I asked them to leave the hangar doors open, we'd close them later on. (NOT!) After that we were nearly finished so Dan paid Ty in cash too.

I was surprised by how well everything came together and the times we estimated for each repair went much faster than I anticipated. I honestly thought we'd be there working on the jet for 2-3 days, but now it was like 6 hours and we were done clearing fault codes and had all the important service work done.

By 4:40pm the fuel truck was done and gone, but we still had good light, the batteries were at 74%, so Dan and I started on the cold-start pre-flight checklist, which we knew by heart since we did it in school with an FAA Inspector watching. It was interesting to watch Dan in the cockpit going over the checklist as if he last did it days ago; he looked very comfortable in the pilot's seat!

The mechanic got all the timbers put away and his tools were mostly put away too, our list was getting shorter and we were almost done with the checks and now only had the ten page cold start checklist, and some of that stuff we already did as part of clearing fault codes. We used the alphanumeric keypad to enter the reset codes for fuel flush, hydraulic flush, battery service, tire inspection and control surface checks and marked all tested good and almost every red indicator was cleared. Because they are critically important I had Dan re-check the pressure on all six tires and he reported back they were all spot on and he saw no signs of damage, no evidence of brake fluid leakage.

It took us 57 minutes to cold start check the plane and I was secretly toying with the idea of flying tonight if Dan agreed. At 5:02pm we both thanked Ty again and watched him drive off. I was going to leave the toilet system for another day and we left the power breaker for the entire galley turned off, I instructed Daniel to not touch those breakers. We also had to ignore the oxygen canister service alerts because there was nothing we could do from here about them. And we could stay below 9,000 feet the entire trip anyway. We were not going to pressurize the cabin since door seals were a possible cause of faults, we'd stay below 9,000ft ASL.

Dan got to the last item on the pre-flight and had me watch. He shut down the master power while I went outside and unplugged the jet from the battery charger and we waited another minute and then he flipped the switch and the system came back to life, no new fault codes, all systems green, except we were not moving and had nothing programmed into the auto pilot. The batteries still alerted low, which was expected.

"You wanna leave now, just to get away from Cyprus?" I asked Dan.

He sighed and gave me a look of concern, and he asked, "We goin' to Alexandria?"

I said, "Uh huh, about 45 minutes over nothing but water and sharks. If we go down we're fucked."

"You think it's safe?" he asked.

I told him I had confidence in the jet, we might have to sleep in the plane at Alexandria then re-fuel in the morning and fly back to Tetouan which will be a long ride. (Usually pronounced: TET wahn or TUT wahn.)

He asked me if I researched parking the jet in Tetouan and I said yes, I got a price on a spot outside on the tarmac, it's no problem. That tarmac sits empty all the time, unless war breaks out in northern Africa. We could take the cover that was here for the jet, not sure how old it was, it might disintegrate in a few weeks in the Moroccan sunshine

He dropped the aircraft manual in the slot on the center console and stood up from the pilot's seat and stood behind the co-pilot seat and told me he was ready to go, so we agreed to leave right now. I had him read me the tail number. Dan had to go outside and read it off the back of the fuselage and shout it while I wrote it with Sharpie on the inside of the windshield so I didn't forget, then I programmed the radio for ATC Alexandria Egypt. Dan looked at the wind sock and said it was out of the northwest so we'd be good on runway 32, which is 8,500 feet and way more than enough for this jet even with full tanks in this weather. Then he looked through the collection of maps in the cockpit closet and found one with the African coast and found Alexandria, Al Nozha Airport had one runway, 5,500 feet long and like so many others in the area it used to be a WW-1 airstrip, the airport is small and old but has fuel service and a mechanic. He said the runway was right at the edge of an inland lake. He said it was probably going to be easy to see from 30 miles out, even at night because lakes always look like obvious black spots. I had him call on his cell and get the Alexandria ATC phone number (just in case) while I got our headsets out and tested. After he got the number Dan reminded me this airport closed five minutes ago. When they say it closed they meant the tower closes and they shut off the runway lights and everyone goes home except a few elderly security guards. The sun was still up but getting low in the west. Then Dan programmed the radio beacon frequency into the old guidance system, the jet would fly toward the beacon when we enabled that system.

