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Martin Mars update and an announcement

Heres video of the aircraft in flight in Lake Elsinore

As of 9:30 this morning:

"San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials confirm that the World War II-era flying boat, named Hawaii Mars, flew threw missions Friday, dropping a total of 10,000 gallons of water on the Harris and Witch Creek fires. It is expected to remain in the area to assist firefighters in San Diego County and elsewhere in Southern California."

And in regards to all of the overreaction to the holdup at customs there is the following:

"In response to news media attention and public criticism of the delays in clearing the Martin Mars water bomber through customs last Wednesday, Battalion chief Greg Donnelly of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department provides this rundown of how the process actually worked:
"Customs agents from both San Diego and Los Angeles regions worked diligently through the night on Tuesday to clear the crew and logistical staff. All crew members were given a telephonic clearance which helped expedite their arrival and availability to initiate work."

From the indispensible SDonline fireblog.

I got held up once at the border with Canada for three days because instead of lying and saying I was visiting friends or going on vacation, I told them the truth and said that I was going up to Calgary because I was working on a software project for Petro Canada, which is exactly the sort of thing that the Canadian Custom service frowns on. People telling the truth just throws the whole system into shock and we just can't have that going on now can we?

So after much legal negotiation and about 72 hours sitting in an antiseptic, orange and blue naugahyde covered bench in the Canadian Customs holding tank, I was eventually allowed to purchase a temporary work permit ( for 800 US dollars which allowed me to work for a grand total of 7 days) This "permit" wasnt exactly wallet sized but was about the size, shape and color of a Dennys placemat only instead of the word "Dennys" at the top with bright sunny pictures of hamburgers, pancakes and sausages, it was pictures of Queen Elizabeth, beavers, bears and trees with the word "Canada" at the top.

And that was all over little old me going to talk to some people in Calgary. No computer gear, no fancy flying machine, just me, my mouth and my brain standing in front of a whiteboard telling people how to set up a payroll system on an IBM 370 with CICS. For that, I needed an 800 dollar work permit that was the size of my college degree(and more ornate!).

So in other words the border crossing for the Martin Mars went as fast as it could considering it was three semi trailer trucks of gear, lots of ground staff and a large unique aircraft with no permits or paperwork so...shaddup you yammering morons.

And here is my announcement:

My next post will not be about the Martin Mars but will be in celebration of having just made 1000 blog posts. Incredible...

Posted @ October 27, 2007 12:54 PM | Aviation