Palm Coast, FL – A local pilot becomes the first in over 50 years to guide a general aviation flight from the United States into Cuba.
Galin Hernandez, his wife Millie Santiago, fellow co-pilot Anthony Perea and Giovanni Ferrer made the 50-minute hop from Key West to Havana during Labor Day weekend, marking the first time that’s happened since Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959.
“I have wanted to go to Cuba since I was little,” Hernandez said. “It was a great trip. I’d like to make it again one day.”
Such flights were banned for many years due to political hostility between the 2 nations, but this flight was recently approved following US President Barack Obama’s historic meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro on April 11th.
Hernandez – a St. Augustine resident who is a tenant at Flagler County Airport and a pilot that’s flown over 165,000 miles throughout the Western Hemisphere – and the other 3 used Perea’s Cirrus SR20 to make the 90-mile journey.
While Americans aren’t allowed to travel to Cuba as tourists, there are 12 travel exemptions that are permitted. Ferrer – a Cuban-American – entered the country to visit family, while the others – all natives of Puerto Rico – made a religious excursion to Havana to visit centuries-old cathedrals in the city.
“I planned a detailed itinerary of the religious activities we would engage in and we documented everything while we there,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the trip was mostly uneventful, though Cuban authorities did have some issues over the group not having boarding passes while attempting to leave the country.
“[Immigration agents) didn’t know what to do with us because a boarding pass is required to get through the secured part of the airport,” Hernandez said. “The head supervisor showed up, looked at the airplane with us strapped in and decided it was OK for us to depart.”
They made their way back to the United States on Labor Day.
Photos above and below from the trip are courtesy of Flagler County.
Havana (capital of Cuba)
Hernandez & Santiago (forefront), Ferrer & Perea (behind plane)
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.