We had to get our butts in gear. I had him grab the charger and power cords and bring them in the jet and strap `em down in the cargo area behind the seats. We knew the plane had no water so the toilet would not flush and the avionics said there was nothing in the sewer tank. I decided to play it safe and shut off the breaker for the toilet too. I also killed power to the lighting in the passenger compartment and the back compartment temperature controls. We'd shut the cockpit door and only take care of ourselves.

Dan and I got out of the jet and moved everything away and tested to see if we had enough muscles to push the (12,000lb) jet out of the hangar with just our leg muscles so we grabbed landing gear struts and pushed really hard and much to my surprise the tires started turning. Once we got it rolling it was fairly easy to push.

We manually pushed the jet out of the hangar out onto the tarmac away from the building. I thought if that didn't look like we were stealing a jet than these people don't fricking care, maybe everyone hated the old owners and they were all rooting for anyone to take it away. Dan said not to worry, everyone has gone home, he pointed way over at the employee parking lot and there were only two cars left!

For right now this jet was ours, we had all the required forms filed with the Cyprus government and she was mine to do whatever I wanted. Our lawyer said he mailed a notice to the company office in France a few days ago but the place is closed and locked since they went out of business. They operated a cable-TV business in rural northern France (and Belgium) and provided service to about eight million households, most of who today are probably ordering satellite service after their cable-TV stopped working.

Dan and I picked up the jet cover, which was in several pieces that included smaller covers for the jets. We folded them and bunched it up and seat belted it to one of the back seats.

The runway lights were off and the sun was soon going to be setting into the Mediterranean Sea. We got in and Dan shut and locked the doors and took the co-pilot seat, they had headsets but only one had a boom mic, if he was going to talk to be he'd have to use the hand mic.

I turned on the master power and watched closely as everything came on green so I activated the jet starter system and heard it spin up and gain speed. When it first started we felt the jet wobble a bit but it quickly smoothed out as it revved up faster and faster. Dan said he bet it blew a huge cloud of dust and spider webs out of the jets.

At this point if the jets faulted or stopped working all we could do was decide to quit trying and fly home or call Ty back to try to get it fixed.

Once the jets reached a specific RPM the computer activates the fuel pump and sparks the mixture inside the combustion chamber inside each jet. Once it passes self-testing the computer shuts down the starter system and the jets create thrust and the panel indicator turns green. Then it does several more checks and if those are all okay we're good to go. Each jet engine has a DC power generator and the aircraft has an APU in the back end to generate electricity but the ones in the jets should be enough to power the aircraft and charge the batteries. We were wearing simple denim jeans and t-shirts. Dan was wearing his dark blue Jerry Garcia t-shirt he bought online. We were not dressed for a long flight at 9,000ft!

While the jets got up to speed and operating temps we started talking about music. I put the computer displays into start-up mode so it displayed each section of both engines to show the temperatures as they warmed up, all sections should be nearly the same. We sat there talking music while both of us stared at the small computer displays knowing that if any problems appeared in this process it would likely end our mission. Watching the display Dan picked up our fake argument again.

Back in college we constantly argued over who was the best electric guitarist, I said it was Hendrix, he said it was Garcia of the Dead. He plays his album Garcia' as evidence and I play Electric Ladyland' as my evidence. Dan would play Mars Hotel and I would play his tracks at Woodstock. The last song at Woodstock was played by Hendrix, he was the last act.

Dan said Hendrix was messed up on drugs, that was why he set fire to his guitars on stage (Monterey Pop Festival). I corrected him and said he did that to try to make the pick-up create sounds that no human had ever done before on an electric guitar, it was part of the performance not some religious ritual. I actually won that argument. That is one of the things that made Hendrix the undisputed king to this day, the things he did with a guitar on stage that nobody else ever has. Still the King after 49 years!

"So what did the king die of?" Dan asked trying to get into the co-pilot's seat.

"He was drunk and took some sleeping pills. What happens to humans when they get too intoxicated is one of our protective reflexes gets shut down. Normally you put your finger in your throat and it triggers a gag reflex, causes you to puke. When you get too intoxicated the gag reflex is shut down. So if you puke while you're sleeping your body doesn't react by waking you instantly so you don't inhale your puke, that's what happened to Hendrix. After he was asleep he puked. It went up into his mouth and settled back down into his lungs. Once that happens it's just a matter of time until you die. Stomach acids in the lungs destroys them and you slowly drown in your own vomit. Most people who drink too much or take an overdose of pills vomit, which is why most pill overdoses don't work. But if it suppresses your gag reflex then you're probably a gonner if you puke while you're passed out or asleep."

We sat there in the cockpit talking and watching the avionics displays as one by one the red items disappeared (except for the ones we'd deal with back in Morocco) and the display turned all green. While the jet checked itself we were monitoring the control tower radio channel which was silent, the airport was already closed for the day and the runway lights were off. Dan looked at me and gestured for us to start moving so I used my feet to release the brakes and we started rolling forward while Dan kept one eye on the avionics display and was going to shout if anything new appeared on the display. In all honesty if anything appeared suddenly on the small display windows it would probably be bad news. I was fully prepared emotionally to walk away from the jet, our project seemed too good to be true so far.

We rolled to the end of the taxiway and stopped short and watched out the windows in both directions for any late day air traffic. I called on the tower frequency and the Unicom channel and announced my planned take off and our departure route, I called again and repeated myself but all we heard back was radio static. So we checked the sky both ways again and I applied a little throttle and slowly rolled onto the runway and aimed her down the long straight stretch of pavement. The only lights left on that outlined the runway were small blue lights about 500 feet apart, so we had some indication where the pavement was as I slowly applied throttle and Dan watched the displays and called out our final checks: flaps, comms, fuel, engine status, everything was green. I had not yet programmed anything into auto pilot but I knew we'd turn around and fly to 8,000 feet at a heading of 224 degrees. He reached up to turn on two small lights above both of us in case we had to write something down or refer to the manual. I asked him to turn on the very bright landing lights too.

We started rolling and the runway felt lumpy, Dan asked if we had a flat tire, but I ignored his comment. Finally, we reached 110mph (toward the NNW) and lifted gently off the runway and began our climbing turn over the island toward the southwest.

Its funny during a take off roll if you do it gradually how you hear the sound of the tires on the pavement then suddenly it becomes silent once you lift off the pavement. I gently pulled back a little and the nose came up and we could no longer see the airport, just the sky.

I'm sure if anyone was still in the control tower they could tell where we were going based on our heading but we would soon be out of their radar coverage. I set the auto pilot for the heading and altitude and we talked about our immediate plans for the Citation. I asked Dan to program our destination airport into the autopilot, so he got out the airport book to get the code.

"What are we gonna do in Alexandria?" Dan asked.

I thought his question was a little dumb but I replied: "Buy gas and get some food, use their bathroom, and probably sleep in the back of the jet. I want to see how far back those seats recline."

He said, "If we can make it to Alexandria why not fly to a larger, nicer, more USA friendly airport in Tunis instead, it'll be easy, just follow the coastline. I reminded him that was 1500 miles, almost three hours flying time, and he asked, "What the hell else we got to do tonight?" I stared at him then asked him to get me the coordinates and elevation for the airport in Tripoli instead.

Dan said, "Tripoli? I said Tunis."

"Yah, I know but Tripoli is on the way so we'll program it in and when we get halfway there we'll program Tunis into the autopilot instead." But Dan had no comment. So I tried another explanation. "It's like flying from San Diego to San Francisco. You first set the autopilot for Los Angeles and once you get there you set the autopilot for San Francisco, that way your autopilot has a good strong radio beacon to fly toward the entire trip. When you first depart San Diego it might not receive the San Francisco beacon at all, so I always start with one closer so we are more likely to stay on course."

Dan looked at me and smiled and nodded his head and jokingly commented: "There's a diagnosis for that you know."

We chuckled but he knows I am super cautious about navigation, especially in strange skies.

At 8,000 feet above the Med the sun was nearly set to the northwest so I turned on lights inside the cockpit.

A few minutes later he found the data in an airport reference book and read me the info slowly so I could program it into the autopilot, Mitiga International Airport, he read me an advisory in the book that this was a closed military air base now, only land in extreme emergencies. But all I wanted was to utilize their radio beacon to keep the autopilot on course. The north coast of Africa is not a straight line, it has huge bays and I wanted to keep us close to directly above the coast the entire way. By aiming at Tripoli it would keep us over the coast but if I set course for Tunis we'd end up almost 150 miles out to sea for half the trip.

I got it programmed in and asked him, "You sure?" And Dan just nodded yes, so I activated that destination and the jet turned toward the west-northwest, about 254 degrees and we climbed a little higher. So far our stolen jet was flawless, although it still smelled like a seldom used summer cottage on a lake in Wisconsin. We had plenty of fuel for the extra distance and anyone following our departure from Cyprus on radar at other airports would have lost us by the time we changed course.

I reminded Dan that the autopilot in this jet was before GPS was approved for jet aircraft except military. So it uses radio beacons and not GPS. On this plane you get the airport code out of the book and program that in the autopilot and that sets all the gear and flies you toward that destination.

We had about twenty minutes of nothing going on then Dan suddenly said, "Uh oh!" Then there was an alert tone from the computer and red blinking text, I told Dan to read it to me while I grabbed the book. He said there was a temperature alert on one of the jets, it showed it was hot or a faulty sensor in the combustion chamber. I put the computer on my side into diagnostic mode while my heart was pounding and Dan was looking for the page on engine temp alerts.

Suddenly the red text disappeared from the display and we glanced at each other, then it returned and buzzed again. Dan said it's an intermittent sensor, due to long term storage, it needs to be cleaned or replaced. Each jet had four temperature sensors in the combustion chamber, this was one of the four on the left side jet. When we pre-flighted the jet our checks of the jets were minimal since they were covered and we can't reach the jets, they sit up too high. Dan said, "I know!" He reached down and unbuckled his seatbelt and left the cockpit and went in back, I assumed he was going to use the bathroom. I heard someone messing around with stuff in back because he was pretty loud. But he opened a service panel in the bathroom and jiggled the wires and once again the red indicator disappeared. Now I couldn't take my eyes off the computer display and I was nearly frozen with fear thinking about the cold sea below us and all the hungry sharks waiting for dinner to fall from the sky. As far as I knew this jet was not at all equipped for a water landing.

Dan returned from in back and was zipping up his jeans and took his seat and put on his headphones. I was stuck staring at the diagnostic screen for the engine with the bad sensor. But all the faults were gone. Dan reached over and shook my shoulder and told me to chill out, I look terrified. I looked out the window instead and then closed my eyes for a few minutes and silently prayed for the Hand of God to fix the left engine.

The sun set during our turn directly toward the west. When we were about halfway between Alexandria and Tripoli I had him watch the controls while I went in back to piss, but we turned off the toilet power since there was no toilet chemical in the tank but any urine would slowly drain into the storage tank regardless. I used my cell for light in back.

Each time you flush the toilet the master computer knows and keeps a record of waste in the tank. But there was no other way of pissing in the jet, everything was emptied years ago. If there was an empty pop bottle I could have pissed into that but the back was totally empty. At least the leather seats weren't stolen or damaged.

It was too loud to talk much in the cockpit so we mostly just sat there watching the instruments, the heading, the artificial horizon, altimeter, the radar but there was nothing but dust in the air as far as our radar could see. Outside to the left were the lights of towns and cities along the coast and a vast expanse of darkness over the Med. Occasionally we saw the lights of some large cargo ships but we mostly flew a straight line toward Tripoli.

I leaned back and watched the stars and Dan slouched down and did the same thing, he told me he thought this was cool as fuck, he never stole a plane before. I reminded him we legally stole the jet because we had the authority to take possession the aircraft before other people figured out that defunct company owned it. He asked me to turn up the heat a little, it was getting cool. So I set the cockpit temp for 75 degrees F (23c).

Dan asked how much this jet was worth and I said almost two million bucks.

"What are you gonna do with it?" He asked.

"If it turns into a money pit I'll sell, otherwise just use it to joyride on Sundays, maybe buzz on up to visit Jen on the weekend."

"How is she doing in Madrid?"

"There is a huge cultural change to get used to. I think right now she is a little angry at how lazy some of the people in her office seem to be. She actually posed as a customer in Colombia calling for support and got the name of the rep then asked the same question a few times and the rep got so angry she shouted insults at her and hung up. That was her last week with the company and she'd been there six years! Jen says there are a few more to go, but over time they will reveal themselves. She said they started recording all service calls. But nobody has time to listen to the recordings unless there is a specific complaint."

Forty minutes after our first course change I examined the chart and saw we were well over half way to Tripoli so I decided to change course for Tunis. Dan got me the specs on Tunis so I could program it into the autopilot. Soon after I hit STORE on the autopilot it began a turn toward 318 degrees. It would be another 45 minutes until we landed, so far no new fault codes except that one.

When we were 25 minutes southeast of Tunis Dan went in back and used the toilet, I shouted as he left the cockpit: "Don't flush." He came back a couple minutes later, I asked what took so long and he said he checked out the passenger seats and the galley, but everything is dark and freezing cold back there.

"Turn around." I told him and I used my hand to wipe dust bunnies off his jeans, of course I ran my hand several times down his back and across his ass, but he said nothing. That was the first time I touched Dan's ass inside the cockpit of a jet aircraft over the Med at night. I'm sure he knew I was feeling his ass too. I'm sure if I nicely asked him he would have stood up so I could rub his ass. Dan never objected to me touching him. Several times since we left Cyprus I wished he'd stand beside my seat and pull out his boner for me, but I was too embarrassed to ask. I actually enjoyed rubbing my hand over his butt cheeks.

He buckled into his seat in front and I tried the first time to call Tunis-East approach and got a reply, luckily they spoke English. I gave them our call sign and altitude and said we were on our way across Africa and needed jet fuel and he said no problem and assigned us a spot in the approach queue and advised a new altitude and heading and suddenly we were in line to land at Tunis, but it was still too far to even see the lights, to us Tunis was a bright speck of light on the extreme horizon straight ahead. Dan set the transponder code as the ATC lady read out what she wanted us set for. That code made us appear with full data on their radar displays.

Dan reminded me to ask if they accepted Euros for fuel and she said yes, they notified the fuel truck and told us to watch for the ground guide truck. (A vehicle with a large sign on back which said: FOLLOW ME) They were going to have us park in a place used for re-fueling planes only.

Fourteen minutes later we could see the runway approach lights blinking and a jet in front of us, there was a cargo jet twelve miles behind us and another behind him. We were to land on runway 29 to Exit 4b and taxi back and watch for the ground-guide truck, he gave me the frequency to call for ground clearance and assistance.

Slowly we were getting lower and all the airport lights were visible now. I actually saw the plane ahead of us land and taxi the same route they wanted us to take. We were rather far behind him so another jet took off as we approached but they'd be long gone by the time we hit the middle marker.

At 20 miles out we were 2500ft and lined up with the runway. Surface winds were calm, skies clear, temp was 85 degrees. When we got over land we started to feel turbulence and it only got worse. Then at the middle marker we were at 500ft and I had flaps down and lowered the landing gear, they worked perfectly and locked in place, all three green lights came on.

At the inner marker we were at 90 feet and I was throttling back trying to hit the LZ marks but I went long due to ground effects (a layer of hot ground air trapped between our wings and the runway). The runway was rough and loud, we took the last left Exit-4b and taxied back to near the main terminal behind the truck with the FOLLOW ME sign. He parked us and blocked our tires and called fuel services. The computer said we had half a load of jet fuel left.

I shut down the engines and the ceiling lights in the cockpit, now we were dark inside. The last thing I did was look at the entire flight computer display and checked the battery situation. It was at 69% when we left Cyprus, it was now at 88%. I told Dan to re-check the batteries, as he opened the cockpit door. I got myself unbelted and took off the headset and left the cockpit. Dan already opened the cabin door so I jumped out and pulled out the steps and we both stepped down onto solid ground and paced around the left jet engine looking for anything I could see at night. About ten minutes later Dan joined me but he pee'd on the tarmac under the plane. About ten minutes later the fuel truck drove up, he connected the ground wire then we talked money, I offered cash, Euros.

I told him I'd like to have a full load, but we had probably a half tank left so he `sticked' our wing tank and did some calculations then printed a tiny register receipt which was his invoice, I went inside and got cash and paid in full and he stretched out the hose and filled our wing tanks. While that was going on Dan walked over to the terminal to use the bathroom and buy a few bottles of water. He was gone for a while, I think he dropped a deuce too.

While the fuel guy was working I noticed he had a ladder on his truck so I shouted to ask if I could use it for a couple minutes and he said okay. I got the ladder and used my cell for light and went up to the exhaust port of the left jet and looked inside and saw the tips of the four sensors, which looked like tiny metal things sticking into the combustion chamber so I reached inside up to my arm pit and finger tip rubbed the tip of each one then examined my finger tip. One came out rather powdery black so I rubbed it again until my finger came out clean, then did all four again until all of them looked clean and got down and hung the ladder back on the fuel truck.

When I walked up by the fuel guy standing against our fuselage holding the heavy three inch hose with the big nozzle on the end the guy looked at me and shouted "Fouled heat sensors?" I laughed and nodded yes. He said that was one way to tell a pilot from a pilot who owned the jet, the owner rubs them clean but the pilot orders new ones! We both chuckled as his hose clicked off, the tank was full again. He capped the tanks and climbed down and carefully reeled-in the hose and then the ground wire. He mumbled that new sensors cost about $150 each and are probably the same as the ones used inside large gas boilers.

The fuel truck finished, printed another receipt (305 gallons = $808 Euros), and drove off. I saw a silhouette walking toward the jet, it was Dan carrying something. He asked how far it was from here to Tetouan and I said we couldn't fly there now, that airport closed at 8pm, we were stuck in Tunis till sunrise. He handed me the bag, it had two beef brats on buns like hot dogs, with all the typical hot dog toppings: mustard, relish, celery salt, sport peppers, pickle slice, tomato, and onions. He said he already ate his, so we sat on the tarmac leaned against the tire while I ate my food and enjoyed cool breezes off the ocean.

The concrete tarmac of the fueling area felt nice and warm on my butt. The heat felt nice after a cold flight from Cyprus. Dan commented that it was nice they didn't scramble a fighter since we flew directly at Tripoli for almost 40 minutes. I took his comment to mean he didn't think it was such a good idea. I never commented back or defended my actions. I felt it was probably routine for them considering their location along the coast. Then I reminded Dan that Tripoli was property of the CIA and he said that made it even more dangerous.

He wanted a bite of my brat so I handed him the sandwich and he pressed it to his face and took a huge bite then I ate the rest. We've shared sandwiches like that since high school. While he was chewing his bite he told me he didn't want to get shot as a spy if we were forced to land in Tripoli. I laughed at his comment, but it was over now, we were well past Tripoli.

After I was done eating we went back inside and lifted the access panel in the floor to check the fluid levels in the hydraulic tank and the levels in the batteries. We both got in the compartment below the floor and added fluid to nine cells and replaced the caps. I held the flashlight while he did the checks and pouring. I was glad the mechanic left the rest of the distilled water and a small paper cup in the battery compartment. After that job was done we closed the floor hatch and experimented with leaning passenger seats back and found they nearly turned into narrow beds and they also rotated so you could lean it back and turn the next seat around and stretch across two seats, so I shut our cabin door and we took a nap with the alarm clock set for 45 minutes before sunrise.

In newer Citations (like the rentals at the airport) in the passenger area there are eight seats. Four face forward, four face backward, each pair of facing seats has a fold-up table between them, four tables total. In the older Citations like the one we stole the seats are arranged the same as in a passenger airliner, all seats face forward. The bathrooms are tiny, and the toilets are covered with a lift-up cushion. To sit on the toilet you lift the front edge and lean it back against the wall and sit on the toilet seat. To stand and pee you raise the toilet seat too. There is a button on the wall to flush and when covered the toilet flush is very quiet. I believe the toilet seat is covered with a cushion and has a seatbelt too for when a stewardess is also on board, that is where she would sit.

Our flight to Tetouan would be 900 miles, that would take almost two hours, this jet held enough fuel to fly about 3200 miles non-stop at 85% power at 25k ft ASL.

Both of us struggled to get comfortable but finally we both fell asleep. Four hours later the cell phone started alarming, time to get up! The sky was deep blue in the east but sunrise wasn't for almost an hour yet.

We walked across the tarmac to use the airport employee bathroom and wash our faces, neither of us brought much personal stuff, we intended on focusing on the jet and getting the hell out of Cyprus before someone called the law because the re-po of an airplane always looked like theft. You want to avoid police involvement because it could take them days to prove the legal authority to take the jet during which time you might wait in a jail cell with uncivilized people in drug withdrawal. Actually all jet re-po's looked suspicious which was why re-po teams worked quickly to get the plane off the ground.

We walked back to the jet and kicked the chocks from the tires and stowed the stairs and locked the cabin door. I turned on the power and carefully watched the display for any fault codes or reports of anything abnormal but it started up like normal, sign of a well built and properly maintained jet.

I called for clearance to taxi and was told to wait because they had five cargo jets all leaving at the same time; this was obviously a major hub for a regional air freight service. We watched out the windshield as five windowless cargo jets taxied around the airport and took off one right after another and another, all of them painted the same colors.

I knew the coordinates and elevation for Tetouan by heart since I flew there so many times, but I had Dan check my numbers regardless. He said my memory was correct compared to the specs in the airport book. We got the call to taxi to the end of 29 and hold short so I cranked up the jets.

From the time you activate the start sequence until they are ready to produce thrust it takes about 50-90 seconds in the 1999 Citation. We turned around and rolled down the narrow taxiway to the end and held short while two passenger jets and one cargo jet landed. We sat there at the end of the taxiway for six minutes (wasting fuel) then got permission to roll onto `the Active.' Then came final clearance and I did another gentle take off, taking it nice and easy on the Citation. At first I kept my feet on the brakes as I gradually applied power, sort of an aircraft carrier take-off.

The Citation was itching to go and the jets were roaring and I felt it vibrate and shudder when it reached 50% power, then I let off the brakes and we lurched forward and it sped up really fast. Both of us were pressed hard into the seatbacks. Less than halfway down the runway we lifted off the pavement and then the pressure went from into the seatback to into the seat cushions and seatbacks.

We gained altitude quickly and engaged the autopilot and switched the radio to departure control but our flight path was the only designated aircraft route to Tetouan, I knew this airspace very well. This takeoff went much faster than the one at Cyprus, the angle I took was much steeper and I think Dan was a little surprised I'd do that but it was a steep take-off. But it didn't take long because we were only climbing up to 9,000 feet.

The route from Tunis to Tetouan followed the African coast which is full of small towns, mountains, and some stretches of empty desert. We flew over Annaba, Algiers, Oran, Melilla, and then over Tetouan. Since our air seals were untested we stayed at nine thousand feet and never pressurized the cabin. Dan asked me to turn up the heat since he was getting chilled.

We stayed over land most of the way. Tangier ATC controls the skies over that entire peninsula and the Strait area, as well as Algeciras and Gibraltar, I called them 300 miles out for clearance to make my approach to Tetouan. Southwest of Tetouan is a wide mountain pass with the highest peak of the Atlas Mountains on the south (right) side of the pass, so at night you can see Tetouan from very far away if you're in the right place. It was the reason why their airport sat where it sat, because of that mountain pass. The Tetouan runway points directly at the pass.

What most pilots approaching Tetouan from the east do is they set a course for the airstrip in western Morocco, a town called Asilah. Once you are 40 miles away you disengage the auto pilot, turn about and fly through the mountain pass and land effortlessly in Tetouan. In all my time in Morocco I have never seen anyone land in the other direction, the winds are that reliable, except maybe not so much during African monsoon thunderstorms.

During the two hour flight home from Tunis we chilled out with the auto pilot doing the driving but we had to keep an eye on the radar and for any changing conditions because they sometimes got sudden bad weather in that part of the world due to the collision of weather systems on the Sahara and the Atlantic Ocean, which was why the area around Tangier was so green and all the available land was farmed. All the farm aircraft in the area stayed below 2,500 feet. If you flew an open cockpit aircraft to 9,000 feet you would freeze your nuts and your nose off!

I watched all around for other aircraft and when I saw the Rock of Gibraltar far ahead in the haze I smiled knowing our escapade was nearly over. We had successfully (legally) stolen a 1999 Cessna 750 Citation X!

I called the tower for clearance and she recognized my voice but not the aircraft registration.

"Tetouan tower this is Charlie November Twenty Seven Alpha Citation requesting clearance to enter your pattern, we will be approaching from the west at five thousand."

"Charlie November Twenty Seven Alpha Citation you are clear to enter the pattern, our pattern is empty at this time, please be aware of low altitude aircraft in the area sir, your voice is familiar."

"Hi tower, this is Alejandro from Tangier, I rent your Citation regularly. We will observe for low altitude farm traffic on approach. We'll need a place to tie her down too, see you soon."

We were down to 5,000 feet ASL when we flew past their airport and continued west. Dan watched the airport go by out his window. I throttled back and began my u-turn. Since we had no passengers I banked the Citation much steeper and quickly lined up with the runway. Dan lowered the flaps a little while he commented on my sporty approach by singing the song Danger Zone.

...Highway to the Danger Zone,

Right in to the Danger Zone.

Heading into Twilight, spreading out our wings tonight,

She got you jumping off the deck, shoving into overdrive.

Highway to the Danger Zone,

I'll take you right into the Danger Zone...

I raised my hand to signal him to stop, I needed to concentrate. Dan chuckled at me but stopped his awful Kenny Loggins imitation. His version sounded like Danger Zone with a Houston accent, perhaps what it would sound like if it was sung by Glen Campbell!

We flew a gradual downhill slope toward their only runway and at seven miles out Dan lowered the gear and gave us more flaps, he zeroed out the trim elevators in back too.

I glanced at the panel to watch for the green indicator that the gear were down and locked. I talked to the tower as we passed the outer marker, on glidepath, nobody else in the pattern and we were clear to land. I took off more throttle as we coasted down to the runway, I tried hard to chirp the tires on the marks knowing Dan would notice.

My approach was what I always did, same airport, same runway, same everything except a different jet, this one was much older than the rental jets at the airport, which I think were a long term lease from Cessna. I'd love to hear how the rental jets got to Morocco. I think they are shipped in pieces to France and assembled somewhere there.

The atmosphere was calm and quiet when we landed so it was easier than landing in the simulator at Wichita. It's about as hard as coasting down a hill on a bicycle, but it does take skill to touch the wheels on the marks. I'm pretty good at hitting `em each time, especially at this airport.

We touched the main gear on the long/wide landing zone lines and then the nose gear and I pulled the throttles all the way back as we coasted to the end of the runway with air brakes engaged, and did the turnaround then I used the throttle to taxi all the way back to the west end so we could get off the Active as quickly as possible. This is my biggest dislike about Tetouan, is the lack of a taxiway.

Tetouan is building a new-longer runway but money is tight so it might take them a decade until the new one is open. Once that happens they might use the existing runway as a taxiway, except they're not parallel, they intersect sort of like a V; you can see the new one under construction on gmaps. In all honesty, in the third world sometimes new construction looks very similar to tear-down so the new runway sort of looks worse than the old one! I think it is partly covered with dirt and weeds so people don't try to land on it. But since I've lived here I have never once seen paving crews working on it. I think they are nickel and dime-ing it together. They do have asphalt shortages in Morocco because it's a Moroccan State enterprise, just like the oil refineries and the oil and gas wells, but it keeps the prices low. This country usually has some of the lowest fuel prices in all of Africa.

The oil industry in Morocco is run as a gift from the King for the benefit of the citizens. The government is parliamentary with a ceremonial monarch, but the royal family owns most mineral rights under the country.

We were in the terminal office for a while to sign a rental agreement for keeping the jet on their tarmac; the Citation had to be tied down too. They provided the tie down straps too. Someone had to go outside to measure our jet and the bolts sticking out of the ground to pick the best spot for us to park. That took time too. We sat by the windows and watched the clouds go by and a regional passenger jet land and its passengers get off the plane and walk directly onto an airport bus. Then they were delivered to a local waterfront resort.

Dan sat on the bench seat reading a glossy magazine in Arabic, so he was looking at the pictures. I thought it would be funny if he read it upside down, but he checked first. To me Arabic script looks the same either way!

From the time we chirped the wheels to the time the jet was tied down to the tarmac was 100 minutes, I paid two months in advance in cash and decided I would purchase a sun cover for the jet, sort of like the canvas covers people put over their parked cars so they don't sit in direct sunlight and bake. It also came with jet engine intake and exhaust covers too so birds didn't try to build nests inside them. For now we used the old covers we brought from Cyprus.

We took a city bus back to Tangier and walked in the apartment at 1:15pm. My first stop was the toilet seat, then I opened the door and announced I was taking a shower, Dan was standing at the window watching people on the beach, I think he hoped someday to actually witness a shark attack. I saw one and hoped to never see it again, even just a simple bite can be gruesome. Most of the time shark bites on the beach happen completely under water and no shark or fins are ever seen.

After my shower I stepped out of the bathroom Dan was nowhere to be seen, so I went about my business, I gave serious thought to taking a nap, so I pulled down the covers on the bed. Several minutes later Dan came back in the apartment, he went downstairs and got two KFC meals for us and we sat on the sofa (I was only wearing my underwear) and chowed down, then I confessed I was super tired and wanted to take a nap. We both got in bed but I made him get up and take a shower first. Dan stunk like pits and ass.

When my head finally hit the pillow the sun was just about to set. I was asleep by the time he got in bed.

Contact the author: borischenaz mailfence com